Burlington Candidate Profile: Stephen Nelson For School Committee

BURLINGTON, MA — Burlington will have a four way-contest for two School Committee seats in this year's town election, April 4. Burlington Patch asked candidates to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles over the coming weeks.

Stephen Nelson is one of four candidates for the two School Committee seats. His opponents are Adam Senesi, Carl Foss and Katherine Bond. Nelson is an attorney and has sat on the School Committee since 1996.

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

Previously on Patch: Over 50 File To Run In Burlington Annual Town Election

Stephen Nelson

Age (as of Election Day)

63

Position Sought

School Committee

Party Affiliation

Unenrolled

Family

Wife Barbara and two kids, a son and a daughter, both of whom went through Burlington Public Schools.

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

Wife and son are both teachers at Burlington Public Schools.

Education

Bachelor's degree from Boston College and J.D. from Suffolk University Law School

Occupation

Attorney

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office

Burlington Ways and Means Committee (appointed)

School Committee since 1996

Campaign website

https://www.facebook.com/SteveNelsonforSchoolCommittee/

Why are you seeking elective office?

When my kids were young, I was first encouraged by some administrators in the Burlington Public Schools to run for office. First time, in 1992, I did not make it. I decided to accept an appointment to the Ways and Means Committee and that's how I became involved in politics in town. I was the town's designee to the MBTA Advisory Committee. I was also on the education subcommittee for Ways and Means. I was on the B-Line Advisory Committee for a while. Then in 1996 I decided to run for School Committee. I kind of paid my dues I think. I wanted to get on the committee back then because the schools needed a lot of work.

I've been working on education issues ever since. I've been the chair of the committee five times. I was chair when we ended up hiring Dr. Conti, who I think is one of the best superintendents in New England.

We want to maintain the excellence we have, but we need to do a lot more.

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

I would probably say increases in elementary school enrollment. Construction of a new school on the Fox Hill site to address that.

I've been through that process, with the renovation of Francis Wyman, Marshall Simonds, the construction of Memorial.

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

I think experiences. I don't know that much about the other candidates. One of the most important things when you're a school committee member is having experience, knowing the players in town who make the important decisions, knowing and interacting with the selectmen and the Ways and Means Committee, knowing about budget. The candidates running for office, their argument is they have kids in the system. I had kids in the system the first time I ran, and I didn't get elected. Experience, that's the most important difference.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform

I want to see Pine Glen renovated because the state's not going to fund two elementary schools in the town of Burlington. If we get money for the Fox Hill school, we're going to need money probably from the town to upgrade Pine Glen.

Some of the things we're looking at for the future involve the social and emotional needs of students. All the craziness going on around the country, we want to make sure we're doing everything we can to support kids having issues, identify them and make sure they get the suport they need.

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

One of my proudest accomplishments is in the area of special education. When i first joined the committee, it was part of our general education budget. Year after year we would have pressure on the budget with kids coming in with special education needs. I worked with the board of selectmen to take the special education budget out of the school budget and put it on the town side as a fixed expense. Now when we have students come in or develop issues, the town will fund that.

We ended up reopening the Francis Wyman in the late 1990s. We got funding from the state to renovate and turn it from a middle school to an elementary school. That was one of the first things i helped push through.

We've always been adamant on the Committee about keeping class sizes low. That's always a strong view of mine. If class sizes grow, you need to have the courage to go before town meeting and get funding for more staffing.

We're doing a lot now at the elementary school level, like rti—response to intervention. We test students at an early age, try to find what their deficits are, do what we call tiered instruction. That's something brought in by Dr. Conti.

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