Re-elect Lou Daniels for Board of Education

Lou Daniels is just about as dedicated and devoted a public servant to the Town of Canton as we could possibly hope to have — and that dedication has extended to and supported Lou’s term to date as the chair of the Board of Education.

A 38-year resident of Canton, Lou and his wife raised their four children here, each graduating from our Canton public school system, and now he has four grandchildren living and going to school here as well.

Lou has been a successful businessperson, spending years at major financial institutions such as Willis and Wells Fargo before building Call A Doctor Plus, a national telehealth company. He brings that financial acumen and strategic sensibility to our school system, a role model for open and transparent communication and sharp focus on the well-being and academic achievements of our students.

In the past, Lou has also served on the Board of Selectmen, prior terms on the Board of Education, as well as on Parks and Recreation and on the board of the Canton Education Foundation. He is truly a champion of our town and a person who walks the walk.

As the current Chair of the BoE, Lou provided us with a list of accomplishments from just the past two years:

• Continued focus and improvements in the safety features at our schools.

• Identifying and implementing strategies to improve achievement at our Middle School.

• Developed open and transparent communication using Farmington Valley Press monthly articles and District website.

• The reconfiguration of the Central Office management team, re instituting the Asst. Superintendent of Schools.

• Successful search process in finding a new Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Jordan Grossman.

• The reconfiguration of CBPS to restore teaching classrooms.

• New emphasis on the appearance and maintenance of our schools inside and outside.

• The change in management at CBPS and the selection of a new principal, Mr. Abe Ammary.

• The drafting of a plan to handle our space issues over the next 10 years.

• Developing a new financial forecasting system to improve budgeting.

• Selected as a Board member for the Connecticut Regional Education Council (CREC).

• Became a member of CREC’s Finance Committee.

Looking forward, Lou sees our budget as a crucial issue. He’ll seek to ensure that we have a fiscally responsible school budget that taxpayers are able to support, but which is satisfactory to our staff and their unions as well as — of course — constantly supporting our students and their needs.

Additionally, he sees these areas as focus areas over the next term:

1. Space at Cherry Brook Primary School and our need for portable classrooms.

2. The financial workings of the BOE and how every dollar is accounted for.

3. Our plan for improving academic achievement.

Lou’s indefatigable spirit has served the Canton school system incredibly well over the past two years, and it’s vital that we re-elect not only Lou, but our other Democrats up for re-election on the BoE.