The CEA Celebrates Gala is less than two weeks away! Join us Friday, October 24, to honor 177 years of elevating the teaching profession at Anthony’s Ocean View in New Haven, from 5:30–10:30 p.m.
Enjoy an evening of awards, dinner, dancing, a cocktail reception, and a silent auction—all while supporting the Connecticut Education Foundation, CEA’s nonprofit arm. Every dollar raised helps fund student scholarships, gifts and essentials for children in need, and emergency assistance for educators facing hardship.
Last call for tickets and sponsorships!
Local Associations can show their support as Gold or Silver Apple Sponsors with reserved tables and recognition.
Have a local business connection? Encourage them to sponsor the event or advertise.
Single tickets are also available.
This inspiring evening also celebrates the educators and elected officials who go above and beyond in supporting public education and the labor movement. Join us as we honor this year’s award recipients for their outstanding commitment to educators, students, and strong unions.
Senator Julie Kushner
CEA Excellence in Education Advocacy Award
State Senator Julie Kushner represents the over 100,000 residents in the towns of Danbury and portions of New Fairfield and Ridgefield. In the Connecticut General Assembly, Kushner is Senate Chair of the Labor & Public Employees Committee, Vice-Chair of the Public Health and Children’s Committee, and a member of the Appropriations, Education, and Executive and Legislative Nominations committees.
Kushner has spent most of her professional life advocating for workers’ rights, organizing workers and building coalitions to achieve pay increases, improve healthcare, and secure childcare benefits for working Americans. She is the former UAW Region 9A director and a member of the Coalition of Labor Union Women, the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, and the NAACP.
In 2019, Kushner co-chaired the committee that drafted, negotiated, and passed a law that gave private-sector workers access to paid family and medical leave beginning in 2022. Kushner also continues to co-chair the Working Group on Indoor Air Quality in Public Schools which prioritizes funding clean air initiatives in schools.
Attorney General William Tong
CEA Excellence in Education Advocacy Award
Before his election as Attorney General, Tong served for 12 years in Connecticut’s General Assembly. During his service in the legislature, Tong helped lead passage of landmark legislation, including the Connecticut Second Chance Act, Domestic Violence Restraining Order Act, Lost and Stolen Firearms Act, the Act Protecting Homeowner Rights, and the Act Protecting Schoolchildren.
As Attorney General, Tong has taken action to address air pollution, defended commonsense gun safety reforms, and helped recover more than $18 million for Connecticut in a multi-state settlement with pharmaceutical distributor Reckitt Benckiser. He also led a multi-state coalition to defend a law allowing driver’s licenses to be issued without regard to federal immigration status.
Ashley Beal
CEA Excellence in Education Advocacy Award, Early Career Educator
Ashley Beal is a graduate of the University of Bridgeport and began her teaching career in Bridgeport in 2021. She has since transitioned to Hamden Public Schools, where she teaches sixth grade at Shepherd Glen Elementary School.
A very active union member right from the beginning, Beal is currently in her second term on CEA’s Board of Directors, serving as the Ethnic Minority Director. She has also been involved in CEA’s Racial and Ethnic Diversity Affairs Commission and has testified at the Capitol on a number of issues.
William Myers
CEA Excellence in Education Advocacy Award, Retired Educator
Myers began teaching public school in 1989 in Willimantic as a high school band instructor before taking a position at South Windsor Public Schools as an elementary school general music teacher in 1996. That year, he also joined CEA and quickly became a building rep and then treasurer of the South Windsor Education Association.
Myers took a CEA class on retirement a few years into his time in South Windsor and has since dedicated most of his time as a union member and leader to advocating for and educating about retirement and finances. He has served on the CEA Retirement Commission and Teacher’s Retirement Board and is currently vice chair of the Treasurer’s Investment Advisory Committee.
He has testified at the State Capitol many times during his tenure as an active member and in retirement, continuing to actively lobby for fair financial compensation and retirement benefits for teachers.
Paul Guzzo
CEA Excellence in Education Advocacy Award, Administrator
Paul Guzzo began his teaching career in 1995 as a fifth-grade teacher at Clover Street School in Windsor. Guzzo transferred to Mayberry Elementary School in East Hartford during the 2000-2001 school year. While teaching in East Hartford, he completed his administrative degree, and was then hired as an assistant principal of M.D. Fox Elementary School in Hartford.
In 2008, Bloomfield Public Schools hired Guzzo as the principal of Metacomet Elementary School. As Bloomfield consolidated schools, he worked at J.P. Vincent and Laurel Elementary Schools as the principal for the kindergarten through grade 2 students. In 2019, he decided to move back to Metacomet and work with third- and fourth-grade students and remains principal there to this day.
Throughout his time as an administrator, Guzzo has advocated passionately for educators and students alike. He is known for his accessibility, especially to the Bloomfield Education Association, along with his steadfast commitment and willingness to go above and beyond to ensure his students get what they need.
