Andover Candidate Profile: Lauren Conoscenti For School Committee

ANDOVER, MA —Andover will have several contested races in the March 24 town election, including contested races for School Committee, Select Board and town moderator. Andover Patch asked candidates to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles over the coming weeks.

Lauren Conoscenti is running for election to the School Committee. There are two other candidates: Amy Hafensteiner and Shishan Wang. Conoscenti is a data scientist at Tufts University. She and her husband have two children in Andover Public Schools.

Are you running for office in Andover? Contact Christopher Huffaker at chris.huffaker@patch.com for information on being featured in a candidate's profile and submitting campaign announcements to Andover Patch.

Previously on Patch: Ten File To Run In 2020 Andover Town Election

Lauren Conoscenti

Age (as of Election Day)

41

Position Sought

Andover School Committee

Party Affiliation

Local elections are non-partisan. However, my voter registration is Democrat.

Family

Husband Tom, daughter Madelyn (11), son Jamie (7)

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

No

Education

BA in Psychology from Princeton University (2000), Ph.D. in Psychology/Clinical Science from Harvard University (2007)

Occupation

I have been working in the Office of Institutional Research at Tufts University since 2010; I am currently the Assistant Director. In my work, I collect, analyze, and communicate data to help with strategic planning.

Previously, I was a clinician and researcher at the Boston VA Research Institute and the Medical University of South Carolina, and I taught undergraduate courses and advised students at Harvard University.

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office

None

Campaign website

https://laurenforandover.org/

Why are you seeking elective office?

I am running for School Committee because I believe our schools should be places of connection, growth, and pride for our entire community. I am deeply invested in our district’s ability to provide a top-notch education and to create spaces where every student feels welcome.

We will be facing new and challenging decisions over the next three years. Our choices must be sustainable, cost-effective, and right the first time. I believe my professional experience, work ethic, and commitment to Andover make me uniquely qualified to lead our schools through these upcoming challenges.

The single most pressing issue facing our (board, district, etc.) is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

When the goal is to provide a quality educational experience for Andover children, every single decision we make has downstream effects. It is up to us to make sure those effects are positive.

That said, the School Committee will be facing several significant decisions in the near future, including the hiring of a new superintendent (one of the few positions for which the School Committee has the authority to hire), making decisions about the high school and West Elementary facilities, and identifying ways to sustain educational excellence in the wake of unexpectedly low Chapter 70 funding. Working cooperatively with a range of stakeholders throughout our town and schools will be critical to ensure that the decisions we face, large and small, have favorable outcomes.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

In my 11 years as an Andover resident — 6 of which have been as a parent of APS students — I have enthusiastically sought opportunities to get to know my community better and to participate actively in it. I have built positive working relationships across town with different people in many different contexts through the effort I’ve put in to improve my town and my children’s school. From being part of the team to establish the Andover Community Garden in 2016 to helping begin new traditions at South Elementary to becoming a member of the South School Improvement Council, I have invested my time, my strengths, and my optimism to improve our community. Running for public office is an extension of my commitment to the town in which I have chosen to plant my roots.

Additionally, I have been working in education for over a decade. The questions I explore in my career closely parallel the kinds of questions Andover residents ask about our schools: Why aren’t we ranked higher? Are our students learning what we want them to learn? What investments should we prioritize? How can we help our students thrive? How do we measure success? My perspectives from working in higher education and my skill set position me uniquely to make insightful and informed contributions as a School Committee member.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community (or district or constituency)

For this open seat, the current School Committee would benefit from someone who can bring to the table empathic, reflective listening, and who is enthusiastic in proactively seeking community input when tackling complex decisions. I intend to employ my strengths as a listener and bridge-builder to help our School Committee work in a positive direction.

Although I think our current School Committee’s efforts to engage the community through informal forums have been a step in the right direction, there is room for improvement. I have taken the time to learn how other local School Committees in the region have connected with their residents more effectively, and I hope to experiment with some new approaches. Increased School Committee visibility at community events like Andover Day, regular drop-in "office hours", and back-to-school forums that both welcome families to the new academic year and provide updates on work that transpired during the summer are just three possibilities. I look forward to hearing additional ideas from Andover residents on how the School Committee can improve channels of communication with the public.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform

As a data scientist, I’m passionate about using data to help initiate conversations that bring about change. I am excited to work with educators who want to explore data to better serve their students -- for example, through identifying patterns that could prompt interventions before a student fails a class, or ensuring that children are being treated equitably across demographic categories. I am also eager to help the public better understand the school budget through interactive tools that allow us to see how our money has been spent, how we compare to other towns, and the outcomes of our decisions. Andover residents are craving more budget transparency from our schools, and I bring to the table the necessary background and vision to achieve that.

As a former clinician, I value the experience of sitting down face-to-face and talking through issues. I enjoy getting to know people and learning about what matters to them most, and I approach every opportunity to connect as an opportunity to learn and grow. I will bring my open mind and empathic listening skills to every conversation, be it in the School Committee room, with parents at a coffee shop, or with a principal or teacher at one of our schools. I will work hard to be inclusive and to bring into the conversation people who have felt excluded in the past, and I will proactively seek parent and student representation on working groups.

Finally, as someone with a front-row seat to the issues in higher education, I have a unique understanding of what students need to succeed in college and the ways in which elementary, middle, and high school experiences can provide strong foundations for those next steps. In particular, mental well-being is a critical ingredient for success beyond Andover. I am invested in creating healthy environments for our children to grow. I will advocate for programming, curricula, and efforts that promote grit and resilience, civic engagement and community service, and strong positive connections between students and faculty/staff.

I am committed to helping our schools flourish at every level, and I look forward to working to bring positive, sustainable change to Andover.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

In the past two decades, I’ve served on teams and working groups with military officers, healthcare providers, university leadership, students and neighbors, among many others. I have a proven track record of building strong working relationships across diverse groups and moving forward together toward a common goal.

The skills I employ in my career transfer well to the work of a School Committee. I have led complex, detail-oriented projects involving multiple stakeholders and produced public-facing work that has inspired change. My work demands innovation and a willingness to reflect and find ways to improve, and it requires me to stay abreast of the latest issues in education policy, student well-being, and curricula.

Finally, I live my values in the work that I do. I am committed to improving equity in education, and many of my projects at Tufts reflect that. Recently, I conducted analyses showing that SAT II math and science scores did not significantly predict performance in STEM classes at Tufts. As a result, the Tufts admissions dean discontinued the requirement that applicants provide SAT II scores. Leveraging data to remove this barrier to college admissions was a step toward greater equity, and one I’m proud to have been a part of.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

Through my love for gardening, I am constantly reminded that to create something amazing, you have to formulate a plan, work hard, get your hands dirty (really dirty!), and — most importantly — be patient. My plot at the Andover Community Garden has been my happy place for the past four summers, and I try to apply the lessons learned from my successes and disappointments there to all areas of my life.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.