Alongside teaching, AP Government and Politics teacher and Social Studies Department Head Mr. Austin Cesare has been involved in local politics in his hometown of Hamden. Cesare shares information about his experiences as a part of the Hamden Board of Education and town council, and how it has impacted his personal and professional life.
Q: What was your role in local politics, and how long did you hold it for?
A: I was elected to the Board of Education in Hamden in 2005. I served on the Board of Education from 2005 to 2011. While I was there I served as the chairman of the Curriculum Committee. I also was a member of the Superintendent Search Committee and the Finance Committee. In 2011 I left the Board of Education and ran for town council. I won. I also won in 2013, 2015, and 2017. In 2019, I thought I was going to take a break and not run again, and I didn’t run again, but then I got asked to run again in 2021. I ran again, and I won for another term on the town council. After that, I ran for the Board of Education again, and I got on the Board of Education again for two years, but we had some family health issues in the last year. My mother passed away, she was sick, so I resigned from the Board of Education to deal with the family health issues, but I’ve been involved since 2005.
Q: That’s quite the resume. What did your role in local politics entail?
A: Being on the Board of Education when I was there, we set the Board of Education budget for the school system. We were in charge of funding the schools, funding programs, sports, athletics, theater, arts, all of the stuff for the Board of Education for the students. On town council, we were responsible for doing the budget for the entire town, not just Board of Ed, but the entire town. Police, fire, public works, all of that. We had involvement in budgets and setting budgets for the different operations of the government.
Q: How did you become involved in local politics?
A: Well, my family’s been involved in local politics for the last 50 years. My father was a town councilman for three terms, he was on the town council. My brother also served as a town councilman. He was later appointed to be the public works director, so I replaced him on the town council when he left to be public works director. I have other family members, my brother’s brother-in-law was the police chief in the town, we just had a very long involvement. My mother was very instrumental in Cub Scouts in the town and also getting involved in community service, so my family has been very very active in community service in the town of Hamden. They named a park after my dad after he passed away, we bought a police dog for the town of Hamden as a family with the golf tournament we raised money for. They named the dog Cesare. So, they have Cesare Field, Cesare the dog, we have a very active town when it comes to our family being involved. My younger brother was out planning a zoning commission, so we have a variety of people involved, a legacy in the town.
Q: If at all, how has your involvement in local politics benefited you as a teacher?
A: Just the knowledge of being able to know how government operates and how the system operates in terms of education as well as town council, working on the entire budget, knowing how to network, getting to know people and being able to develop relationships with them, that’s helped as well. So, it’s really helped me to understand how the process works and how things operate on a local level.
Q: Is there anything else you would like us to know?
I love public service, I’ve loved public service since I was a little kid. I got involved in a mayor’s campaign when I was, like, six years old in Hamden, and here I am, almost 50 years old, and I’m really involved. Like I said, my mother passed away last year, so I’ve stepped back a little bit from Hamden politics, but maybe in the future, who knows? Maybe down the road when I retire from teaching, who knows? Maybe I’ll run for office again, maybe Mayor of Hamden.
