How do candidates feel about going green and using social media?

As the April 27 school board election creeps closer, we continue our Meet the Candidates series.

This week, we asked your candidates two questions.

1. Should green initiatives be important to the school district? Why or why not?
2. In this new age of technology and social media, what can the district do to improve transparency and public access to information?”

Here are there responses.

Salvatore Cocivera

Question 1

I am strongly in favor of green initiatives and believe they serve a vital role in our district. Medford is an innovator and leader in the integration of green technology in a school district. Currently, solar power is reducing our utility costs, which leads to more of our dollars going towards the education of our children, and less reliance on tax revenue to fund our district. Going forward, with the continued installation of solar panels on district owned land, we may only be a few years away from selling our excess power, there by generating positive cash flow.

I also believe a “green” environment is a great way to teach our children, first hand, to respect and protect our natural resources (recycling), harness energy (solar power) and keep our community beautiful.

Question 2

I would like all district records that fall under the “Open Public Records Act” digitized and made available on a public website. This would allow for full disclosure of all documents to the public without burdening our administrative staff to continually fill OPRA requests. Doing this could lead to cost reductions and/or more efficiencies within our administrative office.

I would like to see all Board of Education meetings video streamed and/or taped and saved on the district website for residents to view at their leisure. Currently, far too few people attend these meetings and become uninformed to the current issues and events in our district. Most people I speak with find it hard to attend the meetings. Since we all seem to live very active lives (especially our children), schedules don’t always afford a parent or resident the time to attend, but they still want to know what is happening and be involved. Having board meetings available to all in a public forum would be a great first step.

Ann Davidson

Question 1

I absolutely support the investigation and implementation of effective “green” initiatives. With our district facing continuing budget cuts and ever increasing costs, the need for the productive use of our resources could not be greater. Not only are “green” initiatives important to a school district for their environmental impact, but also many of these programs produce significant cost savings for districts in the form of alternative sustainable revenue sources. Good sense for the environment makes good business sense as well.

1. The district’s recent Solar Initiative, approved by the Board of Education during my tenure on the Board, is now close to completion. It promises to generate millions of dollars for the district in the future, with no tax impact to the community. An amazing 70% of our schools’ energy supply will be generated by the sun through the implementation of this plan.
2. Innovative projects such as our pioneering Bio-Diesel Fuel Program for school buses, has produced excellent results. The Medford School District is the nations’ longest continuous user of Bio-Diesel fuel in a school bus fleet. Bio-Diesel fuel has proven to be more cost effective, results in reduced maintenance costs and has a positive environmental impact via reduced emissions from the fleet.
3. Another “green” initiative that is utilized by our district at four of our seven school buildings is the geothermal heating and cooling system, a proven energy saver that reduces our overall energy costs.
4. We have implemented electronic communication across the district and with the community. This is an effective use of technology, resulting in a significant reduction in paper usage. Regularly working with laptop computers has also allowed us to move toward our goal of conducting paperless board meetings.
5. A very important “green” program for the district currently in place is the District-wide Energy Conservation Program. All district employees are taking part in “reduce, recycle, and reuse” practices and over the past five years have realized a cost avoidance savings of $500,000.00. Students become active participants in this program and learn to become responsible stewards for their environment. “Green” initiatives provide a productive learning backdrop, connect students to the natural world, decrease our operating costs, provide valuable teaching opportunities, and reduce the overall impact on our environment.

Question 2

Transparency and communication are key elements that can drive innovation, maintain fiscal responsibility, and ultimately enhance the achievement of our students.

1. Financial responsibility starts with the Board of Education working to insure that parents and taxpayers participate in the decision-making process.
2. School district websites are effective ways to improve transparency and maximize the opportunity to communicate with each other.
3. I am committed to develop and maintain a partnership with our parents, teachers, administrators, and the community at large to address the challenges we face in delivering a quality education for our students in these difficult economic times.
4. My goal will be to refine and expand the materials available online.
5. I would like to make our technology even more user -friendly.
6. I would like to see faster access for parents and an increase in the scope of information available for taxpayers.
7. I am an advocate for a broad based community approach to sharing facts and addressing current and future challenges responsibly.

I promise that I will continue to innovate and work directly on behalf of the taxpayers and collaboratively and continuously improve our schools within our means.

Katherine Santamore

Question 1

The green movement is a quintessentially American movement that has recently attracted sustained national interest. And rightly so. The environmental events of the last few months indicate that as a people we have no time to waste. However, I am proud to say the Medford School Board has been a visionary in the green movement for many, many years. Since 1998, the Medford School Board’s pioneering introduction of biodiesel fuel has saved and will continue to save the district money and benefit the environment .

Our District Wide Conservation Program, which has been up and running for 5 years, involves teachers, staff, administrators and students and cuts costs in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, dollars we can earmark for educational programming.

Our new Solar Initiative for electricity use is the result of numerous sessions of hard work and problem solving , but the results will give the taxpayers a staggering $8 million saving over a 15 year period. Furthemore, compared to traditional heating and air conditioning, our geothermal systems save an average of 30 percent in energy costs and reduce greenhouse emissions into the atmosphere.

Green is good. It is good for our ecosystem, while lessening the financial burden of our energy costs on our shrinking budget. Obviously our board is committed to creating a totally green district, not only because of our responsibility to our environment, but because of the subsequent revenue saving in tough economic times. In addition, there are other less tangible benefits, benefits that may take years to reach fruition.

Our kids will be our future leaders and stewards of our national and local resources. Hopefully, through our examples and our efforts to involve these young people in environmental conservation programs, they will explore, develop and institute their own innovations. As the Medford School Board continues to search for new initiatives and strives for greater environmental responsibility and subsequent cost reductions, we are delighted that our kids are already on board.

As a side note, the Board was visited by a future leaders last year (Girl Scouts)who through their cogent arguments and presentation of compelling research inspired us to switch to environmentally friendly lunch trays. If you have any ideas, give me (609- 654–6416) or any board member a call and we will make sure you are heard. We are all on this planet together.

Question 2

When my uncle, a WWII vet, asked me to be his Facebook Friend (before I even knew what Facebook actually was), I realized without a doubt that the technology age had permeated our national culture.

On a more serious note, technology, as we know it, has ushered in a whole new world of communication and, in essence, a new brand of transparency. Opportunities for human connections and improved access to public info have changed the way we live, play, plan and even vote.

As it stands, our Medford Web site not only is easy to navigate, but is a portal not only to the schools but the entire district. The webpages contain a wealth of important info for parents concerned about their children’s grades and also pertinent info for the community at large. The most notable document, of course, is the budget. Taxpayers have the right and responsibility to know how their taxes are being spent. They now have the opportunity to peruse the budget in detail at their leisure. Have a question? Click on the superintendent’s or teachers’ links and ask. Monthly board agendas are also available.

In addition, we solicit advice/ suggestions from the community about strategies and sources for revenue. Our web site also contains indispensible links to the Medford Educational Foundation and, of course, the Home and School Association, the district’s two most valued educational partners. Everything the board and the district is doing, planning, or discussing is right out there for the community to see. And, like the public, we welcome and embrace this openness.

I use the website myself very frequently, but, in the future, I will ask our curriculum director to include child development, parenting, and educational research links. The wealth of online resources is immense, and I believe we can make it easier for parent to connect to the best and most trusted sources.

When my children were little, I was dependent on the school newspaper or daily notice to find out what was going on, sources that rarely made it home. Now the web has created the possibility of a window on our township’s public schools. A window that will most assuredly widen as technology continues to develop and advance. A hologram of your child’s teachers in your home for a conference? Farfetched? Who knows?

Finally, let me know what else the district can post to help our Medford residents become part of the educational community? Feel free to visit my Facebook page. I have to keep up with 86 year old uncle!