Candidate for re-election

Date: 5/29/2014

I am a candidate for re-election to the Longmeadow School Committee. Election day is Tuesday, 3 June.

I am running on my record of support for quality education in all of Longmeadow’s public schools.  I have excellent attendance at all school committee meetings and the various sub-committee meetings.

I am proud of my support for the new high school building and currently serve on the high school building committee.

Quality public education costs money, because education is a labor-intensive enterprise. We have a high quality teaching staff at all levels of our school system. We need to maintain this high quality educational staff and this means realistic and effective on-going educator evaluations coupled with strong administrative support and supervision.

We are constantly working to reduce the expenses that go with our moral and legal obligations to our Special Education program.  Our “Eyes on the Child” focus keeps us out of costly legal disputes that waste educational dollars.

Looking toward the future we are examining consolidation of our two aging middle schools into one modern school building.

We need to adopt some serious “green” policies to move our schools and community off of reliance on increasingly expensive fossil fuels. I am a strong supporter of solar energy and wind power solutions to our energy needs.

I remain open to your comments on and criticisms of our schools and our committee's governance of them. 

Thank you for your consideration of my candidacy.

John J. Fitzgerald
Longmeadow