Why both Selectman and School Board?
My work experience as a software developer, quality assurance engineer, insurance agent, and in the military has been about analyzing systems, identifying deficiencies, and finding solutions to maintaining system integrity. My responsibilities as a military officer included organizing diversified individuals into a cohesive team and creating a culture where we worked together to accomplish a specific mission. I have been able to apply these skills over the past 21 years as a Selectmen and believe these skills would also be beneficial to the School Board in terms of organization, compliance, creating transparency and establishing a positive learning environment. I previously held concurrent positions on both Boards and have the time to commit to these endeavors.
For the past year I have been attending School Board meetings. From my work and political experience, I identified a number of statutory violations in the course of the meetings, including the process by which the Board entered and exited non-public sessions, the contents of meeting minutes, violations of the Right to Know law, and incorrect parliamentary procedure. Board policies also lacked transparency opportunities and website deficiencies existed.
As a citizen, I worked with the Board to identify and correct deficiencies and am grateful to the Board for listening to my recommendations and implementing a number of them to make Board meetings compliant and efficient.
There is still much work that needs to be done in creating a positive culture, eliminating hostility, establishing a disciplined environment that is conducive to learning, giving support to teachers, and avoiding micromanagement. This can most effectively be addressed as a member of the School Board.
Thankful for your past support, I respectfully ask for your vote on March 12th so that I might seek creative, responsible, and common-sense solutions that produce compliant system and process transparency, parental involvement, and an affordable, quality education that prepares our students for the next step in their lives.