Glenn Pavlicek whose term on the School Committee is about to expire has made his intentions clear. In a letter to the community, Pavlicek announced he is running for re-election.

Pavlicek is one of four candidates for two open seats. The three other candidates seeking one of those seats are Margaret Eberhardt, J. Murray Regan, and Denis Keohane. Keohane and Eberhardt have also issued announcements. Regan is expected to issue his announcement shortly.

The following was contributed by the candidate:

Friends,

I am writing to ask your support as I run for re-election to the Milton School Committee.  I am proud of our accomplishments during my tenure on the Committee.  With your support, I intend to help keep us moving forward.

What am I proud of?  Perhaps most importantly, we have hired an administrative team that has the respect and admiration of the community, and which has made great strides in fostering the climate of openness and accessibility that our town wants and deserves.  I will continue to encourage this engagement with the town as a whole, and to support their efforts as we replace currently retiring administrators.

We have made great strides in our financial processes.  Early in my tenure on the Committee, I had to deal with a situation where—due to a lack of controls in our business office—our appropriation was overspent.  Now, despite the current enormous financial challenges, we expect to weather the upcoming fiscal year without layoffs in classroom teachers.  This is only possible because of careful planning and extreme restraint in the use of one-time “stimulus” funds.  The true test will come in fiscal year 2011 when those funds are no longer available.  We will need to continue to combine discipline and creativity as we seek to face that challenge.

Ten years ago, in my role as chairman of the town’s Warrant Committee, I argued vigorously during many Town Meetings in favor of the School Building project, which was both an extraordinary opportunity and major financial undertaking for Milton.  Today, as we install the solar panels on the roof of the Cunningham and Collicot Schools, we are realizing that long-ago dream of six new beautiful school buildings. Our responsibility going forward is to create a plan that guarantees our ability to maintain these great buildings.

Another success of our last few years has been in our Special Education program.  Through the introduction of co-taught classes, classes for students with behavioral issues, and classes for students on the autism spectrum, we have achieved two major goals.  First, we are appropriately educating our students in their own community and, second, we are saving money by doing so.  This is a major advance over the last seven years, as evidenced by the fact that our out-of-district placements are down by 20 percent.

Today, our biggest challenge is the preservation of the quality of our academic programs in the face of continuing financial stress.  Every survey that has proclaimed Milton as a great place to live has cited our French Immersion program as an example of our innovation and creativity.  Unfortunately, budget cuts in the elementary schools—particularly in Art, Music, Library and FLES—have adversely impacted our elementary experience, and have led to an “imbalance” in our programs with more parents opting for French Immersion than ever before.  We need to find creative ways to restore programs in the elementary schools to correct any perceived disparity between these two programs.

The other areas needing attention are our elective offerings at the Middle and High Schools.  Our students need to be engaged all day long; study halls are not an option.  As budget cuts have hit our electives disproportionately, we need to insure that our students are challenged, whether through traditional classes, advanced placement classes, online classes, or opportunities such as peer tutoring.  I look forward to our continuing development along these lines.

In summary, we have made tremendous strides during my term on the School Committee, and I believe that I’ve made a real contribution to that progress.  There is still more to be done.  I would appreciate the opportunity to keep us moving in the right direction.  I ask you to support me with one of your votes on April 27.

Committee to Elect Glenn Pavlicek

115 Smith Rd, Milton MA 02186

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