High-quality education can be define in so many ways by so many people. As a School Committee member, I will collaborate with Federal, State, Local and private grant programs to seek and research opportunities. Paperwork is time consuming, compliance driven, and detailed for the school district which has plenty of expertise in this area. The community and this great City have an expanding partnership with our central administration. Community involvement is crucial. Using my legal and business experience, detailed project time and goals must be identified with short and long term objectives. Expanding the partnership with Tufts University that is recognized by collective bargaining, good faith, spirit of cooperation and financial obligations needs to be leverage. Identifying opportunities for cost shares with neighboring cities while expanding grant partnerships must be considered. I would propose grant writing seminars which will increase grant opportunities through this forum. Representation from the community to formulate a committee that is opened to Senior Citizens, Tufts University, Medford Public School administration, faculty, students, and PTO's should be partnered. Our city government needs the will and support of the taxpayers. EDNETS needs more attention and a presentation to the Chamber of Commerce, PTO's and other venues should be scheduled accordingly. Seasoned professionals from both public and private sectors will benefit from the increased financial resources (who are all stakeholders) as it puts less of a burden on our property tax based system. Medicaid reimbursement for Special Education services which is managed by Shore Collaborative are significant. How can we maximize this return? Local financial resources will always need to be increased because the community will always be setting the bar for high-quality education for our children. Yet, increase spending that involves school legal salaries, legal fees, and legal services that were much less the previous school year budget (2006 vs 2007) needs to be reviewed and a better job mitigating this cost identified. We must do better.
