UPDATED: Taxes, Education On Minds Of Groton Voters

Voters interviewed outside the polls said they want new blood on Groton's boards.

"I came out because I think we need a change,"  said Robin Beaupre, a stay-at-home mother. "We need some new people, some fresh, creative ideas and some ingenuity."

Polls reported a slow but steady turnout of voters. District eight was the busiest at midday; at the Town Hall Annex, 428 people had cast ballots as of 12:30 p.m. out of about 3,000 registered. District one only had about 90 ballots cast by comparison.

At West Side Middle School, 173 people had cast ballots as of 11 a.m., out of 2,075. 

Beaupre has two children in the public schools and said education is on her mind. Her daughter attends West Side Middle School and she doesn't want it closed. Beaupre also said she sees a difference in the quality of education depending on the school.

"She's gone from having no help to (being) on the honor role," she said of her daughter.

Doris Pulaski and her husband, Ludwig Pulaski, both retired eningeers, said town officials need to look at issues differently. The Pulaskis said they're that was supposed to be paid for by an anonymous donor now is going to cost $140,000.

"Our town officials need to lose the idea that there's a free lunch," Doris Pulaski said.

At the Groton Municipal Building, moderator Shirleyann Dunbar-Rose said she did not see the surge at the polls she typically sees at about 6:30 a.m., but she hopes turnout will improve.

There’s usually another rush at noon and after people get out of work, she said.

 “Hopefully, we’ll get it,” she said.  As of 9:30 a.m., 102 voters had cast ballots in the district where 2,705 are registered.

Polls are open across town for nine seats on Town Council, five on the Board of Education and 41 on Representative Town meeting.

Town Council candidates Dean Antipas and Richard Semeraro, who held signs outside the municipal building, said taxes and education were foremost on voters’ minds when they went door-to-door.

“There’s a current out there; a lot of people are very unhappy,” Antipas said. “They’re and there’s residual   the school construction referendum, Antipas said.

Bobbi Jo Cini, who drives a school bus and lives on Groton Long Point Road, said she voted because she wants change on the council and the school board.

“I think they just spend money, money, money, money,” she said. “They never budget and plan ahead.”

Cini has a seventh grader at Cutler Middle School, and believes one middle school must close.  She went to parent teacher conferences recently, and saw many empty lockers.

“The school is far from capacity,” she said. "They're not full."

But she said the district also needs to work on its planning.  It implemented abruptly, she said.

“You’ve got to have input and consideration,” she said. “It was just done, like that.”