With municipal elections scheduled for Friday, May 19, Raymond voters have only a week remaining to make their final decisions for several town offices.
Two weeks ago, the Lakes Region Suburban Weekly profiled the candidates for selectman, incumbent Betty McDermott and challenger Joe Bruno.
This week, the five candidates seeking to fill two available School Board positions and the lone candidate running for one of the three open positions on the Budget/Finance Committee are profiled.
Gail Cole, School Board
Gail Cole is a 19-year resident of Raymond and a high school graduate. She lives with her husband and eight-year-old daughter on Spring Valley Road, where she runs a custom window treatment business from her home.
Enthusiastic about the superintendent, teachers and support staff, Cole would like to help “maintain the high level of education” she says is already occurring in Raymond.
“I am running because I want to give back to the community,” she said. “My agenda is the kids.”
Although she has no problems with the schools, Cole says she thinks incorporating the One Raymond concept could be a big issue.
“I want to make sure it’s done in a responsible way so the schools aren’t the losers,” she said.
Cole says she would also like to ensure that Raymond schools continue to be a positive experience. She feels the number of parents who are committed to volunteering in the system is a sign of healthy schools. And from her experience as a school volunteer, she says she sees the quality the dedicated teachers and staff offer to the students and to the community.
If elected to the School Board, Cole says she wants to be open-minded. She says she’s not “going in with some big axe to grind” but rather to be available to listen to input from all sides.
According to Cole, her involvement with children and with the schools may be her greatest asset in helping her accomplish her work if she is elected to a School Board position. Besides her extensive volunteer work within the schools, she also volunteers regularly at the Raymond Village Library – coordinating special functions like Harry Potter Night and Dr. Seuss Night – and serves on its Planning Committee.
Lisa Friendlander, School Board
Lisa J. Friedlander, 44, of Gore Road, has lived in Raymond for 12 years. Married with two daughters, Friedlander graduated from Dartmouth College and the University of New England School of Law.
Friedlander has served on the Raymond School Board for the past three years. Even after that length of time, she says she feels like she’s “just getting to know what’s happening.”
“I feel like I have a lot to offer,” she said. “I’d like to continue to work to determine in what direction to go and what is in the best interest of the kids.”
Her top priority is to ensure that the superintendent, the administration and the staff are supported through both policy and funding. This includes monetary support of extracurricular activities in the areas of continued education and training.
Friedlander also wants to complete an unfinished project – a policy manual that the board began to update a year ago.
“It’s a huge project,” she said. “It’s amazing how many policies are out of date.”
Last year, the board completed revisions to the student code of conduct and now, Friedlander says, “everybody knows what they’re supposed to do.”
A third priority for Friedlander is to continue to work toward professionalism as a board and to learn how to navigate the endless regulations under which it must function.
“Working with Sandy (Caldwell, Raymond superintendent) is a blessing because she guides us,” Friedlander said.
In evaluating her strengths as a board member, Friedlander believes her legal training is one asset she brings to the board, as it helps her with issues of policy. She also considers herself to be good with working with other people and says she “allows people to do their jobs.”
When asked about what some have considered tension between board members, Friedlander says it’s an area they’re working on.
“There’s nothing you can do if people don’t mesh other than trying to defuse and focus on the task at hand,” she said. “If you say ‘we’re losing a teacher,’ it gets emotional. We must make decisions based on structure and not based on people, and that’s really hard at times because everybody knows everybody.”
Sasha J. Rancourt-Thomas, School Board
Sasha J. Rancourt-Thomas is a 34-year-old biology and chemistry teacher who has lived in Raymond for the past 12 years. Married and the mother of a four-year-old daughter, she and her family reside on Woodland Road. With a bachelor’s degree from Saint Joseph’s College and a master’s from University of Southern Maine, Thomas used to teach in the Raymond schools but is now a teacher at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School.
Thomas said she’s running for the School Board because she’s a “teacher interested in education.”
“There are three important things in order to have a good school: happy taxpayers, happy teachers and happy students,” she said. “I don’t think Raymond has all those things right now.”
Thomas says she’s seen the board make decisions without what she calls “the proper input” from all sides. And she said she’s also witnessed some board members and some administrators ignore feedback that’s been given them.
In fact, she said that’s the reason she obtained a teaching position in a different school.
Tackling the unwillingness she perceives on the part of some board members to listen is Thomas’s number one priority.
“I want teachers, parents, taxpayers and students to really feel like they’ve been heard and I want the budget to reflect their feedback even if it’s contrary to what the administration believes,” she said. “Some people in Raymond feel like they’re never getting the full truth.”
Saying she believes every group of students is being slighted in some way, Thomas says her second priority is to make sure all students, whether gifted/talented or special needs or somewhere in between, get the attention they deserve. She’s heard from parents who are not satisfied that their children are getting their needs met.
Thomas also wants to help teachers in the system feel valued. She says that they need to know their opinions matter to the board.
Citing her experience as a teacher, Thomas considers herself well prepared to be a School Board member.
“If I got elected to the board, hopefully it would give one end of the board the votes they need to get business accomplished because I don’t really feel I could compromise,” she said.
Kerry Ann Sullivan, School Board
Kerry Ann Sullivan, 57, a 21-year resident of Raymond, lives with her husband on Deep Cove Road. A computer and database specialist at the Institute of Health Policy at Muskie School of Public Service, Sullivan graduated from Saint Joseph’s College with a major in history and minors in education and math. Sullivan has one grown daughter and two grandchildren.
Sullivan is seeking a spot on the School Board because she wants to do something for the community. Since she has always been interested in education, she said she believes the board is a good place to start.
Her top priority is to change what she said is a lack of communication between teachers, administrators and the School Board.
“I’ve heard from teachers who says they’re not being heard,” Sullivan said. “They say they have ways of saving money and have new programs but they don’t feel they can talk with the superintendent.”
Another concern of Sullivan’s stems from input she’s heard from other residents. Sullivan said many people have told her they feel the School Board is “rubber stamping everything the superintendent wants.” As a computer programmer, Sullivan said it’s part of her training to listen to all sides before reaching a decision.
And a concern Sullivan shares with many taxpayers is how to save money.
“Without affecting the quality of education, I think we need to look at how we can save money in the school budget,” she said.
Giving the elementary school gymnasium as an example, Sullivan said parents have told her that the space isn’t fully utilized and, at the same time, they don’t feel their children are getting enough exercise. Sullivan said the school has “all these amenities not being used to the fullest extent they could be.”
Sullivan said her leadership experience combined with her analytical skills will serve her well if elected to the School Board. And she said her familiarity with negotiating will be useful during contract time.
When asked how she would function on a board whose members, some have said, are at odds, Sullivan said one of her strengths is the ability to listen to people and point out areas of compromise.
Wendy M. Trask, School Board
Wendy M. Trask, 39, has lived on Webbs Mills Road with her two sons for the past two years. She works for Wellpoint Anthem and holds an associate’s degree in radiology, CAT scan and MRI.
Filling in for Franklin Dexter after his resignation, Trask has served on the School Board since January. She also serves as vice president of the PTA and volunteers in the elementary school.
“I enjoy that hands-on piece to interact with staff and see what works and what doesn’t, what they need and what they don’t,” she said.
Trask would like the opportunity to continue bringing that input to board meetings. And since she’s now been through the budget process once, she says she’s better prepared for the next time; for trying to balance getting everybody what they need.
Her top concern is weeding out financial expenditures that do not benefit students or staff. She says she’s open to listening to residents and, even if she disagrees, she will express their opinions to the board.
Another priority for Trask is to support the staff with all their requirements, including state mandates, EPS models and the Maine Learning Results.
“There is a lot of stuff the state throws to schools that needs to be incorporated and I think the staff doesn’t always have time,” she said. “I want to make sure they have the time and the materials they need and, if they need something, make sure they can come to the board and say, ‘I need this.'”
Additionally, Trask wants to know why some special education students receive contracted services that are paid for by the district while other students must find and pay for their own contracted professionals.
Trask still has concerns about aspects of the budget, believing several cost centers were much too high. And she feels she and others were not always treated with respect by some of the board.
“I believe answers we received were not the full truth or information was not all given to us when deciding about money and where it should go,” she said.
But Trask believes her “strong rapport with the staff at both schools” and her relationship with community members will help her to “positively influence change.”
Jerilyn Ward, Budget/Finance Committee
An 18-year resident of Raymond, Jerilyn Ward is the lone candidate running for one of three open seats on the Budget/Finance Committee.
Ward, 45, lives on Crescent Shore Road with her husband and three boys. A graduate of Fitchburg State College with a degree in nursing, Ward is employed as a nurse at Raymond Elementary School, as well as at Brighton First Care and as a camp nurse.
Ward said she enjoys being involved in the town and knowing what its committees are doing simply because she lives there.
“I’ve been involved in the community for a long time and have attended the meetings and I wanted to get more involved,” she said. “I wanted to get into the town as well and this is a nice bridge instead of just being affiliated with the school.”
With a goal of bringing more energy to the Budget/Finance Committee, Ward says this committee should be a resource to the Board of Selectmen as well as one tool to keep them accountable.
Although Ward says the experience of running a marketing business from her home will likely help her in this position, she adds that the committee should not be run like a business.
“It’s unique and individualized,” she said. “The only way you can be productive is to know your town.”
Ward would like to see more people participating in this committee and others in the town. And, of course, she hopes people will write in candidates on election day, Friday, May 19.
“I’d like to see more people involved; the only time I see a lot of people is at the town meeting,” she said. “Maybe the Budget/Finance Committee is a way they can start – I’m enjoying the whole process.”
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