I grew up in Falmouth and my husband and I chose to bring our family back here more than 20 years ago. It’s one of the clearest ways I know to show belief in a community. I’m proud of this town, proud of our schools, and genuinely grateful for the opportunity to help shape and steward something that matters so much to all of us.

Over this past term, the Board’s focus has been on building a more transparent, organized, and accountable approach to our work while keeping the student experience at the center. We made meaningful, practical improvements in how the Board connects with the public—adding a clear School Board presence to the district website, posting agendas with firm meeting times and locations well in advance, taking robust meeting minutes, and most importantly, streaming and recording all Board meetings and workshops so people can actually see and understand the work as it happens.  We successfully launched the One Campus Vision work in year one, bringing needed clarity and alignment to how we think about our facilities and long-term planning.  Over the past 18 months we hired a new superintendent and worked closely with him through a structured first-year entry plan that incorporated real community input through focus groups and surveys. 

Academics have remained a top priority. In our first year we supported the pilot and implementation of a new phonics curriculum, bringing the Science of Reading back to our schools. Our youngest learners are already making tremendous strides. Building on that, a new literacy curriculum will be implemented this coming year following a thoughtful, teacher-led pilot process. We’ve also expanded opportunities for our high schoolers through new honors pathways, enhancing Advanced Placement programming, and increased access to dual enrollment and career pathways. We are grateful for the work our educators are doing every day to make this progress possible.

At the Board level, our work centered on a few core priorities: supporting a strong start for new leadership, adopting a balanced and responsible budget, moving facilities planning from reactive to strategic, and taking a clear-eyed approach to technology in schools. That included the adoption of a new cell phone policy following extensive research and community input. We also continued work towards our goal of a long-term, transparent facilities plan and are laying the groundwork for a community-driven process around a new middle school.

This is steady, often behind-the-scenes work—but it matters. We’ve tried to approach it with honesty, discipline, and respect for the community we serve. I’m proud of the progress we’ve made and grateful for the opportunity to continue doing this work.

Please feel free to reach out before the elections on June 9: ehm-maine@hotmail.com