Medford Election Profile: Paul Ruseau For School Committee

MEDFORD, MA — Medford's municipal election Nov. 5 will send six people to the School Committee out of a pool of 10 candidates. Paul Ruseau, 48, is one of five current committee members running for re-election.

Ruseau has been a software engineer at Partners HealthCare System for 21 years. He lives in Medford with his husband, Robert, and their two children.

Ruseau has a masters degree in Human Factors in Information Design.

Are you running for office in Medford? Contact Alex Newman at alex.newman@patch.com for information on being featured in a candidate's profile and submitting campaign announcements to Medford Patch.

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

While we have many pressing issues, I believe we must focus on getting every student reading at grade level by the end of 3rd grade. The importance of this inflection point cannot be overstated - when a student starts 4th grade there is an expectation that the student can learn content at a much increased tempo. Students unable to read at grade level fall behind or simply do not access the curriculum like other students.

We spend significant resources on remediation in the later grades - I am convinced spending the money early will not only save us money, but will more importantly help students to be successful - which is great for their social and emotional health, a major focus of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and Medford Public Schools.

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

A committee that works together and has a diverse set of skills and interests that complement one another can dramatically improve the effectiveness of such a governing body. Because of the important of complementary skills, it is hard to compare and contrast. One incumbent has a graduate degree in education (Mea Mustone), another has many years of service which allows her to have historical knowledge which can be helpful to deliberations (Paulette Van der Kloot), and another has specific interests in vocational education as a parent of a former student in that program (Kathy Kreatz), and another candidate (Jenny Graham) has professional experience in operational effectiveness which would be helpful in redesign of processes.

The committee today has such a diverse set of skills and interests that it is a real challenge to compare us - instead, I recommend evaluating the candidates individually. My skills in software design allow me to see a path through the forest, even in the dark. I can often determine the difference between what needs to change and what doesn't, which I think is a critical skill because often the status quo doesn't reveal whether it is successful.

A quote I have posted in my cube at my office is "If everything is important, then nothing is important." We have to make choices, hard choices. Knowing what is important is a critical skill.

I am often quiet during entire segments of School Committee meetings. If I have nothing to 'add', I do not speak. I try to always be a 'value add' person - and hope this comes out in the way I conduct myself as your representative on the Medford School Committee.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform:

After school capacity is a major issue that has severe consequences for many families. Families are choosing charter schools because of guaranteed after school services - with major impacts to the bottom line of Medford Public Schools. I have ideas on how to increase our capacity, but they all cost money - so I hope to be able to convince everyone to spend our very limited resources to make a dent in the wait lists.

I want to begin working on a real plan to move our schools towards a carbon neutral future - this can't wait any longer and it will be expensive, very expensive. But it will be LESS expensive than just doing nothing and dealing with the consequences climate change. By making the big investments we need to get our buildings to be carbon neutral, we can also make sure they are able to withstand the climate crisis we are already living in, and will only be much worse very soon. We face dozens of additional days per year when our schools, especially the high school, will be too hot to be a safe environment for our students and staff. If we ONLY cared about education, we have to do this!

We have employees making wages that should embarrass us all and they certainly embarrass me. I am committed to ensuring every employee is making a living wage.

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

Working on the Superintendent Search Committee to select our new superintendent was an incredible experience. I was selected for this special committee immediately after being sworn in, and the entire special committee was dedicated and worked hard to winnow the candidates to the few that were put to the full committee and the public.

I was appointed the Medford representative to the Shore Educational Collaborative to serve on the board of directors and I am proud of the work we do at Shore to provide incredible services to our clients young and old.

I pressed for universal free breakfast, which was rolled out in September of this year.

I am proud that our schools are now doing in school free dental check ups at my urging to the Associate Superintendent and Supervisor of Nursing. I am also proud of the incredible speed with which they were able to roll out this new program!

Increasing the cyber defenses budget for our schools was one of my first accomplishments, although the details are not public due to the sensitivity of this issue.

The Medication Administration Policy has had major updates in the Support Services Subcommittee that I chair.

New middle school math curricula and elementary school science curricula have been rolled out bringing the latest and greatest to our students and staff! While I was just one voice in these two updates to curricula, I am incredibly proud of this work nonetheless.

The best advice ever shared with me was ...

I should never underestimate how much I owe my success to others.

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

I hold office hours almost every week. You can see them posted on my campaign facebook page at fb.com/paulruseau

These office hours have been so important to how I perform my duties on the School Committee. I hear about the nitty gritty, the good, the bad, and I feel like I get unvarnished information at these meetings. I urge anyone that wants to sit and talk to contact me for a one-on-one, or to just show up to my office hours.