{"id":12670,"date":"2026-09-25T19:07:53","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T19:07:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/julie-mcfarland\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T16:39:47","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T16:39:47","slug":"julie-mcfarland","status":"publish","type":"candidate","link":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/julie-mcfarland\/","title":{"rendered":"Julie McFarland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Previous Offices Held<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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None<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Top Three Priorities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Transparency and collaboration with families and our Winthrop community; advocating for every child and supporting all staff to ensure safe and welcoming schools; to endeavor at all times in providing students with the best education by upholding our core values, our code of ethics and our laws.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Why are you running?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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I am running to provide a voice on the school board because I enjoy researching and asking questions. I want to serve the community of Winthrop by supporting our schools and our children. When I say our children, I mean every child every day that walks into our buildings. Serving on the school board is in service to them. Children deserve everything we can provide.<\/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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Addressing student, staff and community needs without cutting positions, resources or opportunities is the biggest challenge. The biggest opportunity will come in the form of communication and collaboration. People are stepping up all over Winthrop to serve on local committees, to support our recreation program, to simply support Winthrop. I am eager to increase communication, explore and establish community partnerships and support Winthrop.<\/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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Infrastructure needs regular maintenance and sometimes overhauls. We can plan and be prepared. Delaying often means a higher cost.<\/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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I believe Maine has a healthy balance of state involvement. The state has established our standards, provides some funding and resources and a basic outline of requirements for schools to ensure students have access to a quality education. Maine also supports local control in many aspects of education where communities, families and school districts get to bring a wealth of knowledge and skills to the table<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12869,"template":"","meta":{"voter_guide_candidate_first_name":"Julie","voter_guide_candidate_middle_name":"Marie","voter_guide_candidate_last_name":"McFarland","voter_guide_candidate_suffix":"","voter_guide_candidate_race_id":12772,"voter_guide_candidate_age":35,"voter_guide_candidate_hometown":"","voter_guide_candidate_occupation":"Teaching high school math since 2013","voter_guide_candidate_bio":"I\u2019m on Winthrop\u2019s Wellness Committee and PTO. I serve my school in several leadership roles for staff and I advise students of the Class of 2028, Student Council and yearbook.","voter_guide_candidate_education":"University of Maine - Bachelor of Science in Secondary Math Education (2013); University of Maine Farmington - Master of Science in Educational Leadership (2024)","voter_guide_candidate_years_in_municipality":"0","voter_guide_candidate_headshot_url":"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/open?id=1r-zDSB69T5QEC-uj_rN7y7uD6MS85DCA","voter_guide_candidate_date_filed":"","footnotes":""},"vg_party":[1073],"vg_residence_municipality":[],"class_list":["post-12670","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\/12670","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\/12670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12960,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/12670\/revisions\/12960"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"vg_party","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_party?post=12670"},{"taxonomy":"vg_residence_municipality","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_residence_municipality?post=12670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}