LETTER: 'Let’s Reelect Christine Hogan So That She Can Continue Her SPS Improvement Efforts'

SUDBURY, MA — The following letter was submitted:

Given the criticality of this year’s Sudbury Public School (SPS) Committee election I wholeheartedly endorse Christine Hogan for reelection to the Committee, and urge each of you to vote for her so that she can continue her drive to improve our children’s schools.

Because I have a daughter in the SPS school system (Noyes and Curtis) I have attended, and actively participated in, many School Committee meetings over the years. During that time I have seen Christine consistently work to bring new ideas to the table and advocate for what is best for the children of Sudbury; in several cases even when her opinion was not the administration’s preferred direction. When faced with opposition Christine has continued to work for what was the right direction to improve our schools and what was best for our children.

During her tenure on the SPS Committee Christine has pushed for the SPS leadership to develop a clear vision to provide focus to the District’s future efforts. Christine has worked to improve the transparency of the processes, budgets and decisions made by the School District so that the citizens of Sudbury know what the tradeoffs were that led to the final decisions. Christine has advocated for respect for the teachers when many of them were reluctant to actively voice their opinions or “speak truth to power”. Christine has been a vocal supporter of not decimating the Art and Music budgets. Christine has pushed to develop and implement credible long term scholastic and budgetary plans rather than focus on expedient short-term plans.

Although Christine is very much the collaborative team player when the situation warrants it, Christine is also willing to state a different opinion or solution if the situation requires that. Given the significant budget shortfall, contract negotiations, MCAS testing and curriculum enhancement issues that face the School District I believe that we continue to need Christine’s strong advocacy and leadership on the SPS Committee. Without it we run the risk of making short term decisions that appear to solve the issue – but do nothing to resolve the actual problem.

To ensure that our schools continue to improve and thrive we need someone that can plan and execute to meet the challenges of both today and tomorrow. In this fiscally constrained environment we need someone that will fight for our children so that they can prosper. We need to reelect Christine Hogan.

Geoff Phillips

Sudbury