Previous Offices Held
Currently serving second consecutive three-year term as Ward 2 member of Saco School Board. Vice chair since 2025; previously served as board chair.
Top Three Priorities
First, make sure Saco has academic programming that's fresh and fully matched to our students' needs. Second, equity for all students, especially students living in poverty. I want to make sure no child feels skipped over. Third, adequate and balanced funding. Saco families are feeling the cost of everything these days, which makes tax complaints fair. However, that funding is what keeps teachers and staff in classrooms. None of these are easy to balance, but a balance can be found.
Why are you running?
I want to continue the work we started getting our new school building for the children of Saco and make sure this project comes to fruition. I also want to make sure we continue our partnership with Thornton Academy in a way that modernizes our connection and keeps the best interests of Saco taxpayers, students and parents in mind.
What is the biggest challenge facing your area’s schools? The biggest opportunity?
Challenge: To continue to keep a fiscally sound budget while continuing to keep the mill rate low for Saco taxpayers. Opportunity: To continue to focus on staff retention by continuing to negotiate fair contracts that provide increases in wage and benefits. We have quality staff who deserve fair wages and benefits. We have successfully completed a recent teachers' contract, and I am hopeful to engage support staff with supplying them a contract that will increase wages and benefits.
A top issue for many parents is the age of Maine’s school infrastructure. How would you address this issue locally from your position on the school board?
During the six years that I have been on the school board, I have successfully advocated for two new schools utilizing state funds to save the Saco taxpayer money. We are building a new pre-K through kindergarten school and first through fifth grade school. This will replace current infrastructure, one of which is over 100 years old. Saco students, families, teachers, support staff and administration deserve a new environment that fosters learning for generations.
Do you think the state government is too involved in local schooling? Not involved enough? The right amount of involved? Explain your answer.
I think the state government involvement improved when the Legislature reconsidered the funding formula. The previous formula was inadequate, resulting in a disproportionate number of subsidies across the state. State government can support the public school system by changing the formula process to equalize subsidies in each community across the state.