Mahieu Wins Goshen R20 Board Seat

In a Special Town Meeting held on June 16 at the Goshen Center School gymnasium, challenger Sharon Mahieu defeated incumbent Krista Rizzo, winning a seat on the Region 20 Board of Education by a vote of 139 to 107.

“I've been looking for something… a way to give back to the town, and when this came up, and being an educator, former educator, I was like, I can do this, and then I'll be prepared to give back to the community,” Mahieu told The Goshen News, moments after the election results were announced.

The financial chaos surrounding the merger of Region 6 (Warren, Morris, and Goshen) with Litchfield schools in 2024 to form Region 20 was at the forefront in Mike Esposito’s nominating speech for Mahieu.

“The promised benefits of the synergies of disbanding Region 6 and formulating Region 20 have not manifested,” Esposito said. “Parents of the Goshen and the children that go to Region 20, you deserve better. Poor leadership, special interests, divisiveness between the towns on the budget, and obstructions to financial accountability were results.”

In Rizzo’s speech, she defended her record on the R20 Board for the past four years. “I've heard people say that I support excessive spending and that could not be further from the truth,” Rizzo said. “Context matters. After many years of a flat school budget, my support for a budget increase was overdue and still didn't raise our mill rate to the former highs that we had had in years past. Being a Board of Education member is hard. It's about facing difficult situations, making tough decisions.” She concluded, saying, “We all have work to do, but we are heading in the right direction.”

Mahieu’s speech aimed at introducing herself to the voters, referring to her degrees in Education and Exercise Physiology, her work in corporate fitness and rehab programs, and her volunteer work in classroom support and fundraising, when her six children were in school. She has also been active in managing and coaching a variety of sports programs.

But the key issue was school finances, and Mahieu said, “Managing budgets and resources responsibly has been an important part of my professional experience, and I have consistently done so successfully. When entrusted with public funds, however, fiscal responsibility takes on even greater significance. As a member of the Board of Education, I would view the stewardship of taxpayer dollars as one of my most important responsibilities and a commitment that must never be compromised.”