The following letter to the editor was submitted by Andover resident Geneva Crowley. The views expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Andover News. You can learn more about our policy on opinion and commentary on our Mission and Policies page.
My name is Geneva Crowley and I have four children who represent the three different phases of a K-12 public school career: a graduate of AHS, two current students and a future student. We moved to Andover 11 years ago in large part due to the town’s schools. In addition to being a mom, I have a background in accounting and finance with both public companies and not-for-profit organizations (including schools), early childhood education, and am a former board member of a start up nonprofit.
I am excited to cast my votes on March 25 for Jake Tamarkin and Chris Shepley. They are exactly what our town and schools need.
Jake brings a background in leadership, strategy and finance, derived from his wealth of first hand experience through his career on Wall Street and as CEO of an investor-backed startup up. His financial expertise will be essential to not only our schools, but also our town as a whole as we navigate the multi-year budget deficit our schools have been facing. The budget has been a major source of contention, time and energy for all parties involved – government, teachers, admin, parents, other citizens, and most certainly, a HUGE amount of time has been dedicated to this at Town and School Committee meetings. Jake’s background will be an asset to the community in terms of the schools’ success (getting what they need!) and financial stability of the schools and town (concerned taxpayers take note here even if the schools do not directly impact you). Examining and building the budget from the ground up as Jake can with his experience, instead of rolling over the same broken model, will undoubtedly allow for an alignment of all concerned parties’ interests. Other current challenges facing APS, including an excessive enrollment decline and poor labor relations, will require a big picture perspective and strategic thinking that Jake is also well equipped to lead our town through.
Chris, as a recent Andover High School graduate with strong roots in the community, will bring an important and fresh perspective of the current state of our schools – both their strengths and weaknesses – as no one else can. He has been actively engaged in our local politics since his years at AHS and I remember being particularly impressed with him when he was still a student at AHS for not only caring enough as a student in our schools to show up to the Town and School Committee meetings, but to stand up and not be afraid to share his ideas and ask the tough questions (in a thoughtful and respectful way at that!). He has consistently pushed for transparency, fiscal responsibility, and academic excellence and these are the values he will bring to the Committee and our schools. As we rebuild and strengthen our schools his first hand perspective will be vital to identifying key issues, where and what is worth investing in given current experiences, understanding what our kids are facing today and how our schools can best support them and creating schools which will not only incapsulate ideals from a teacher and parent perspective, but also that of the school’s biggest stakeholders – its students.
The ideal School Committee is well rounded so that it is well equipped as a whole to deal with the wide variety of issues our town and schools face, while also representing all the citizens and stakeholders. Jake and Chris bring two very important and currently absent voices to our Committee which will nicely compliment the voices of Shauna Murray Pheiffer and Lauren Diffenbach, two teachers currently serving on the Committee. Perhaps even above all, these two individuals have taken the time to truly listen to all concerned citizens that reach out to them and work tirelessly to understand the intimate details of our town and school politics over the past few years from many different perspectives. I am confident in their abilities to lead our schools into a strong future and represent and fairly weigh the concerns of all citizens. I am also excited for their refreshing and collaborative approach to problem solving and negotiating, their commitment to repairing relationships and trust between the Committee and teachers, as well as their overall desire to strengthen our schools while doing so in a fiscally responsible way. They are creative thinkers with creative solutions for all. I hope you will join me in voting for these excellent candidates on March 25.
Geneva Crowley
Andover
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