ABEA School Committee Questionnaire

Q1. Why are you running for School Committee? Are there any particular issues that inspired you to run?

The entire reason I want to run for School Committee is because, as a parent and former educator, I have become increasingly concerned as I have witnessed countless staff reductions and cuts in our schools. This is causing good people to lose their jobs and the students to have less and less support. 

The impacts of these cuts continuing to happen will cause permanent damage and disruption to our education system. We cannot keep cutting valuable people and then asking teachers to do more. Teachers are already doing too much. We can call them superheroes as much as we want- but that doesn’t mean they deserve to be put in a position that stretches them to their limits and taxes their spirits and energy. 

Q2. Even with last year’s override, the school district is making staff cuts for a fourth year in a row. Many school districts across the state are also struggling with increasing costs and increasing student needs. What creative ideas do you have to make sure we don’t have a fifth year of staff cuts next year?

Given the fact that the School Committee has already begun the process of selecting a consultant for district reorganization and started reaching out to commence putting together a steering committee, to guide a consultant; I think it is important to convey the fact that I am committed to being a strong team contributor. My goal is to use my experience and ability to connect with others to seek out and embrace the diversity of ideas from our educators and community. One person cannot think of everything; but, together, we can explore what is possible as we seek to better utilize our limited resources. There are many possible ways to reorganize the district and, right now, everything is still on the table and up for discussion. 

Based on one of the ideas suggested, my creative idea is more of a fine-tuning approach to the K-2; 3-5; 6-8; and 9-12 model. If we have all of each of the grades combined, from an early age, it could be very overwhelming for small children to try and connect with their peers–especially if they are reshuffled into different classrooms every year. With over 12 different classrooms, of 20 kids, and endless possible combinations of students, having a cohort that they follow elementary school through may be helpful. Some school districts call this “pods” and others have labeled this as “teams.” However we label it is not of great importance; rather, it is how we execute this that will matter. The reason looping in Merriam is so popular is because many parents feel that consistency provides more stability in the lives of their children. Seeing some of the same peers throughout the younger years can provide an added layer of protection to vulnerable students who are more likely to thrive from the security and comfort of familiar faces. An additional benefit of all this is that it will provide a more flexible range of options for students who have had a difficult relationship and would benefit from more space. If the pool of students is wider (to choose from when creating classrooms), classroom balance and larger cohort groupings can be optimized (for both students and educators). 

Should school choice remain and just a building is eliminated, an additional idea that I am interested in collecting data on, is to determine the feasibility of having Conant added to Gates. It could become Conant-Gates (or Gates-Conant). Having the Conant staff move over with the kids would be ideal. If that isn’t possible and other combinations need to be explored, I would fiercely advocate for retention of staff and do everything possible to prevent the loss of more incredible educators, specialists, support staff, and anyone facing students. We can lose a building. We just can’t afford to lose more people. 

Q3: This fall the School Committee will begin contract negotiations with the ABEA. Why do you think it’s important to pay our educators a competitive salary?

It is important to pay our educators a competitive salary for many reasons. Paying more money attracts and retains talent. We are incredibly fortunate, as a district, to have so many experienced and highly educated educators. They have amassed a fortune of knowledge and valuable experience. Our educators deserve everything we can possibly give them. They are worth it- and we don’t want them going anywhere else.