Don Lowe First Selectman May 5, 2025 Column
The Town and Board of Education 2025/26 budgets passed this last Saturday at the referendum. The Town budget passed with 314 YES and 51 NO. The BOE budget passed with 289 YES and 77 NO. Voter turnout, as it is in most Connecticut towns for budgets, was quite low. Sherman had an approximate 15% of possible voters taking part in the process.
On the same day as the referendum, we held the Community Expo, which was a huge a success. Hats off to the Commission for the Arts and to the Conservation Commission for sponsoring this great event, which is certainly now an annual fixture. Attendance increased from last year and the event, again, offered attendees the opportunity to learn more about various Sherman and area organizations. More than anything, it was a terrific social event and served as an opportunity for residents to meet and mingle with other residents. And the rain, which threatened all day, ended up cooperating courteously.
Earlier this week, I was fortunate to attend the Sherman School Arts Show. What an amazing display of talent all the way around! The highlight for me was a presentation meticulously put together by sixth-grader Garrett Stilson that showed all of the Sherman Schools through the ages. He displayed photos of the buildings as schools in use and also took us all the way into the present and showed what had become of the buildings. It was marvelous, and kudos to Sherman School’s longtime outstanding teacher, Patty Corso, for encouraging Garrett. I sure hope he shows this again somewhere else. It’s good.
I also attended the Presidents Awards at the Sherman School and there were two recipients of that prestigious scholastic achievement: Alana Barton and Emily Tangredi. Both young ladies, eighth-graders, showed poise beyond their age in their superb speeches as they were recognized for this national award sponsored by the United States Department of Education.
More student recognition: the Housatonic Resource Recovery Association (HRRA) holds its regional poster contest every spring. Students from fifteen towns participate and submit artwork befitting the theme of the year. This year’s theme was “Discarded Batteries Cause Fires.” Lo and behold, out of the thousands of entries, we had three finalists from Sherman: Lydon Ngeleka (2nd grade); Teagan Rianhard (5th grade); and Nora Merkel (eighth-grade).
I want to give a special shout out to our Public Works crew for how beautiful the Town looks. Along with our roads mowed and cleaned, the parks, especially the ball fields, all look spectacular. We have been fortunate in Sherman to have talented and hard-working public works supervisors through the years and we have another one in Kris Fazzone who his doing a marvelous job for Sherman. Feel free to give the boys a friendly wave when you see them out working.
