Meet the Democratic Candidates for the Somers Board of Education

Name: Anne Kirkpatrick

Age: 67

Family:  Married to Bill Kirkpatrick for 41 years; Two grown daughters (both teach high school)

Office Sought: Board of Education

Occupation: Retired Educator

Education: M. Ed, Science and School Administration, Springfield College

C.A.S (Masters+30), Secondary School Administration, Springfield College

Government and/or other experience qualifying you for office:

 Member, Somers Board of Education (1979-1985)

 Policy committee 5 years

             Curriculum Committee 5 years

             Chair, Two years

   Member, Somers Board of Education (2006-present)

            Policy Committee 3 years

            Curriculum committee 1 year

            Pre-School liaison – 3 years

   Experience in Education:

            High School science teacher

            High School administrator

            Educational consultant-worked with more than 60 boards of education and more than 700 board of education members assisting in searches for a Superintendent of Schools.

Major issues you are focusing on: Ensure that our Board of Education policies are updated and in line with the many mandated (mostly unfunded) policies every year from our state legislature.  Having one of the lowest per pupil expenditures in the state (155 out of 182) makes it even more important to see that money is spent wisely and that we are meeting the needs of our staff and students.

How you intend on addressing these issues: As chair of the policy committee we meet on a regular basis to review the quarterly policy updates from our state association in a systematic manner.  The Board of Education acts as the budget committee, so all board members oversee the budget process.

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Name: Mark J. Maniscalco

Age: 49

Family: Married; step-son

Office Sought: Board of Education

Occupation: Attorney

Education: B.A. (1984) University of Connecticut; J.D. (1990) Western New England College School of Law

Government and/or other experience qualifying you for office: Practice of law for 20 years, judge of probate for four years

Major issues you are focusing on: To ensue children are allowed the opportunity to receive an excellent education.

How you intend on addressing these issues: To ensure that the Board of Education complies with local, state, and federal laws and guidelines.

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Name: Brad Pellissier

Age: 54

Family: Married with two children in the Somers school system

Office Sought: Board of Education

Occupation: Assistant Program Director, Abuse Investigation Division Office of Protection and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities

Education: AA Asnuntuck Community College, BA Springfield College cum laude, MPA UConn

Government and/or other experience qualifying you for office: For the last 11 years I have served Somers as Planning Commissioner, the previous two as chair.  4 Years Planning Commission representative to Capitol Improvement Plan (CIP)

6 years Capitol Region Council of Government Regional Planning Commission. 

Appointed to the most recent Charter Revision Commission which provided for the professionalization of key positions in securing economic stability.

In addition to my service to the town of Somers, I have extensive experience working with private non profit organizations providing services to youth, and adults with disabilities.   I served the Town of Enfield as a youth worker with the Youth Service Bureau, and as Coordinator of the Community Restitution Program, designed to provide an opportunity for at risk youth an alternative to judicial sanction. 

Major issues you are focusing on: Continuing the Board's efforts to graduate student's prepared to meet the challenges of their generation in an environment of diminishing resources.  

How you intend on addressing these issues: By fostering an educational system that supports school staff, parents, and the community in to take the risks necessary to change the parts of the system in need of repair.  We have to work together to identify not only what is not working but what works well.  It is only in understanding why a program works that we can repeat the model.  

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Name: David Pinney

Age: 60

Family: Married to Pat Pinney; Four children who all were in Somers Public Schools 

Office Sought: Board of Education

Occupation: Adjunct Instructor, Eastern Connecticut State University

Education: Masters of Environmental Studies and doctoral studies at Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies 

Government and/or other experience qualifying you for office:

            Sixteen years on Somers Board of Education: 1985-1989; 1991-2003

            Six years as First Selectman, Town of Somers: 2003-2009

            Two years as Chairman, Somers Housing Authority: 2009-present

Major issues you are focusing on:

            Maintaining high achievement outcomes for all Somers Students

            Keeping the cost of the school district’s expenses affordable to all taxpayers

            Providing appropriately current materials and technologies for all curricula 

How you intend on addressing these issues:

Use a variety of data, including test scores, to identify areas of high achievement and opportunities for improvement.

Work aggressively with contracts and other expense areas, including staffing decisions, to maximize use of all resources to support high student outcomes.

Use continuous curriculum review to identify most cost efficient opportunities to upgrade curricular support materials and technologies along with aggressive pursuit of outside grant opportunities to support these upgrades.