Merrill Gay, director of the New Britain Early Childhood Collaborative, was unanimously approved as the Democratic Board of Education candidate replacing Dr. Aram Ayalon on Wednesday night by the Common Council.
“I have known Merrill for a long time. We live around the corner from each other. He has always been involved in education issues,” said Alderman Michael Trueworthy. “He has always been on top of everything. He has two years left on term and will remain until Nov. 15. I think Merrill is a great candidate and is well-qualified.”
Gay was sworn in following approval.
“Thank you for this opportunity to serve with the City of New Britain. I am looking forward to being involved with the Board of Education,” said Gay. “We face lots of challenges. This is a district that has huge issues of trying to pay for the work that we know needs to be done in our schools. We face huge challenges with the state not paying its fair share.”
Gay, a New Britain resident, has served as executive director of the New Britain Early Childhood Collaborative since 2003. During his tenure, he created strategic and governance plans to make the collaborative a thriving organization. Through the collaborative, he advocated increasing preschool attendance and for all-day kindergarten in New Britain. He started an initiative to track childhood obesity through the city’s preschools and was the primary author of the Blueprint for New Britain’s Young Children.
Gay received a bachelor’s degree in government studies from Clark University and a master’s degree in community economic development from New Hampshire College, now known as the University of Southern New Hampshire.
He has served on a number of early childhood initiatives, including the New Britain School Readiness Council, New Britain Head Start Policy Council, Early Childhood Finance Project Work Group, Early Childhood Workforce Task Force, and Infant Toddler Task Force. He also served as co-chair of the CT Early Childhood Alliance and as the New Britain community lead for the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Grade-Level Reading Campaign.
“He (Gay) is a nice person with good intentions at heart,” said Mayor Erin Stewart. “His expertise is in early childhood which is something we don’t have on the board. He will bring a lot to the table.”
Last week Ayalon resigned during a Board of Education meeting saying, “In the past year and one-half our board has made a number of decisions that I increasingly disagreed with. The last decision to close Roosevelt Middle School was the last straw. Although I voted against the decision, I cannot in good conscious have my name associated with such policies. Therefore, I announce today my resignation from the school board.”
The change at Roosevelt Middle School involves moving Roosevelt students to the two other middle schools. Roosevelt would hold an elementary school for one year due to renovation at Gaffney School and a high school satellite academy program.
