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She is running against fellow Democrat Polly Rauh and Republicans Jerry Pia, Lorraine Olson and Jon Hoch for three available seats. Two Republicans have to be voted on to the board.
Burgess, 65, is the mother of one, and is retired and has been a resident of Stamford since 1974 although she has been visiting since 1952 when her uncle first moved to the city. The former parent-teacher organization member, helps at the soup kitchen, the NAACP, is on the Governance Council at Rippowam Middle School and helps as a tutor at Stamford High School. In her free time she likes to read news and books and travels all over Europe, the United States and the Caribbean.
1) What are the biggest issues facing the school district? She finds the biggest issue in the schools to be the achievement gap between student and that the schools are not teaching to all. She added a dysfunctional Board of Education has been one of the reasons it has not been reduced.
“We are saying it with our mouths, but not doing it with our hearts,” Burgess said, adding she thinks the teachers are good but need help.
Burgess said she would try to have students help each other more and stop grouping the students. She believes by mixing the students, they each will learn different things from each other and all will benefit without considering the race or other characteristics of each other.
“Kids don’t care, they want friends,” she said.
2) What would you do differently than the current board members? If Burgess is elected, she will strive to bring the board together, and to make it more transparent, reducing the sidebar conversations and executive sessions that currently take place so people know what board members talk about.
“The parents of these children would like to know,” Burgess said.
She also said working with and supporting Superintendent Winifred Hamilton would be a mission of hers. She said she will listen to Hamilton and they should figure out if her plans work or not before rejecting them.
“My mind is going to be open to new ideas,” Burgess said adding that she will engage families and community members, as well as the board and superintendent.
Burgess also said she would not use scare tactics to keep people from supporting the end of grouping students based on academic performance. She said if students of all abilities are together the higher learners will stay where they are and the lower learners will move up.
“There is data that says that, hardcore data,” she said.
3) Are the schools headed in the right or wrong direction? Burgess has been speaking to teachers, administrators, and others at every school level and believes the schools are heading in the right direction, and have a leader in Hamilton that will continue bringing the school district forward.
“She gets it, she listens,” Burgess said of Hamilton, adding the board needs to support her for the district to continue moving in the right direction.
Burgess also said the board as a whole needs to listen more to limit the amount of dysfunction will help the district.
4) What would you do to involve your constituents in your decision making process?
She would encourage more people to come to board meetings so they can keep track of what the board is doing and be able to offer feedback to her and the other board members. Burgess also would go into the community to keep parents and others involved in what is going on in the schools.
“If you start talking to them, then they will start talking to you,” she said.
Burgess added she also will keep corporations and businesses involved with the districts needs in hopes that they will attempt to help.
5) Why vote for you? If elected, Burgess said she will provide a mindset that focuses on the children and the schools and keeps other things off to the side. “Politicism has its place, but not in the classroom,” she said.
She also has helped raise many children, not just her son, and always has helped them feel safe while imparting life lessons to them.
Burgess also wants to be held accountable, and would always be willing to listen to others, and not talk “at” people. If anyone had a problem she would be willing to sit down and discuss ways to make the problem better.
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