1.  How many years have you lived in Maine?

    I’ve lived in Maine my whole life (26 years).  I grew up in Monmouth, a small town in central Maine.  I only left Maine during the semesters that I was away at Marlboro College in Vermont.  When I transferred to USM, I moved back to Maine permanently and have resided here ever since. 

2.  What experiences, motivations, and leadership styles will make you an effective School Committee representative?

    My non-traditional educational background has given me a passion for curriculum design (one of the four basic duties of School Committee).  I spent a good portion of my school years in democratically run schools where students designed their own curricula.  These years opened my eyes to new and innovative educational models.
    My B.A. in English provided me with critical and analytical skills that translate to committee work.  And my banking profession has provided me with finance and supervisory experience, as well as experience in working with people of diverse backgrounds.  These skills will come in handy in communicating with other members of School Committee, making financial decisions, and adequately assessing situations so as to make the right decisions.
    I also currently serve on the Board of the Maine Green Independent Party, where I have experienced committee work and representative decision-making.
  
3.  If elected, what would your top three priorities be?  How do they affect young people in Portland?

    As a candidate for School Committee I stand for a safe and healthy learning environment for students.  This means everything from ensuring a non-violent social atmosphere, to providing nutritious lunches, and maintaining clean, ecologically sound school buildings.   
    Secondly, I stand for forward thinking curriculum design.  I see programs like expeditionary learning, which is being implemented in schools such as Casco Bay High and East End Community School, as models for new curriculum design in Portland Public schools.  Programs that allow students decision making authority in their own educational process, I feel, prepare students to become effective citizens once graduated. 
    And third, I am committed to universal access to education for students of lower income families, immigrant students, students with learning disabilities, and adult students.  In speaking with community members through my campaign, one man reminded me that our own State Charter expresses that education is a right, not a privilege.  Yet, when we compare the tools, materials, and expertise available to students that attend schools in higher income communities to those of lower incomes, the discrepancy is obvious.  I will make it a priority to ensure universal access to education regardless of a student’s background.

    All of these effect young people primarily because the Portland Public School student base is comprised of Portland’s youth.  For instance, providing nutritious lunches to students helps them to develop better nutritional habits in their adulthood; expeditionary learning models allow Portland’s youth to delve into their subject matter through a hands-on process; and universal access to education benefits Portland’s minority youth.
 
4.  Please share one positive change you have seen in our schools and in the School Committee over the last year?

    I commend the School Committee for taking the stance that it did on the issue of birth control in King Middle School.  That initiative suffered an unfortunate outcome, which I believe was due to negative media attention and outside influence.  The measure was to create a clinic in King Middle School where children could be treated and educated on sexual activity, and where they could receive contraceptives.  I’ve spoken with parents of King Middle School students that favored the clinic, and are frustrated by outside influences that shut down the measure.  In a society with rising rates of sexually transmitted diseases, it behooves us to educate children early, and to provide them with medical resources necessary to stay healthy.

5.  Please share one frustrating change you have seen in our schools and in School Committee over the last year?

    I would have liked to see a more extensive dialogue in the decision to accept funding for the new Ocean Ave. School, and to close Nathan Clifford.  On the surface it seemed like an easy decision where the state was providing funding to build a new school.  But, this move was as much about school consolidation as it was about building a new school.  My concern is that when consolidating schools, we cannot do it hastily.  We have to ensure that the needs of students, teachers, and staff will be met in the transition.  I worry that questions are still going unanswered in regard to this decision, such as what other school(s) we may have to close to meet consolidation needs.

6.  What competing responsibilities do you have professionally and personally?

    Professionally, I am a Customer Service Representative at Norway Savings Bank in the Exchange Street, Portland branch.  In that capacity I deal with new accounts, consumer lending and customer service.
    I serve as a Board Member for the Maine Green Independent Party.  This entails committee work, monthly meetings, and various volunteer work.
    Personally, I have a partner of seven years, Anthony Zeli, and a dog, Toby, both of whom reside with me in the Arts District on Congress St.

7.  How would you make Portland schools more effective and cost efficient?

    I believe that one of the best decisions we can make as a school committee is to focus our efforts on “greening” Portland school buildings as they head into periods of repair & renovation.  Installing efficient insulation and windows, for example, will be essential for meeting the heating and energy costs of our school buildings.  I would also like to see some real research put into renewable energy resources for our school buildings.  Investing in solar panels and windmills to power the schools may be well worth it to save on future energy costs in an economic climate where oil prices are far beyond budget and only getting worse.  This vein of thought should also be applied to our school buses.  As buses become older, and the cost of repairing them rises, we should be investing in such technologies as hybrid school buses, fleets of which have already cropped up in school districts throughout the country, and are providing in some reports 70-100% better fuel economy, and an investment return for school boards.  Rather than trimming bus routes, lets trim our dependence on the energy grid so that we can truly become fiscally responsible.

    Secondly, I think we need to lobby the state for necessary funding.  We can only continue “finding efficiencies” and trimming back staff, teachers, and student resources for so long until we are left with nothing at all.  Priorities need to shift in higher bodies of government so that we are properly educating our up and coming generations. 

8.  How do we increase the number of high school students furthering their education?

    Students take the initiative to further their own educations when they are made to feel successful in learning.  In speaking with young Portland citizens, I’ve heard more than once that high-school students are dropping out because they have not had the individual attention that they need; they’ve felt left out and unsuccessful. Grievances like these make me a proponent of low student-to-teacher ratios.  In my own education, in both highschool and college, I was fortunate enough to have one-on-one access to my teachers, and I cannot express how invaluable a resource this was.  It allowed my teachers to cater their technique to my individual needs, and with that individualized attention I was able to feel successful.  So, in answering this question, I would say we need to start there: with low student-to-teacher ratio and individualized education.  Teenagers are in a difficult stage of development, and they are perhaps more in need of that one-on-one attention than other ages.
 
9.  What is your philosophy around early childhood education?

    Learning, in the early, formative years of development, is largely experience based.  In their young ages, children are developing motor skills, perception, cognition, and communication skills all at once.  Their lessons are learned as a whole experience.  So, early childhood learning is about children discovering themselves and how they operate in the world around them.  I favor educational models that cater to this understanding.   For example, I recently learned about the educational approach, Reggio Emilia, which stresses children must learn through exploration, their learning must be self-directed, they have a natural relationship to objects and materials in the world around them, and that children have endless methods of expression.  Parents have begun teaching children sign language before they are able to speak because it is a more readily available form of communication.  Early foreign language programs have come into practice in schools in recent years, I believe as a result of these early childhood educational approaches.  I believe we need to nurture and grow these models.

10.  What is your experience in your community involving individuals with:
a. Disabilities?
b. Low-income backgrounds?
c. In the process of English as a second language? 

    For all three of these categories, I would say that my work at Norway Savings Bank has played a significant role.  Working in the Old Port in customer service, especially in the banking industry, I have met and developed relationships with community members from a diverse breadth.  I have immigrant customers with whom I’ve worked while they start their own businesses and become successful.  I’ve worked with refugee customers, who work with non-profit organizations to help build their savings and a solid grounding for their families.  I also routinely help disabled and low-income customers manage their banking needs and provide friendship along the process.  
    I also take volunteer opportunities to work with these groups.  Recently, I took the volunteer opportunity to teach this October at STRIVE, a school for disabled students from ages 14 through 24, where I will be teaching a class on voting as part of their course on civic responsibility. 

11.  How would you work to increase diverse constituent participation in:
a. School committee meetings?
b. Public forums around school issues and the superintendent hiring process?

    I believe advertising in media outlets is important.  I also think the committee should not only publish meeting minutes but work to see that they are widely distributed.  And I think it is important to reach out to community organizations that commonly deal with community constituencies.  For example, we should solicit input from an organization such as the NAACP to ensure we are meeting the needs of the black community, or the ASERELLA for the Sudanese community.  We should be contacting Portland West and the Root Cellar as they work with children in after school programs.  The School Committee should make the effort to build relationships with such organizations, so that their memberships can have a voice in the educational system.

12.  In a few sentences, describe yourself in high school.

    “High school,” for me was a non-traditional, democratically run, self-directed learning institution.  This environment taught me that what was normal or traditional was not always right for every individual.  And so, I would describe myself as questioning in high school.  I did not take others’ advice or opinions at face value, but had to analyze and weigh the issue myself to make my own determination.

13.  How effective are the Maine State Learning Results?  What do you think a good evaluation of our public school students would look like? 

    I believe it is important to have something in place such as the Maine Learning Results because it gives focus to education on a statewide level.  The Maine Learning Results, in my assessment, provide a comprehensive framework for student development, which addresses the many aspects that make up an effective citizen.  The “Common Core of Learning” as articulated in the learning results includes personal and global stewardship, so that, the Learning Results are not just about reading, writing, and arithmetic, but the development of a whole citizen. 
    It is the assessment side of the Maine Learning Results about which I am more skeptical.  In general, I have never been in favor of standardized testing.  On the other hand, I do recognize that some standard measurement allows us to assess our own performance in meeting the needs of Maine students.  The preface of the Maine Learning Results points out that it is written into the Maine Constitution that we assess the performance of Maine’s students, and so, without amending the constitution, we have an obligation to institute some kind of standard performance measurement.  At the same time, we see that student demographics correlate to performance level on standardized tests.  So my question is, who is at fault for a low score on a test, the immigrant or low-income student, or the test itself? 
    I think that the assessment side of the Maine Learning Results needs to be carefully constructed, revisited frequently, and take into account student demographics.  If we are to use standardized tests, they need to live up to the characteristics outlaid in the Learning Results themselves, and measure not just what we think of as classic academics, but also how the child is developing as a citizen in the larger society.

14.  Do you have kids and where do they attend school?  If they attend private institutions what was the single biggest factor in removing them from public school?

    I do not have children.  I have two nephews, ages two and ten.  My older nephew attends public school in the Topsham school system, and the younger will also enter that public school system when it comes time. 

15.  How would you work with principals and teachers to address school policy changes and issues?

    One of my goals for the first year of my term in School Committee is to schedule “shadow days” at various schools where I would go to the schools and spend the day meeting with teachers, principals, and administration as well as students.  I would be able to sit-in during classes and hear from professionals in the schools what strengths they have and what resources are needed.  I decided to do this because, in meeting with community members throughout my campaign so far, those who were teachers expressed concern that the School Committee had a lack of contact with, and no presence within the schools themselves.  I believe that as a committee it is very important to stay close to the very entities we are employed to serve: the schools.  

16.  How would you work to ensure quality education is provided to students who are learning English as a second language? 

    As a community with an increasingly diverse population, I believe Portland needs to be a leader of English as a Second Language curriculum.  I’d like to see some research put into assessing how our public schools are meeting the language needs of our immigrant students.  I’d like to expand the resources of the Office of Multilingual & Multicultural Programs.  When we look at schools like Reiche Community, King Middle, and Portland High, we recognize the need for English language services provided for our students.  At Reiche, nearly half the student population come from other countries, at King and Portland High, upwards of 30 different languages are spoken.  We need to make sure we are meeting the needs of all of these students, and doing so in a way that integrating rather than segregating.    

17.  What are your thoughts/perspectives about the process of the Ocean Avenue Elementary School development plan? 

    I was pleased to learn that the building will strive to qualify for LEED certification.  Anything we can do to invest in sustainable buildings will surely pay off in the long term.  I would encourage the task force to strive for Platinum level certification as opposed to Silver. 
    The biggest concern I have about the new school is that we do not sacrifice services and resources that students of low-income families have currently at Nathan Clifford.  That school being closed will cause new challenges in commute for many families, and we need a system in place to ensure that students are not being left behind.  Nathan Clifford offers a wealth of programs geared toward helping children in need cope with family problems, and the new Ocean Ave School needs to be equipped to take on these students with special needs. 

18.  What criteria do you find necessary in the hiring of the future superintendent? 

    I’d like to see a future superintendent that embodies diversity.  It is important that this person be in touch with the immigrant and refugee communities in Portland and takes a strong position on integration within the student body.  The new superintendent should be at least bi-lingual, but preferably multi-lingual. 
    I would also like to see a superintendent with a strong capacity to lobby for state funding.  He or she should not rely on further cuts in programming or cuts to teacher and administrative positions to balance the budget.  The superintendent must be a strong voice for the value of education in society, and put that in the forefront of fiscal decision-making.
    And third, I would like a superintendent that values community dynamics in Portland schools.  Schools such as Reiche Community and East End Community exhibit the trend in our public schools toward opening up to the public, and becoming community resources for neighborhoods.  The new superintendent should embrace this trend.
   
19. Studies show that students benefit when attending schools that are more balanced, socio-economically.  Would you support considering socio-economic status as a factor when it comes to school redistricting?

Absolutely, I would.  I believe wholeheartedly in the importance of diversifying classrooms socio-economically.  Portland is the most diverse population in the state of Maine.  We should be proud of this fact, but should also be prepared to ensure that minority and low-income populations are fully integrated in our community structure.  I believe that the reason studies show a benefit to students educated in socio-economically integrated schools is that integration promotes understanding.  It is much easier, for instance, to form a derogatory perception of a particular class of people, when you do not cross paths with members of that class on a routine basis.  Schools such as King Middle exhibit the benefits of a well socio-economically diverse student body.  In redistricting, we should make socio-economic status a top priority.

20. Younger students are the most adept at picking up foreign language skills.  Do you support the creation of an early foreign language program for Portland's schools?

    Yes, absolutely.  The more we have learned as a society about language acquisition in children, the more it makes sense to develop early foreign language programs.  We can also use such programs to diversify schools by instituting a magnet style approach, where students of upper-income communities are drawn to lower income community schools that develop such programs.  Teaching early foreign language will also help students relate socially as their student bodies become more diverse.