KENT, Conn.—When Cinda Clark moved to Kent in August 2024, she did not imagine she would run for elected office, and certainly not so soon.
The 46-year-old Louisiana native has moved frequently for her husband’s job as a pastor and she is used to integrating into a new community. Her husband, the Rev. Richard J. Clark, is the rector at St. Andrew’s, the Episcopal church in downtown Kent.
Married for 21 years, the couple has lived in Louisiana, Florida, North Carolina and even Toronto. They moved to Kent with their daughter, Lydia, in August 2024, just in time for the start of the school year. Lydia is now 10 and in the fourth grade at Kent Center School.
“There were so many doors opened to us,” Clark said of the enthusiastic welcome they received from the wider community, even beyond the congregation.
“Everyone pitches in,” she elaborated.
Clark said she wanted to pitch in, too.
“I was looking for opportunities to give back. I was not initially looking to get into politics, but just wanted a way to contribute to the community.”
Clark approached different organizations to ask how she could get involved. With more than 30 nonprofits and dozens of volunteer municipal positions in Kent, there was no difficulty finding a need. Then, a member of the Parks & Recreation Commission asked Clark about filling a two-year vacancy on the Kent Center School Board of Education.
By May 2025, after only nine months of living in Kent, she agreed to run for office.
Clark is an outlier in Connecticut. An election day article in the Connecticut Mirror noted how difficult it is to find candidates to fill municipal vacancies. Kent was among the 39 Connecticut towns (of 169) that had a first selectman or mayoral candidate run unopposed.
The Connecticut Mirror reported that it is particularly difficult for women, minorities and working parents to run for and serve in elected positions. In Kent, a town where many public servants are life-long residents or have roots going back many generations, it can feel additionally daunting for a new resident to get involved.
For example, newly elected First Selectman Eric Epstein grew up in Kent. His parents still live in the village center, and his mom, Ruth Epstein, was once Kent’s first selectman as well. Down ballot slots were largely filled by people who have lived in the town for decades, or who have family members that served in public office in Kent.
Bolstered by the welcome she and her family have received, Clark was undeterred.
“It’s professional and personal,” she said of running for the local school board, noting the position was unopposed.
Clark’s professional background is in higher education and research. She has worked for the University of Florida since 2011, remotely since 2018.
“The [Kent Center] school was a big reason why we were able to move here. It has made a big positive impact on our family and on Lydia’s education in a short time. It made sense to run.”
Clark adds that being sworn in by Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz at Kent’s Town Hall really brought home the “level of the importance” of serving in the role.
“It’s important to me that the school remains a funding priority in town,” she said of her new role on the Kent Center School Board of Education. Clark was voted in as secretary of the board at the Nov. 19 KCS BOE special meeting.
Clark previously served on the School Improvement Team at her daughter’s large elementary school in North Carolina. There, the position was part of a school-wide team that supported the principal to implement what the district was asking the school to do, she explained.
Likewise, here in Kent, she states she is “interested in what’s best for the school and the town.”
Visit the Kent Center School board of education website for more information including a schedule of meetings, agendas, and minutes. The next KCS BOE is scheduled for Dec. 10.
