Since I joined the LSRHS school committee in 2010, I have always tried to be an agent of positive change and an advocate for continuously improving our school district. I have worked hard as a committee member to sustain a high level of academics, student services, and safety for all of our students; all the while assuring the ongoing financial strength of our school in the face of challenging times.
In 2010, it was apparent to me and many others that the old financial model had shifted, and it was necessary to find a way to fund the school sufficiently without the previous reliance on overrides. When it came to budgets, L-S had a Yes culture which had led to having one of the highest-paid faculties in the state and a reliance on overrides for sustaining the built-in operational expenses growth model. In my first year, I joined the negotiations subcommittee and participated in a sometimes contentious but otherwise successful contract negotiation which halted the previous model of unsustainable faculty pay increases. I have been on four of the last five negotiating teams and we have worked hard to negotiate contracts that are both fiscally responsible and equitable for both the Teachers Association and the school district.
While the issue of unfunded post-retirement health benefits may not be an overly exciting issue for most, it is an issue that documents an enormous financial liability that threatens the long-term viability of the District. I have had the pleasure to work across the cost centers on this issue. As the founding chair of the trust board, I am proud of the work we have been able to do so far in creating a funded trust fund for L-S which helps protect us from the threat of these long-term unfunded liabilities.
Another initiative I am proud to have been a part of began in 2012, when an issue was brought to the attention of the committee about a glaring gender disparity in LS Sports. The issue brought to the L-S School Committee by Friends of L-S Softball (FOLSS) was about the deplorable condition of the girl’s softball field. It didn’t take more than a perfunctory comparative look at the boys’ baseball fields and the girls’ softball field to realize there was a glaring imbalance and probably what could easily have been a Title IX infraction. The field had been in terrible shape for years and was a safety issue for anyone playing there. Ground was broken on the L-S Softball Field in the summer of 2013 and by March 2014 the field was completed. It had taken two years but the L-S School Committee with the help of FOLSS and many others in the community had finally built what is now one of the signature fields at LS.
During my tenure on the committee, we created the L-S Safety Review Subcommittee in March 2018. This was implemented while I was Chair of the School Committee and was initially received with mixed enthusiasm. The impetus for the formation of the subcommittee was the Parkland, FL school shooting and the walk-out of 400 LS students in reaction to their perception of the handling of a sexual assault case on campus. The resulting meetings of the subcommittee created a welcome dialogue about safety at LS and heard many diverse perspectives on campus safety as well as discussions about the social-emotional needs of the student body. The meetings of the subcommittee also opened a dialog with the Sudbury Police Department and ultimately led to the long-overdue installation of a police officer as a Student Resource Officer or SRO. The presence now of a Student Resource Officer on the campus has been very well received and affords the district and the communities a higher degree of safety for our most precious assets, our children.
In the last few years we have faced the continued effects of the pandemic on our children, and we have proactively addressed the social emotional and mental health concerns brought about by a sense of isolation and fear. Isolation and fear is not what we want to be the lesson of the pandemic but one of grit and optimism for a better future. We have also learned that there is no more important partnership in a student’s educational experience than the connection between home and school. Without it, we run the risk of walling ourselves off from a key constituency and run the risk of not hearing the concerns we should be hearing. We need to continue to build a trusting relationship and partnership with our students’ families.
I now feel compelled to step away from the LS School Committee and run for the office of Sudbury Select Board. I want to leverage these 15 years of experience for the good of the entire Sudbury community. Now more than ever, institutional knowledge and experience makes a difference. I pledge to the community to provide steady and thoughtful leadership as we move forward. While the issues will be different than those of a high school, I plan on bringing steady, thoughtful, and collaborative leadership to help the town address the town wide issues we face now and in the future.