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Dear Friends and Neighbors,
On March 4, 2020, three of the six members on the Reading School Committee will be new as no incumbent members are running for reelection. Let’s make sure the school committee can continue its important work and address pressing issues on day one by electing Megan Fidler-Carey, an educator with almost 20 years experience in surrounding school districts, an active community volunteer, and parent to a Parker 7th grader. Megan, Charlie, and Marlie Carey moved to Reading in 2015 and Megan hit the ground running to find ways to help in her community. Megan is a town meeting member, board member for the Reading Educational Foundation, member of the Reading Cultural Council, and part of the leadership team for Reading Embraces Diversity. In each of these roles, Megan has established a collaborative leadership style that allows her to make connections between people and helps make Reading a better place to live.
As a school committee member, Megan will be able to combine her civic commitment and professional experience. While I care deeply about education and have worked as a college professor for 12 years, I often struggle to translate the DESE report cards or school committee minutes because I don’t know public K-12 education jargon. Working in Boston, Revere, and Medford public schools, Megan has had years of professional development, experience of presenting to school committees, and long collaborations with individual school committee members to solve difficult problems. I personally rely on Megan as a neighbor and close friend to help me understand what is happening in our schools. For example, she explained that the “Portrait of a Graduate” is a design process used by many communities and not a time-intensive project Reading is doing for marketing. I can honestly appreciate this tool now because I understand that it will be used to apply design thinking to the strategic planning for our schools and I think more long-term strategy is truly needed.
As half of the school committee turns over, join me in electing the candidate most ready to navigate the critical decisions that need to be made in 2020. Megan will thoughtfully and critically evaluate the budget, superintendent, and school policies. I trust her completely to make the best decisions and to provide clear, no jargon summaries of what the school committee votes mean for parents and taxpayers.
Sincerely,
Jessica Kaufman
34 Francis Drive
