Incumbent Seeks Return to Assabet Committee

Editor's note: The Westborough Spring Town Election takes place on Tuesday, March 6. Westborough Patch reached out to the candidates who are seeking public office and will feature profiles on them in the days and weeks leading up to the election. Paul George, featured here, is running unopposed for a four-year term on the Assabet Valley Regional Vocational School Committe.

Name: Paul L. George

Age: 67

Address: 19 Robin Rd.

Family: Married 44 years to wife, Dorothy. Adult sons, Chris and David, are both very successful Assabet graduates.

Previous/Current Public Service: All in Westborough — Soccer coach, Little League coach (4 years), Assistant Scout Master Troop 382 (3 years), Scout Master Troop 382 (12 years), advisory board for Graphic Arts Shop at Assabet for 2 years, served on Assabet Technical High School district school committee (23 years) 

Employment: I have been in the computer business for the past 46 years. In the past, I have worked for RCA, HP, DEC, Raytheon, NIXDORF/SEAMENS, Prime Computer, Stratus Computer and PLG Enterprises. I have been self-employed since 1993 in my consulting company (PLG Enterprises) and, in 1998, I opened a family IT support firm. We currently support local businesses in the Greater Worcester and Boston areas. We have serviced many of our town’s residents and business for years.

Education: I attended CCNY, New York Institute of Technology, Bentley College, Northeastern University and Harvard Graduate School. I spent years being a masters advisor to Lesley Graduate School and years teaching at Harvard Graduate School. I also taught “State-Of-The-Art” courses at Northeastern University for years. I hold several patents in the areas of distributed processing and memory allocation and design. I have lectured over the years to Seagate, Boeing, Red Stone Missile Arsenal on building reliable systems.

Why do you want the position?

I have always been a teenager at heart and I feel the kids need someone on the school board that thinks like them and has very high moral standards and solid understanding of Massachusetts regional school financing policy. I enjoy the job and feel proud to have had a hand in helping 20,000 young adults attain their education goals. This is a very non-political and rewarding way to pay the town back for the environment that has been provided for my family and me.

What do you feel are the biggest issues facing the Assabet Regional High School Committee?

Dealing with the state’s inability to actually fund education. In 1993, the school reform act required the state to fully fund regional transportation. They have never done so. That actually falls on the local towns and cities to make up the difference. This is actually illegal taxation. This is only one issue. There are many others that make no sense at both the federal and state level. As a member of the committee, I have input to our representatives and state school board organizations. I have made a concerted effort at the State House and with our local, state and federal legislatures to help correct the unfunded mandates that are costing our towns and cities hundreds of thousands of dollars every year. The time it takes to do all this nonsense takes the administrators' and teachers' time away from our kids. I could go on, but the biggest issue the committee always faces is a way to manage the budget, in these declining revenue times, and still provide the same level of education and activities for our kids and adults.  

How do you plan to affect change?

As stated above, I take the time and spend the effort to deal with the problems very personally. Most of the legislators know me by name and understand the problem. If you don’t keep pushing, then they forget and move on to the next squeaky wheel.

Fun Fact About You: I am basically a computer nerd, that likes hunting (bow) fishing and camping. I am a musician and a photographer, both of which I did professionally. I love wood working and am an accomplished cabinet/furniture maker. I mostly enjoy my family and grandsons. I seemed to have been demoted to a Horsy Ride. If you think it is easy being a Horsy to two forty pound 4 1/2-year-old very active twin grandsons, think again.