Elections 2021

Julie Best and Stacey Tie Have Demonstrated Excellent Character

Former Selectman: GOP Candidates for Board Have Experience, Strong Record of Service to Darien

Selectman David Martin: Sarah Neumann Has Been Dedicated and Worked Actively for the Town

Monica McNally Was Diligent, Found Middle Ground in Getting RTM To Approve Darien Bag Ordinance

On the RTM, Monica McNally Was Instrumental in Addressing Complex Problems

Stacey Tie and Julie Best Have Testified in Hartford About the Need for Local Control of Education Decisions

Monica McNally Has the Knowledge, Skills and Temperament To Be First Selectman

Guess How Much Darien Sends to the State Government in Taxes

Two Candidates for Board of Ed: Calming, Wise, Thoughtful and Fair

Julie Best and Stacey Tie Have Sound Knowledge and a Track Record of Involvement in Darien Education

Praise for Two Board of Ed Candidates: Stacey Tie Has Expertise, Julie Best Has Vision, Empathy

In Support of David Brown and Tara Wurm for Board of Education

RTM Member Endorses Julie Best, Stacey Tie for Board of Education

Stacey Tie, Julie Best Endorsed by RTM Member for Board of Education Seats

First Selectman Jayme Stevenson Won’t Seek Re-election After 10 Years in Office

Letters to the Editor

By DARIENITE.COM | October 17, 2021

Letters to the Editor

By DARIENITE.COM | October 14, 2021

Letters to the Editor

By DARIENITE.COM | October 14, 2021

Letters to the Editor

By DARIENITE.COM | October 14, 2021

Letters to the Editor

By DARIENITE.COM | October 11, 2021

Letters to the Editor

By DARIENITE.COM | October 10, 2021

Letters to the Editor

By DARIENITE.COM | October 10, 2021

Letters to the Editor

By DARIENITE.COM | October 2, 2021

Darien Elections 2021

By DARIENITE.COM | August 27, 2021

Darien Elections 2021

By DARIENITE.COM | August 23, 2021

Darien Elections 2021

By DARIENITE.COM | August 19, 2021

Letters to the Editor

By DARIENITE.COM | August 11, 2021

Board of Education Election 2021

By DARIENITE.COM | August 9, 2021

Board of Education Election 2021

By DARIENITE.COM | August 9, 2021

Darien Elections 2021

By David Gurliacci | June 23, 2021

To the editor:
As expressed in recent letters to the editor, Julie Best and Stacey Tie have shown tireless dedication to our schools. With years of experience in various PTO leadership roles, along with Stacey’s service on the Representative Town Meeting’s Finance and Budget Committee, Julie and Stacey will be well-prepared, productive members of the Board of Education, as their knowledge and experience are invaluable assets. Additionally, Julie and Stacey consistently demonstrate excellent character, a quality that is vital in the candidates we elect to our public boards. A fitting reference for ideal character traits of BoE members is the District’s newly adopted Vision of the Graduate, a collaborative vision of the skills and dispositions of resilient problem-solvers and leaders that will prepare students to thrive in a changing world. Students, parents, teachers, administrators, community leaders, and BoE members first met in March of 2020; with continuous work and input from numerous focus groups, the Vision was presented, adopted, and almost unanimously supported by the Board of Education in June of 2021.

To the editor:

Please support candidates Monica McNally, Jon Zagrodzky and Marcy Minnick for the Darien Board of Selectmen. Darien is fortunate to have three proven leaders that are ready to help lead our well managed Town into the future. As Darien faces increased pressure from Hartford to take more from Darien and give us less, these three, with Monica as the leader, are the critical voices our Town needs. Monica has given back to Darien ever since she arrived in town. She is currently a selectman and has a strong background in finance.

To the editor:

I am writing to urge Darien residents to vote for Sarah Neumann for the Board of Selectmen for Darien. Now more than ever Darien needs leaders focused on understanding how issues affect residents and businesses, who do the hard work to know the details and history of any issue. Sarah is that person. I currently serve on the Board of Selectmen with Sarah and can attest that she is dedicated to listening and responding to resident needs. Whether it be Eversource’s tree cutting on Littlebrook Road, or flooding issues on Crimmins, Saltbox or Coachlamp, she is always responding to resident inquiries and reaching out proactively to understand their concerns.

To the editor:

Darien has an important choice to make in November in deciding who can best provide the type of strong leadership we’ve come to expect from our first selectman during Jayme Stevenson’s successful tenure. I would like to share my perspective on candidate Monica McNally with the Darien community, as I had the pleasure of working with her during the campaign to reduce plastic use in Darien, as a co-chair of BYO Darien. Monica was assigned by the Public Works Committee to present our petition to the full Representative Town Meeting and move the process forward. She performed very diligent research and investigated the potential impact of our petition on the Darien community from all possible angles. She created very relevant documentation to satisfy questions from the RTM members when she presented the petition to them.

Letter to the Editor 2 cents Parcel Post

To the editor,
I have served with Monica McNally on the Representative Town Meeting in various capacities since she first joined the Public Works Subcommittee, a committee she would chair the following session. I also worked alongside Monica on the Rules Committee to the RTM and the Technology Subcommittee to the Rules Committee during the most recent legislative session. In each of these leadership roles Monica consistently demonstrated a willingness to jump in, listen, learn and do whatever necessary to benefit our town and residents. Through hard work, patience, inclusiveness, curiosity and fiscal good sense, I observed Monica would build a solid knowledge base that governed her actions on the items that came before her. By taking into consideration the perspectives of various constituencies Monica was instrumental in advancing environmental, safety and operational initiatives, with budgetary discipline taxpayers expect to improve the quality of life in Darien.

To the editor:

It’s hard for me to express how much I support the candidacies of Julie Best and Stacey Tie for the Board of Education. We were all on the Council of Darien School Parents together for years, and no one was more dedicated and enthusiastic in representing the parents of Darien. Many people don’t know how much work being a great parent representative is; CDSP members attend a fair number of Board of Ed meetings. Julie and Stacey attend all of them. Being a member of the Board of Education requires absorbing an enormous amount of information — these two are ahead of the game!

To the editor:

Starting in December 2018 I served with Monica McNally on the Representative Town Meeting’s Public Works Committee. As chairman, Monica demonstrated knowledge, tolerance, consideration, inclusiveness, curiosity and sensible budgetary leadership. Monica was instrumental in the passing of numerous initiatives and budgetary items resulting in significant positive impact to the quality of life in Darien. These important infrastructure initiatives don’t gain much notoriety but they foster improvements to town safety, sidewalks, roads, waste management and recycling, sewer and storm drainage, etc. She also served on the RTM Rules Committee and subcommittee for technology.

To the editor:

I‘ve lived in Darien for 35 years and served as a public official for 28 years (12 years on the Representative Town Meeting and 16 years as your town treasurer). But, I’ve never heard of the situation that occurred on Sept. 26! That day, two U.S. senators and a U.S. congressmen came to Darien to insert themselves into our First Selectman race supporting the Democratic candidate. Why so involved in our small town of about 21,000 people and a local political race?

To the editor:

I have had the privilege and the pleasure to work closely with two of the Board of Education candidates over the past 10 years. First, as part of the Tokeneke PTO, where Julie Best served in various leadership roles instrumental in improving the parent community, including co-chair, vice-chair, and Pumpkin Carnival co-chair. I met Stacey Tie when she served as Tokeneke PTO’s special education chair, and I had a child receiving services for the first time. She was a calming influence, and someone I could go to with questions I wasn’t comfortable asking the administration. I was not alone in that, and know dozens of parents who have benefited from Stacey’s wise council over the years.

To the editor:

Many Darien residents, like me, have children who have moved onto college and beyond but are still vested in the standard of education in Darien Public Schools. We are no longer privy to each school’s daily goings on, but we care about the education our neighbor’s children or grandchildren are receiving. Our highly ranked Darien public school system is partly what makes our community so desirable. Agree? Let’s therefore be energized and informed about electing the right candidates to the Darien Board of Education, who work tirelessly and communicate transparently to us all.

To the editor,
Volunteers transform a town into a community. These people understand commitment and what it means to serve. When I saw that Stacey Tie and Julie Best were running in the upcoming election for the Board of Education on Nov. 2, I knew they were the only choice to represent all of our children and support our teachers. Students think and learn differently.

To the editor,

I’m voting for Dave Brown and Tara Wurm for Board of Education this fall, as they will represent our entire community, including the best interest of our children. This past fall many parents spoke up with concerns on how the schools were opened. It is our duty and privilege as citizens to question our elected officials. I shared the personal impacts quarantine had on our family. When I shared my concerns with Dave, he really listened to my concerns.

To the editor:

Darien voters will have a once in a decade opportunity to vote for two senior leaders of the Council of Darien School Parents (CDSP), Julie Best and Stacey Tié, as new members of the Board of Education this November. Julie, who has served on the executive board of the CDSP for the past four years has worked with three past superintendents, two Board of Education chairs and through one global pandemic. She has helped improve communications between the parent teacher organizations, served on the Strategic Planning Committee for the district and has three children who have been through the town’s schools for the past 11 years. She is a graduate of Georgetown University and a strong advocate for the value of every student. Stacey who has been on the CDSP for seven years, has worked tirelessly as the chair of the Special Education and Budget Committees in addition to serving on the Town’s Finance & Budget Committee as a colleague to me.

To the editor:
As the summer winds down, I hope Darien voters all get to know Stacey Tié and Julie Best as I do, tireless champions of our children and our town. As parents of children in the public schools, both Stacey and Julie have volunteered considerable time and energy in a variety of leadership roles. A member of the Representative Town Meeting’s Finance and Budget committee and a Council of Darien School Parents budget and special education representative, Stacey’s knowledge of the school and town budgets is second to none. She understands how to budget responsibly while also ensuring the needs of all our students are met. As a parent teacher organization and CDSP chair, Julie has spent the past five years listening to parent concerns and advocating for our children, particularly with respect to our facilities and class sizes.

« August 2022 »

First Selectman Jayme Stevenson announced Wednesday night that she’ll be leaving office after 10 years at the head of Darien’s town government: She won’t be running for a sixth term. Early Wednesday evening, Stevenson sent out a news release titled: “Jayme Stevenson, Darien’s First Selectman, will not seek 6th term.” She concluded the announcement by saying: “For me, I’m closing this chapter. As new doors open, there may be different ways for me to continue to show my love and commitment to our incredible town. It’s been a privilege of a lifetime to serve as your first selectman for the past decade.