WINDHAM — Town councilors interviewed two candidates for an open School Board seat at their meeting on Tuesday and hope to next week appoint someone to fill the seat, which has been vacant for over a month.

Brandi Caceres and Christina Small applied to fill the Windham seat on the RSU 14 School Board that was vacated last month when Dawn Dillon stepped down. Whoever is appointed to the position will serve until the election in November.

Councilors thanked both women multiple times for applying for the position. Windham currently has 24 open seats across 11 committees.

“The town needs all the volunteers it can get,” Town Councilor Nick Kalogerakis said.

Caceres is intrigued by education, saying, “I was a poor kid living in a wealthier neighborhood, and it’s just always intrigued me to serve the underserved.” 

She is a certified nursing assistant and now stay-at-home mom with her two children, and she is a school volunteer once a week.

“My son’s in first grade, so I’m trying to get involved,” Caceres said. At 27, “I’m younger, and I do think that it’s important for younger people to get involved.”

Town Councilor Tim Nangle quizzed her on the name of the RSU 14 Superintendent, which she did not know, but said she is eager to learn.

“I’m a hard worker. I paid my way through college when I was a nursing student pregnant. I’ll get the job done,” Caceres said. 

Town Councilor David Douglass asked how she felt about needing to spend time outside of meetings preparing for them.

“It’s exciting for me. Mom life is grueling,” Caceres said. “Something that I can do for myself would be great.”

Small moved to Windham in 2013 and is also a stay-at-home mom with two children. She has previously worked at an insurance company and served on a homeowner’s association but said “these days mostly I clean up after my children.”

“I’m eager to start using my brain again since I have not worked since my oldest was born,” she said. 

Nangle asked her the name of the School Board chairman, which she said she did not know.

Small said School Board members should be “open to community input” and also be “willing to put in the research so you’re knowledgeable about what is being discussed.”

Town Council Chairman Jarrod Maxfield asked Small how she would handle the pressure of the job, which can often be a contentious place where “emotions can get involved.”

“It’s petty. I’m not here for that,” Small said. “I want to make sure that our students are getting the best education possible while keeping our taxes to a minimum.”

Neither Caceres nor Small has ever held a town office position or had other civic involvement.

Councilors gave both applicants words of advice.

“No one’s ever going to be happy with the things the School Board does, says, votes on. And you’re going to have people who are really, really unhappy and upset at times,” Douglass said.

“When you get sworn in as a School Board member, your only obligation is to the students of Windham, not the taxpayers of Windham,” Town Councilor Dave Nadeau said. “You only look at what’s best for the students.”

At the Town Council’s next meeting on Jan. 28, councilors will vote to appoint one of the women to the vacant seat.

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