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[Editorial Note: As Sudbury Weekly has done in prior years, we offered the opportunity for all candidates in contested races in the Town Election to answer a few questions. We run any and all responses we receive.]
In your opinion, what are two top strengths of the district and two top opportunities for improvement?
- Strengths: It’s well known that many people move to Sudbury for our excellent schools. We have a strong curriculum that embraces our youngest learners where they are. The SPS budget represents our community values by showing our commitment to funding a strong mental health and social-emotional learning component, additional professional development for our teachers, paraprofessionals, and staff, and robust support to meet the needs of our students with disabilities. SPS has highly specialized programs and learning centers at each school, to meet the complex needs of our students. The district has added resources available to all students that help to meet increasing mental health and social emotional behavioral needs. Finally, we have a strong community of educators constantly juggling ever-expanding responsibilities to ensure the well-being of our students. There are established relationships and lines of communication between teachers, staff, parents, and guardians working together to help each student reach their potential.
- Opportunities:
- Class sizes: All efforts should be made to ensure that class size guidelines are met. Three grade levels at Haynes, one grade level at Nixon, and one grade level at Noyes are currently above the guidelines. The School Committee should work with the Superintendent on efforts to maximize the current available space at each school so that we can alleviate the overcrowding and plan for future enrollment accommodations. Enrollment projections show that SPS with grow by 225 additional students in the next five years. Capacity planning should be a priority.
- Better budget planning: Everyone knows how important it is for the schools to have the money they need. Capital planning should be an integral part of budget planning. The School Committee should be receiving regular reports from the SPS Facilities Director, including a long-term capital plan. For the most part, the process of maintaining and upgrading the future capital needs of SPS should not be budget surprises. I look forward to seeing the short- and long-term capital planning goals from the School Committee and Superintendent that should be completed by June 30, 2025.
What is your vision for the district in the next five years?
- My vision for the future of SPS is largely centered around continuing to nurture the whole student. I see schools that celebrate differences and collectively fight against bullying and harassment. Imagine the unrealized achievement of children that attend school in a truly welcoming environment.
- I’d love to see improved responses on the Student Connectedness Survey. One question revealed that a large portion of our students did not report to an adult at school that they were threatened, called mean names, or were stopped from being friends with other students. In our elementary schools that number ranged from 31-40% and at Curtis it was 76% of students. Our students need to trust that telling an adult will help, not lead to a worsening of their situation. The Student Connectedness Survey can be accessed at https://sites.google.com/a/sudbury.k12.ma.us/social-emotional-resource-site-for-sps-parents/social-skills/local-sel-data.
- And finally, I see a collegial and positive environment on the School Committee, where ideas are heard with an open-mind and implemented in the best way possible for all learners.
What unique perspective would you bring to the SPS school committee?
I moved to Sudbury 19 years ago after growing up in a military family. I spent my school years moving from home to home, attending public schools in multiple states, and experiencing different places and cultures. I have a daughter at Curtis Middle School and have experienced first-hand the programming at SPS. I want all students to be able to experience the world outside of Sudbury and strong curriculums are a big part of that. Exposure to new ideas, new places, and new ways of thinking is so important in nurturing creative, independent thinkers. Access to diverse perspectives goes hand in hand with the freedom and safety to ask questions. In my career I have never shied away from challenging my mindset and asking questions. I will bring my inquisitive nature to my work on the School Committee.
What is your position on the district’s current approach to curriculum review?
Curriculum review, across all areas, should follow a regular cycle. We are at the end of the ELA curriculum review and implementation, which took five years. Managing this type of complex change requires an extensive amount of review, input, and training. The world language curriculum has not been updated in nearly 10 years, which is unacceptable. The pace of change in the world is exponential and the guidance on curriculum is updated regularly by DESE. We need to keep our curriculum relevant, aligned with the most current research and learning standards, and meeting student needs.
How will you balance the needs of students, teachers and taxpayers if you are elected?
- Balancing the needs of everyone is always tricky. In my career, I’ve always had the responsibility of gathering information from a wide range of sources to learn everything I can on a particular issue before making decisions. It’s the smart way to operate in a world where things are not black and white – there are so many perspectives to consider.
- The Town guidance for SPS’s budget for the next three fiscal years will make that balance even more difficult because they are not aligned. For FY26 SPS received Town guidance that will force the projected $50 million SPS budget down to $47 million – or lead to an override or warrant articles asking residents for additional money. This would be in addition to over $7 million in Town Meeting warrant articles and capital requests that the School Committee will be making for FY26.
- Sudbury taxpayers have passed overrides for the schools many times. It seems the Town understands that residents will always vote to support the schools. No one wants to cut teachers or programs when our students’ needs continue to increase. I’d like to work on the relationship between the Town Manager and the School Committee so that we can plan budgets that avoid overrides as much as possible.
- The SPS FY26 Budget Book is here: https://www.sudbury.k12.ma.us/fs/resource-manager/view/19f40f0e-56c0-40fa-9c34-7c84a35ff5f5.
- The Town Manager’s Proposed Budget for the Fiscal Year ended June 30, 2026 is here: https://cdn.sudbury.ma.us/wp-content/uploads/sites/292/2025/01/FY26-Town-Manager-Proposed-Budget-01-30-25.pdf?version=6e4299efba7dc083673e8de890844ffc.
How would you ensure transparency and communication between the School Committee and the community?
The new Communications Subcommittee has made a good start at addressing these issues. The School Committee At-A-Glance newsletter that came out in January 2025 provided highlights of the previous six months and goals for the months ahead. I think that the School Committee could have more robust agendas, with a small paragraph explaining each item being discussed. I also think there is an opportunity to make the School Committee’s website easier to navigate and with clear announcement banners. The latest At-A-Glance newsletter can be found at https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1737990368/sudburyk12maus/bebx6fknpksqjpryrsdb/January2025At-A-Glance.pdf. All committee activity is governed by law. Demonstrating transparency is more than just saying you will be an open communicator. Being transparent in the work of the School Committee requires Sudbury residents to trust that the people communicating are working for the best interests of everyone, in accordance with the law.
What do you believe should be the top priorities for ensuring all students feel safe, included and a sense of belonging in the district?
I took a lot of time reviewing the results of the Student Connectedness Survey from 2023 and was disheartened about the number of students that do not feel safe in our hallways or supported by adults in the buildings. We need more training for our teachers, staff, and paraprofessionals so that their behavior can serve as a model for our students. I was happy to learn of the launch of Say Something in our schools – SPS received a 5-year grant from Sandy Hook Promise to implement this anonymous reporting system in our schools. The Say Something program teaches students to “recognize the warning signs of someone at-risk of hurting themselves or others and how to say something to a trusted adult to get help.” With the program in place, we have already seen students looking out for each other. Say Something was discussed at the March 5, 2025 School Committee meeting and you can access the presentation here: https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1741034163/sudburyk12maus/zhlrqlzjo6vcfc0vak0t/Amended_AgendaPacket_030325_SchoolCommitteeMeeting.pdf.
How should Sudbury’s schools approach policies on gender inclusivity, including pronoun use and accommodations for transgender and gender nonconforming students?
We should support the needs of our transgender and gender nonconforming students. We should have a gender identity support policy and we have a variety of policy models that have been passed in our neighboring districts. Students should be able to use the bathroom that conforms to their gender identity and gender neutral bathrooms should be available in all our schools. Our continued support should be standard across all SPS schools and there should be policies that schools can rely upon to guide their actions, while still recognizing that every child is different and that a support policy should provide flexibility to meet unique needs. Statistics from The Trevor Project are sobering – LGBTQ+ young people are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers. And we know from the MetroWest Adolescent Health Survey that 5% of MetroWest students in the 2023 survey said they were transgender or questioning and 4% reported being non-binary or questioning their gender identity. For more information you can visit The Trevor Project at https://www.thetrevorproject.org/resources/article/facts-about-suicide/ or the MetroWest Adolescent Health Survey data at https://mwhealth.org/knowledge-center/foundation-publications.
I’d like to thank Sudbury Weekly for giving Sudbury town committee candidates the opportunity to share our thoughts with the community. I’m always available to speak to Sudbury residents who may have additional questions or concerns. Please reach out at www.allisonv4sudbury.com or email me at allison@allisonv4sudbury.com. I hope to earn your vote for SPS School Committee on March 31, 2025.