LISA GUTCH

The results for yesterday town election for the Sudbury Public School Committee are the following:

There were 2,605 votes cast, representing 22% of the town's 11,926 registered voters.

Results :

 To see the full results on the town website. Click here.

I’m running for Sudbury Public School Committee because I care about the continued excellence in our schools.  I will work hard to ensure that, regardless of our budget scenario, we maximize our resources and innovate to improve on excellence in the K-8 school district.   

COMMITMENT

Through my volunteer experience, including that of Co-Chair of the Haynes Organization of Parents, I will bring an additional perspective to the school committee. With a background in finance, consulting, and management, my skills will complement those of the current school committee members, and the time I’ve invested in our schools will allow me to contribute immediately, if elected.  I believe one of the most important things we can all do is be involved in our town and schools, no matter how little or how much time we have to give.  The more we participate, the more we will benefit as a community.  With this in mind, I have worked hard to understand the priorities and operations of our schools, the challenges of delivering services with ever-tightening budgets, and the qualities that define excellence in education. 

STRUCTURES

A.  In a high-performing school district, such as ours, we want to have the ability to retain good teachers and employ best instructional practices.  If elected, I will review our current structure and resource utilization for ways to best support differentiated education.  Ultimately, we must provide the means for teachers to reach all students.  

B.  Additionally, I am interested in exploring different approaches to paying teachers fairly that would connect objectives to compensation.  Great teachers are dedicated to their profession and strive to help students reach their full potential.  I will research models that better support these efforts.

TOOLS

In a learning environment in which we expect teachers to deliver a robust and comprehensive curriculum, we need to provide the tools that will allow the teachers to cover more breadth and depth of content.  To support our educators as they endeavor to deliver more of the curriculum in the same amount of time to the students, I will continue to promote the use of appropriate technology in the classrooms.  For more information about technology in SPS, please read my article published on Nov 19, 2009 in the Sudbury Town Crier. 

REVENUE AND COST CONTAINMENT INITIATIVES

A.  According to recent data from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Sudbury Public Schools receives approximately 17% in Chapter 70 aid.  The state average is almost 43%.  If elected, I will work with our state representative regarding this imbalance to achieve greater parity. 

B.  I fully support the newly negotiated SPS teacher contracts that have allowed us to avoid millions of dollars of costs over 3 years. As a result of this successful negotiation, Sudbury was spared the need to consider a tax override last year. I am committed to identifying other sources of cost reductions which will make our district run even more efficiently.

C.  As we seek more flexibility in the delivery of education, ongoing efforts to share or regionalize services will deliver cost savings that will prove beneficial.  I will support this work with other towns to identify services which can be delivered on a regional basis.

D.  With a commercial tax base below 10%, we are missing an important component of economic sustainability.   I will support efforts by our selectmen and others to find ways to expand our commercial tax base.

E.  Our schools depend on volunteers to assist in the classrooms so that we can manage personnel costs while continuing to support the learning environment.  These are people like student teachers, parents, and some Sudbury seniors.  I will explore the opportunity to engage additional volunteers in support roles so that educators have more time to focus on teaching. 

SUMMARY

We have a high-performing school district that places great value on our children’s development and partners with us to prepare them for the future.  Clearly our support for the schools is in our families’ best interests, but it also serves the entire town.  Property values are reflective of educational quality.    Decisions we make in the short-term during fiscally constrained times will affect our long-term success.  If elected, my focus will be on the continued excellence of Sudbury Public Schools.