Bill is running against long time incumbent Joan Franks for one available seat on the Northborough Regional School Committee.
Why do you want to serve in this position?
The past two years have been difficult for everyone. For our children and teachers, they are faced with making up for lost time. For parents, there is a need for more engagement with the administration. In talking with other parents in Northborough, there is frustration around both the processes in place to have their voices heard by the School Committee and in getting information from the administration. I am running to help to change this dynamic. I want to engage with parents and ensure that their concerns have a platform. I also want to ensure that the administration is accountable to the parents and residents. The School Committee should be the conduit for getting information from the administration to parents AND from the parents to the administration. The latter is not working as it should.
What special qualifications and experience will you bring to the office?
My professional career has been spent in consulting, finance, and information technology. I have also spent time in Northborough on the Lincoln Street School Council and on the Northborough Baseball and Softball Board. In each of these positions, I have been tasked with building relationships, managing projects, and troubleshooting issues. Given my background in financial modeling, particularly with how it relates to budgets, I am hoping to develop a way to make the budget process more transparent while finding a process to publish actual results against the budget throughout the year. It is important to understand not only how the budget is intended to be spent, but also how the budgeted dollars are being spent.
Describe ONE other activity or (sub)committee you’ve been involved with within the town. What has it meant to you and how did it shape and impact the town?
I had the pleasure of serving as a parent representative on the Lincoln Street School (LSS) Council for 3 ½ years. Personally, it was a great experience in terms of understanding how the school administration worked within the confines of regulatory and legal requirements while still maintaining flexibility. During my tenure, the LSS renovation was taking place. We were able to give input and be involved in the very complicated plans of creating temporary classrooms and educating our students while construction was happening. The project came in early and under budget, which was fantastic to see. Just as important, the quality of the education my children received stayed on par with previous years.
Describe THREE key issues/challenges facing the town and how will you address them in this role?
Post Pandemic issues are the most critical issues facing our students, particularly making up for lost time academically, and ensuring that we can also address any mental health issues (particularly depression and anxiety) that have arisen. To address academic shortfalls, we first need to measure just how far behind our students are as it relates to the curriculum in which they were engaged during remote and hybrid learning. Realizing that not everything will be able to be addressed, we need to build consensus on the areas of focus (e.g. math, English, science, etc.). With this information, a training plan that utilizes school resources and teacher professional development can be implemented.
As somebody who has dealt with depression and anxiety throughout my life, I am keenly aware of how it can impact all aspects of our students’ lives. Empowering our teachers with professional development on how to recognize these signs is critical so that dialogue can be opened with parents and if needed, mental health professionals. We also have an opportunity via physical education to introduce things like yoga and mindfulness-based meditation. In doing this, we can easily give our students tried and true tools to help them deal with mental health issues that also fit the mission of physical education.
The third issue I see is that many parents and taxpayers feel like they do not have a voice in many of the decisions being made by the school committee and the administration. Bringing different points-of-view into the discussions related to the issues our schools are facing is critical. First, we need to address the policies and avenues in which parents’ voices can be heard. Second, a healthy school committee makeup is one that includes diversity of thought. There should be turnover on our boards on a regular basis. One or two terms should be more than enough for any one member. Regardless of one’s desire to serve the community, being in the same position for multiple terms, which in some cases equate to decades of service, can lead to complacency and the formation of echo chambers. New members with different backgrounds cycling onto the committee with a commitment to listening to and serving the community are critical to a well-functioning board.
Is there anything else that you would like to share about yourself?
A Massachusetts native and lifelong resident, I moved to Northborough in 2004 with my wife, Danielle. Like many other families, the school district’s reputation played a big part in our decision. In Northborough, we found both a welcoming community and highly rated schools. Simply put, the town “checked all the boxes” for a young couple making our way in the world. Eighteen years later, we still love the town and are raising two boys, an eighth grader at Melican, and a sophomore at Algonquin. During my time in town, I have sat on the Lincoln Street School Council, been an active member of the Northborough Baseball and Softball Association Board and volunteered as a coach for several Little League and youth basketball teams. Currently employed as an IT Director, over the past twenty years I have also worked in Finance and Consulting. I am a graduate of the St. Sebastian’s School, hold a BA from the University of New Hampshire and an MBA from Northeastern University.