{"id":12631,"date":"2026-09-25T19:07:52","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T19:07:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/paula-cote\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T17:27:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T17:27:10","slug":"paula-cote","status":"publish","type":"candidate","link":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/paula-cote\/","title":{"rendered":"Paula Cote"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Previous Offices Held<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Running for a third term, having served as member of Sanford School Committee since 2020 (Vice-Chair 2020-2021 and Chair 2020-2024).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Top Three Priorities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Continuing our work:\n\n*Providing and maintaining a safe and dynamic learning environment for all our students and staff.\n\n *Continued focus on bringing our policies and programs in alignment with our Mission and Vision. \n\n*As we prepare for this budget season: Providing a quality education for our students within our budget parameters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Why are you running?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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I love Sanford and I want to serve my community. It's important to me that I contribute to it in an active and positive way.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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What is the biggest challenge facing your area\u2019s schools? The biggest opportunity?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The biggest challenge our district faces is providing a strong education for our kids, while balancing the burden to local taxpayers. The biggest opportunity – to name a few: Our Pre-K program, our Regional Technical Center, The Sanford Performing Arts Center, and our varied course offerings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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A top issue for many parents is the age of Maine\u2019s school infrastructure. How would you address this issue locally from your position on the school board?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Sanford is fortunate to be ahead of this issue in many ways, but that does not mean we can be complacent. Infrastructure investment isn't a one-time project \u2014 it's an ongoing responsibility. The challenge is staying proactive instead of reactive: balancing the tax impact on our citizens today with the immediate needs of students in front of us, while still thinking long-term about the condition of our buildings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Do you think the state government is too involved in local schooling? Not involved enough? The right amount of involved? Explain your answer.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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We need the state to support our schools; communities cannot do it alone. Those at the state level mean well, but sometimes, the answers provided and legislation enacted miss the mark or inadvertently add to a district's challenges. It's the old adage, "The devil is in the details." The question is: How can the state support our schools statewide while also accounting for and addressing each town's unique challenges? It's a difficult task.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":10927,"template":"","meta":{"voter_guide_candidate_first_name":"Paula","voter_guide_candidate_middle_name":"Tatiana","voter_guide_candidate_last_name":"Cote","voter_guide_candidate_suffix":"Mrs.","voter_guide_candidate_race_id":12619,"voter_guide_candidate_age":56,"voter_guide_candidate_hometown":"","voter_guide_candidate_occupation":"Former teacher, School Committee member, mother of 5","voter_guide_candidate_bio":"I taught English Literature and Spanish at Sanford High, St. Thomas and Yarmouth High School. I have 5 kids; 3 are graduates of the Sanford school system and 2 are set to graduate in 2027 and 2030.","voter_guide_candidate_education":"B.A. in English Literature and Creative Writing with a minor in Education from F.S.U. M.A. in Spanish from Middlebury College","voter_guide_candidate_years_in_municipality":"","voter_guide_candidate_headshot_url":"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/open?id=1YSsK3C6EiD1snX0Z9L9mV71FifoXsYDj","voter_guide_candidate_date_filed":"","footnotes":""},"vg_party":[1073],"vg_residence_municipality":[],"class_list":["post-12631","candidate","type-candidate","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","vg_party-democratic"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/12631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/candidate"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/12631\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13028,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/12631\/revisions\/13028"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"vg_party","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_party?post=12631"},{"taxonomy":"vg_residence_municipality","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_residence_municipality?post=12631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}