Jaime Wallace Will Listen To Stoneham School Community

A Letter to the Editor from Jamie Mahoney:

I am confidently endorsing Jaime Wallace for a seat on the School Committee for the upcoming election on Tuesday April 3^rd. There is no doubt in my mind that Jaime is the most qualified candidate for one of the two seats on the Board, and there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that if given the opportunity Jaime will prove her worth to the community. For anyone that knows me I am not usually politically active, and the most I have really ever done is hosted lawn signs on my yard. This election is very different for me and I am asking that you vote for Jaime on April 3^rd.

I have known Jaime Wallace for five years and I have always been impressed with Jaime’s energy and commitment towards any endeavor she takes on. For the past three years Jaime has been President of the Robin Hood PTO. Since taking this role on, I have seen vast improvements with events such as the Halloween party and Dr. Seuss night, communication protocol, and programs such as field trips and special guests visiting the school. Additionally, Jaime has been able to collaborate with the other Stoneham elementary schools to partner on fundraising events, which has resulted in more dollars into the participating schools, and more importantly an enhanced comradery amongst the schools. It has given many people from various parts of town the opportunity to get to know each other, which in my opinion has fostered a stronger school community.

If you do not know Jaime, she is a life-long resident of Stoneham with deep family ties in the town. Jaime and her husband Allen have two daughters (one in the Purpose School and one at Robinhood) and I can tell you that Jaime is fully committed to making children’s experience in Stoneham a positive one. Jaime understands the issues that Stoneham faces with our school system, not the least of which is for something to be done with the High School to maintain accreditation. Jaime plans on working to push through programs to enhance the overall school experience. These include but are not limited to the expansion of the STEM program to the High School, increasing Student Services, working to improve the budget for the Art and Music programs, and identifying ways to improve overall safety in our schools.

As you can imagine most of this will require budget resources. The good news is that Jaime is a budget expert as a department manager at Tufts University where she manages an $18 million budget to support programs. Jaime is accustomed to working to make the dollar go further and understands a balance sheet and the concept of working within your means for the best outcome. The School Committee NEEDS someone with these expertise on the Board. Since Jaime has great ideas and understands and manages budgets today she will be invaluable in working with the other Board Members to formulate recommendations for the Town Officials. Jamie has demonstrated time and time again her ability to work with others as one team for one common goal.

Jaime is a team player and this is extremely important in the role of being on the School Committee Board. To be effective in this spot you need to check your ego at the door, and I can tell you she has already done that. Jaime is a collaborative person and always seeks to get the opinions of others and encourages new points of view which cultivates diversity of ideas. Jaime is a very transparent person who I would not categorize as a politician, and quite honestly this makes her the exceptional candidate that she is.

When choosing a candidate for School Committee some of the major things that you should be looking for are qualities such as commitment, respectful of different points of view, being a team player, drive to make the schools better, in-depth knowledge of the issues and budgetary constraints, and working to meet the needs of every child. I can tell you Jaime possess all of these qualities. I can assure you that Jaime will listen to the community and work extremely diligently in improving every aspect of the schools, including working towards getting a new high school which we all know the town desperately needs.

PLEASE JOIN ME IN SUPPORTING JAIME ON APRIL 3^RD. PLEASE ENCOURAGE ALL YOUR FRIENDS TO GO OUT AND VOTE FOR JAIME. I CAN TELL YOU THAT SHE WILL NOT LET US DOWN!

Jamie Mahoney, Oak Street