Stamford’s teachers union recently endorsed three candidates running for Board of Education, citing facilities concerns, as well as a knowledge of ongoing issues between teachers and central office administrators as two of the top reasons they were selected.

For Ben Lee, Diane Phanos, president of SEA, said teachers liked that he served on the Board of Representatives, and is a current member of the school district’s Long Term Facilities Committee that is working on improving school buildings.

“He is very informed as to our concerns about our buildings and we’re hopeful he will bring that knowledge to the Board of Education,” Phanos said.

The crisis at Toquam Magnet School is a perfect example of the larger crisis playing out across the entire Stamford Public School system.

Toquam is a brilliant magnet school, with excellent teachers and wonderful, diverse students from around the city. But we have been letting these teachers and students down by failing to properly maintain the building.

The problem is not simply some individual failure. The failures at Toquam were years in the making and systemic. To fix this systemic problem, we need to do two things: (1) Clearly state our values -- and then live them; and (2) Fix the broken processes that led to this crisis.

My wife grew up in Brooklyn in a scrappy refugee family, one that didn’t have much money but that valued education. Her experience is one that is reflected in the Stamford community, in families across the city.

Her story of how she forged a path to higher education is one of grit, determination, and guidance from her parents — but what happens to other children who are not so lucky?

I’m so proud of my brilliant and inspiring wife, and her leadership in our community. I’m thankful for our partnership everyday and all the ways we make space for each other’s hopes and dreams.

Read this Stamford MOMS feature on our family’s commitment to community and public service, including Emily’s perspective on what it means to live a fulfilled life.

I share my views on the single biggest issue facing the schools, critical differences between me and others running for Board of Education, my accomplishments, and more.

I weigh in on the two issues that need attention in Stamford Public Schools and the solutions I’d pursue. I also discuss our greatest strengths and how I’d coordinate my priorities with other City Boards to renovate or rebuild our schools.

September 6, 2021 — When Kabul fell to the Taliban last month, former U.S. Army civil affairs officer and city Rep. Ben Lee and his wife reached out to a man Lee had worked closely with when he was deployed to Afghanistan about a decade ago.

The man — who went by the name Safi when he worked as a translator with Lee’s unit — told them that members of his family were in Kabul and trying to flee.

“A man walked next to me in a dangerous place, and so I promised him that if he was ever in danger, I'd walk next to him,” Lee said. “And I am very glad to have kept my promise.”

Even after Safi’s family was out of Afghanistan, Lee continued to assist with paperwork. The group he supported ended up helping 68 people leave the country, including Safi’s family.

July 26, 2021 — The Stamford Democratic City Committee endorsed three candidates for the upcoming Board of Education election. After Sunday’s DCC vote, each of the three endorsed candidates spoke briefly.

Ben Lee said he decided to run because of his two young children.

“It is for them that I want to be involved in this,” he said. “For years, you have heard me say that the schools are the future of the city.”

Lee said the district is faced with a “generational problem” in terms of infrastructure, including numerous buildings in need of major renovations or a complete tear-down.

February 23, 2020 — I have often heard claims about what Stamford can’t do. That mentality created the mold crisis by enabling decades of deferred maintenance that our schools desperately needed. In my view, that same mentality won’t solve this problem.

We may yet be able to afford to retain ownership of our schools after all. To be clear, adopting new best practices and fixing our past mistakes will be hard. Put simply, retaining ownership of our schools and building the school system our children deserve will be nothing less than climbing a mountain.

But there is joy in climbing mountains. I’m excited to learn more about what else Stamford can do.

January 22, 2020 — Rep. Ben Lee got an idea for a possible way to rebuild the city’s crumbling schools last year, when he found the original purchase documents for his Glenbrook home.

The 2004 house was built using a method called permanent prefabrication. It means sections were prepared in a factory, then assembled on his lot.

Lee, a District 15 Democrat, did some research and learned that the technology for “prefab” construction has become so sophisticated that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently used it to build medical training facilities at Fort Sam Houston, Texas; Harvard University built a life sciences lab that way; and officials in Ridgecrest, Calif., concerned about the sky-high estimates they’d received to rebuild their Murray Middle School, used it to bring the project back within budget.

High-tech prefab has been used to build health-care facilities, warehouses, hotels, offices, manufacturing plants, dormitories and schools.

January 2020 — I believe that prefabrication construction is potentially a significant opportunity for Stamford and should be thoroughly investigated as a possible solution to school infrastructure issues.

I developed a research report to further analyze, and presented the findings to SPS Superintendent Dr. Lucero as well as colleagues on the Board of Representatives.

The research has three parts: (1) background on prefabrication construction techniques; (2) the use of prefabrication construction for schools in particular; and (3) high-level research on the costs of such projects, which appears to be competitive with other construction options.