School Committee Candidates Speak: Three Profiles

The School Committee has two open seats, both for 3-year terms.

The candidates are Jaren Landen, Carin Marshall and Amy O'Connor.

We put the four questions below to each candidate:

Questions:

1. Please tell us about yourself — whatever you would like voters to know about you?

2. Why are you running?

3. a. If you are running for the Board of Selectmen, what is the most important issue facing the board?

    b. If you are running for the School Committee, what is the most important issue facing the committee?

4. How would you help solve this issue?

Below are responses the candidates sent us:

Jaren Landen

1. Please tell us about yourself — whatever you would like voters to know about you?

I am Jaren Landen, Ph.D, and I am running for re-election to the Swampscott School Committee.  I have chosen to run again because continuity and stability of the school committee are integral factors and hallmarks of school district success. 

I am the oldest of 6 children.  I spent part of my youth in Swampscott, attending the Hadley School before my family relocated several times and settled in Texas.  I continued to spend summers in Swampscott with my grandmother, Marion Burke, and my extended family (Burke Family).  Leaving Swampscott as a child was difficult and the fond memories I had of the town led my husband Ron and I to move our own family to Swampscott 8 years ago.  Since then, I have been actively involved in the schools and the town.  We have four children ages 22 months to 10 years and are enjoying watching them grow and learn in the Swampscott school system.  Currently, in addition to serving on the Swampscott School Committee, I am also a Swampscott Town Meeting Member.

Academically, I have a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Emory University.  Professionally, I work full time as a clinician at a major pharmaceutical company where I have worked for over ten years.  I design, conduct and analyze clinical research studies in Alzheimer's disease and pain management and am responsible for multimillion dollar study budgets.  My analytical skills have been very useful during my tenure on the school committee to analyze school data in various ways to help better understand and improve the district’s academic performance and fiscal oversight. 

I would welcome the opportunity to meet with anyone that is interested in learning more about my candidacy or to discuss issues affecting our schools.  Please feel free to e-mail me at jwlanden@yahoo.com or call (781) 599-3430. 

2. Why are you running?

I am running for re-election for two primary reasons:  to continue the work I began in my first term on the Swampscott School Committee and because school committee continuity is critical to a school district’s long term success.  I joined the school committee in 2010 and I believe that it is very difficult for the district to gain any momentum or develop strong working relationships with the administrative team if the school committee continues to turn over 100% every three years. 

I ran for school committee three years ago to be a positive driving force for quality education and to bring innovation and cost savings to the Swampscott School District.  I was able to accomplish these goals in part by bringing new science programming and a computerized assessment system to the district as well as establishing a new subcommittee of the school committee to start encouraging grant writing as a way to bring much needed additional monies to the district.  More remains to be done. 

There are several important ongoing projects that are not yet completed including: 1) a district wide climate policy to ensure that our norms and values, interpersonal relationships and organizational processes are in place to set the tone for all learning and teaching.  Please see http://schoolclimate.org/climate for additional information from the National School Climate Center; 2) a policy to assist administrator and teacher retention by allowing children of our district school employees to attend school in Swampscott as space permits; 3) a grant proposal with a major local company to help continue and potentially expand STEM Robotics enrichment and to provide guidance monthly to our STEM team; 4) a new elementary school building project; 5) continued Chapter 70 advocacy; 6) continuity in leadership to grow the Grants subcommittee; 7) the creation of a 3-5 year technology plan to allow planned replacement of outdated equipment/software; and 8) the creation of a district 3-5 year vision plan. 

Several educational research studies have pointed to a link between high achieving school districts and the tenure of school committee members.  They show that the majority of school committee members had been serving in that capacity for 10 years or more and that continuity of school committees is at least one factor in district achievement (Snipes et al., 2002 and Togneri and Anderson, 2003).

I am currently the Swampscott School Committee vice chair and I chair both the Grants and the Student Life and Policy subcommittees. I enjoy giving back to the community by volunteering as a school committee member. Therefore, I am running for re-election to reduce turnover on the school committee, one of the hallmarks of high achieving school districts. 

3. What is the most important issue facing the committee?

The most significant challenge facing the Swampscott Schools is to learn how to continue to improve educational quality in economically challenging times when the state and national statistics for school administrator turnover is rising.  In other words, we will need to do more with less dollars and develop a plan to retain our administrators and teachers.  Though I firmly believe we can and should do better, Swampscott schools currently perform well for our per student expenditure.  We spend less per student than approximately 55% of other communities and our students outperform approximately the same percentage of communities on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) while our high school graduation rate is greater than 86% of all other MA districts.  Although this means Swampscott is getting a good return on our tax dollars, I believe it is possible for Swampscott to achieve academic excellence.

4. How would you help solve this issue?

I feel it is critical that the school committee partner with the administration, teachers and the community to develop a 3-5 year Swampscott Schools Strategic Vision Plan to develop common high expectations for student achievement and clear goals to support that vision. 

This would allow us to better support our greatest asset - our administrators, teachers, education support professionals, administrative assistants and all other school staff to achieve our goals and develop a resource plan to meet these goals.  A common vision would allow the district as a whole to provide the support and autonomy to our administrators and teachers in positions to achieve these goals.  Everything follows from shared expectations and shared goals. 

The Grants and Student Life subcommittee that I initiated, for example, would support this vision plan by providing financial resources and garnering teacher, administrator, and community feedback.  Ideally, this subcommittee would understand what financial gap is forecasted and what funding is required for district success.  Again, as with school committee stability, top school districts have vision plans that help move them forward, measure success as they go along, and make adjustments as needed.  I have included several links below to some of the top Massachusetts school district vision plans.  I am confident that Swampscott has the ability to continue to excel and thrive, and I welcome the opportunity to partner with the school administration and the community to make it happen.

Wellesley (new vision plan in progress) https://sites.google.com/a/apps.wellesley.k12.ma.us/strategic-planning

Newton: 

Systemwide Goals 2012-15 (PDF)

NPS Vision 2020 Presentation (MOV)

Vision 2020 Information (PDF)

Weston:

http://www.westonps.org/uploaded/NEWS_and_ANNOUNCEMENTS/Adopted_Strategic_Plan_10-15-12.pdf

Acton:

http://ab.mec.edu/about/aboutpdf/2011LRSP-12-01-11.pdf

Newton:

http://www3.newton.k12.ma.us/sites/default/files/school_committee/strategic_plan_memo_10_11_11.pdf

Carin Marshall

1. Please tell us about yourself — whatever you would like voters to know about you?

My name is Carin Marshall and I am proudly running for School Committee. I am a small business owner, a town meeting member for precinct 2, and have 11 years background in financial services and investments.  My family and I live on Suffolk Ave a few blocks away from Clarke Elementary School where my two children, Sydney and Jack, are students.  After first volunteering as its secretary, I have spent the last two years serving as President of the Clarke PTA.  My husband John works locally at GE Lynn and is a Major in the US Air Force Reserve.  We are also active members of St John’s parish.

Serving as President of the PTA has given me the opportunity to work with many of the teachers and administrators across our district and with the broader community as a whole.  This has given me great insight into the workings of our town and our schools.  I served on the search committee that selected Mr. Daniels as Stanley School principal and found that to be an eye opening experience.   I also have assisted the School Building Committee during this past year as they navigated the process of investigating what a new or renovated elementary school project would look like for our town.  I attended these committee meetings simply to educate myself as a parent and taxpayer and ended up learning more about our school system than I had ever known before.  For these experiences I am grateful and I would like to give back to Swampscott by serving on the School Committee

2. Why are you running?

I have spent a great deal of time talking to people around town about the issues our district faces.  Many of them have asked me why I would want to take on such a challenging role in public service and what I tell them is this: we are at a critical point in our district and we need a school committee comprised of people who are willing and able to set aside personal interests to work together as a team in the best interest of Swampscott’s students.   The contentious School Committee meetings that have taken place recently and the upheaval in our district leadership are indications that something is not quite right.  Such troubles are not exclusive to Swampscott (you need only look next door at the recent superintendent news in Marblehead), but they are ours to resolve. 

3. What is the most important issue facing the committee and how would I help solve it?

In the coming months the greatest challenge that our school committee will face is the task of hiring a new permanent superintendent.  Lack of consistency in leadership has plagued our town and has really eroded the confidence our residents have in our district.  For this reason it is about more than just hiring new administrators but about restoring that confidence. Our highest priority is to select not only the most qualified candidates but the ones who are the right fit for Swampscott.  Once hired it is also the responsibility of the School Committee to support those administrators and give them the ability to do what they were hired to do and provide an environment where they can succeed.   This is the key piece that seems to be difficult for school committees to adhere to.

If elected, I will commit my energies to working with the other members in identifying common ground on this issue as well as understanding how our different approaches can be synchronized into a winning strategy.  I have no agenda other than to see the team’s cohesiveness strengthened, so that we can move the district towards our ultimate common goal of selecting the right person who will lead our school system for the long term and increase student achievement. 

First our town must decide on April 30th whether it wishes to maintain the same mix of school committee personnel that have managed the district to its current state or is this a good time to add some new voices that will bring fresh perspectives and more committee harmony?  I believe, based on events over the past couple years, that the dynamics on the committee and the ability for it to work as a cohesive unit can be improved through new personnel.   In speaking to folks around town this seems to be a common concern.  Current and former School Committee members have publicly voiced their concerns that the committee is not functioning to its potential and I would like the opportunity to bring a new sense of strength and stability to the team.

I would boldly go one step further and suggest that electing two new voices to the school committee would be a huge step in the right direction for Swampscott.

Amy O'Connor

1. Please tell us about yourself — whatever you would like voters to know about you?

Thank you for taking the time to read this. My name is Amy OConnor, and I want your vote for School Committee.  My husband John and I moved to Swampscott five years ago, and really love our little town by the sea.  Our choice was purposeful.  We like the small town feel and proximity to Boston.  We wanted no part of the high pressure competition that families face in towns like Weston and Wellesley.  We want to raise our children in a place where they learn in school, on the athletic fields, in the cultural landscape and in the outdoors. We find that here in Swampscott.

So I dove into what is most important to us, the education of our children.  I have been an active volunteer in our schools since our arrival.  We have two children: Finn who is 8 and Cecilia who is 6. Both attended the town's pre-school and are now at Stanley.  I've served in various roles at both schools, from Vice President of the PTO to fundraiser, from parent representative to Director of After School Programs.
Prior to my school volunteerism, I earned nearly 20 years of business experience in marketing and communications.  During most of this time I was an account and project manager with one of the world's largest institutional asset managers.  I was a vice president in a creative group working with a global group of artists, portfolio managers, salesmen and managers.  This was a varied group of personalities, needs and cultural differences all working towards the same goals.  These experiences guide me through all that I do.   I am eager to bring my experience to the School Committee.

2. Why are you running/What is the most important issue facing the committee?

The Swampscott school district has come loose from its mooring, and I for one want to do something about it.  I have contemplated running for School Committee for the past two years, and the chaos at our schools during the previous two months has cemented my decision.  Planning and stability are so important for our district.  We have been steadily making strides, but our management team just imploded.  To fix this we must shift two things.  First, the atmosphere of our School Committee and the way that it works with School Administration must be changed. Second, the committee needs to work within the confines of open meeting law.

To the first point: With the pending departure of the Superintendent, and the not unexpected loss of the high school principal, we need new appointments.  Simply said, the School Committee needs to get it right with the next Superintendent.   I am sure we will attract the talent as we have in other recent searches.  But hiring is only one piece of the puzzle.  I read recently about the challenge of school committee,  "We watch this all over the ... commonwealth. ... When people understand where their responsibilities begin and end, it makes a huge difference," said Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents executive director Tom Scott. "Anything that can be done in a proactive way ... really goes a long way towards the longevity of the superintendent."  He is speaking specifically about expectations and laying groundwork for effective communication.  I think his words are very meaningful for Swampscott, and to this end, our school committee must be absolutely able to PARTNER with our next superintendent.   The makeup of our current school committee just demonstrated that they aren't doing that.  Let's get it back on track.

To the second point: Importantly, school committee is bound by open meeting laws, and has very specific tasks. Recent activity regarding personnel changes have run afoul of mandates and have taken place in closed and private meetings. This has given Swampscott taxpayers a complete lack of transparency and no ability to understand the reasons behind our management mess. Gossip and inference shouldn't be how taxpayers learn about what has happened.

3. How would you help solve this issue?

Do I have a magic bullet for a new hire?  I can't say that anybody does.  But what I do have is a fierce sense of working with a team of people to coax out the best results.  I know that how things get done is as important as what gets done.  Building consensus and promoting a collegial atmosphere is critical.  School Committee is no place for steam rolling and back door deals.
Great things are happening in our schools.  But we have to regain the momentum after the Superintendent's surprising removal, and the high school Principal's departure.  Preventable disasters like we are seeing now happen when the team isn't functioning properly.  Every member of the Committee is there with the best of intentions, but its current make-up isn't getting the best results.  So while the running incumbent touts her accomplishments of the last three years, I see this boat floating away.  Not only were the mooring lines not tied, but they were cut a critical time.  This current team line-up shouldn't be the team in charge of securing the next boat. The incumbent is fighting for continuity of School Committee members; but the committee has fostered this chaos.

I want to be a part of changing this experience.  Friends and colleagues know that I am collaborator who get things done.  I play well in the sandbox.  I am outspoken in a way that is constructive.  I wear my heart on my sleeve with no hidden agenda. I'm not afraid to go against the grain, and can disagree with respect.  I am quick to admit when I am wrong, and eager to navigate new things.  I believe that I would be a great asset to this school committee.  If you agree that the atmosphere needs improvement, and that Swampscott taxpayers deserve transparency, I hope that I can count on your vote. Please vote on April 30 for new voices on school committee.

The candidates are scheduled to appear at a candidates' forum tonight, Thursday, April 25, at the high school from 7-8:30 p.m.