By Rit Carter
Jennifer Van Gorder, the embattled Republican nominee for the Bristol Board of Education (BOE) in this November’s election, broke her silence last Monday night regarding the controversy surrounding her nomination.
Recently, she has come under fire and been the subject of stiff online criticism following the publication of a TBE story on Aug. 10 about her nomination by the Republican Town Committee (RTC).
In order to give her side of recent events, she spoke with the TBE, expressing her frustration over the negative comments.
“It’s upsetting because the people who are mad at me are from my own party,” she said in a phone interview. “I have done nothing wrong to them. All I did was receive the endorsement of the RTC.
“That’s really it,” Van Gorder asserted. “It just seems like personal issues. My goal is just to go and serve the people and the students and teachers of Bristol. It is not to get into political mudslinging and whatever this craziness is.”
The timing of the criticism, she questions. In 2022, while running for State Representative, she did not receive this level of scrutiny, she said.
During her campaign, it was no secret that she harshly criticized mask mandates and supported groups like Take Back CT, Families for Freedom and CT Residents Against Medical Mandates.
It is only now that some of these other issues like being banned from the Greene-Hills School Facebook page for being rude to parents and teachers have arisen.
She said she feels, if there were a time for RTC members to be critical, it would have been then.
“I don’t want to assume motives, but it is something people should question,” she said. “I feel like a lot of these people are drummed up to be mad. I feel part of it is artificial.”
How did we get here?
Van Gorder ran for State Representative in the 79th District in 2022 and proved to be popular in this Democratic stronghold.
She campaigned hard, knocking on doors every day which resulted in a strong showing as she lost by a mere 247 votes (the Republicans have not held the seat since 1992 when four-term incumbent Craig Taylor lost to Kosta Diamantis). It was the best performance by a Republican in the district in many years.
In June of last year, she said she was approached by Mayor Jeff Caggiano about a position on the BOE when board member John Sklenka resigned, but she had already filed paperwork to run for the 79th and declined.
Fast forward to 2023 and when it became apparent that a seat would become available once again, Caggiano asked a second time, and she said she accepted.
Because three candidates emerged for the spot, the RTC conducted interviews and created a rubric for the purpose of rating the candidates. Rob Parenti, a special education teacher with administrative experience, scored the highest, while Van Gorder scored the lowest.
Van Gorder does not put much faith in the scoring, though.
“I interviewed with Jeff (Mayor Caggiano) and Jen Dube (BOE chair), and they created that rubric. When somebody says that ‘it will never be Jen Van Gorder, and I will destroy her if it’s the last thing I do,’ I can’t imagine that the grading on that rubric would be very objective. In fact, it would be mostly subjective.”
According to sources, Parenti was offered the position by Caggiano, and he accepted.
However, within days of the decision, chairman of the Republican Town Committee Whit Betts called a meeting with Van Gorder and Councilwoman Sue Tyler. The meeting was to see how Van Gorder was with the decision. She expressed her disappointment, but she was okay with the choice, she said.
Did the meeting cause Caggiano to change his mind? Van Gorder is not sure.
“I can’t say it didn’t play a role,” she said. “I had the support of RTC membership. It’s really hard when you have 42 voting members and you have the vast majority of the RTC supporting you, so I think that had a lot to do with it.”
TBE reporter Jack Krampitz reached out to Caggiano about this matter for comment, and the mayor failed to respond.
In the subsequent weeks, there has been considerable fallout with a deluge of opinions, comments and stories about Van Gorder. One issue that stood out was the report of her bullying a student at a BOE meeting.
“I don’t bully children. To bully a child in front of their own mother? No,” she said.
As the result of the alleged incident and other behavior of Van Gorder at the school, where she herself is active as a parent, parents of Greene-Hills students requested a meeting with the mayor and chair of the Board of Education on Aug. 14, to discuss Van Gorder. The meeting was closed to the public.
Another incident is related to her former campaign manager Logan Williams, who came against her at August’s City Council meeting. Previously, Williams corrected a post on Facebook the day after the RTC endorsement that stated her endorsement was unanimous when it was not.
A YouTube video showing Williams in a heated exchange with Van Gorder during her run for state representative in 2022 appeared shortly after the Facebook exchange. It did not depict Williams in a very favorable light.
Van Gorder said she plans to serve the full term on the Board and said she believes she can work with the other commissioners, parents and teachers.
“I am an adult,” she said. “Jen Dube didn’t love me, but I was ready to go to the Board of Education and figure out that relationship. You find a way to find common ground.”
The Board of Education elections this November guarantee that two candidates, one from the Democratic Party and another from the Republican Party, will run unopposed. The arrangement is the outcome of Bristol deciding to shift Board of Education terms to four-years.
Van Gorder is being considered as the Republican Party’s unopposed candidate.
“I live a pretty quiet life, I’m not out there berating people,” she said. “I have my own values and I stick up for what I feel is right.”
Editor’s note: A last-minute editorial change incorrectly amended the original report, stating that the meeting with parents was prior to the City Council meeting that saw they mayor and the city council fill a vacancy in the Board of Education.
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