From 2005: Two School Board Democrats Bow Out; Openings Give Opportunities For New Candidates

The following article is from 6 years ago, published in the Hartford Courant on July 23, 2005. It was written by Penelope Overton.
Board of Education terms remain 4 years long, with about half of the Board up for election every other year. This year's Democratic nominating convention will be on Wednesday. There promises again to be considerable turnover on the Democratic side. Reports are that none of the incumbent Democrats whose terms are up will be seeking re-election.
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Gerard Winzer and Marie Norwood, two Democrats on the board of education, are not seeking re-election, paving the way for at least a few new faces at a time of great change in the school district.

Winzer and Norwood were both elected to four-year terms in 2002.

Winzer said he decided not to run again because he is planning to retire in the next four years from the U.S. Postal Service and will most likely split his time between Middletown and Florida.

Norwood said she decided against seeking a new term to devote more time to her duty as a member of the board of directors for the Girl Scouts Connecticut Trails Council. The council is the 11th largest in the United States.

Both Winzer and Norwood developed a keen eye for financial details.

Under Winzer's tenure, the school budget committee, which he led, started to meet once a month and pushed for the creation of a more streamlined, reader friendly budget and a more detailed financial report.

Norwood echoed Winzer's call for a user-friendly budget and pushed board members to review end-of-the-year budget changes case by case. For years, the board had reconciled the end-of-year budget in one vote.

Their decisions to not seek second terms, which were formalized Thursday at a Democratic caucus, guarantee board turnover as Middletown breaks in the new superintendent and struggles to build its new high school.

Incumbent Democrat Dan Filer will be joined by Theodore Raczka, a two-term state representative who runs a local law practice; David Morgan, a retired Wesleyan University history professor and husband of one-time board member Betsy Morgan; and Judith Russo, who served on an elementary school building committee and is the wife of Democratic Party leader Daniel Russo.
Daniel Russo could not be reached for comment about the candidates.

The Republicans will nominate their school board slate Monday. Longtime incumbent Barbara Weiss is expected to run again. Board member Corinne Gill, Republican Party leader, said Weiss will have some excellent running mates.

Gill wouldn't reveal their names, but said she believed the city was "ready for some new voices, new policies and new direction, and I think the Republican Party is ready to give them all three."