Milford School Board: 1-year seat

Thursday, February 18, 2010

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2010 Milford Town Meeting
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Name: Carolyn Magri Halstead

Age: 46

Address: 79 Ruonala Road, Milford

Years of Residency: I have been in Milford for almost eight years.

Education: I graduated with high honors from Eckerd College in 1985 with a BS in Mathematics. I graduated from Emory University in 1987 with an MS in Mathematics. I have taken other graduate courses in math from Johns Hopkins but with no degree.

Employment: At-home parent. Previously, math professor at Eckerd College and at Howard University, a tutor and teacher of math in home-schooling cooperatives, a cryptologic mathematician at the National Security Agency, and an archery instructor.

Political history: None.

Affiliations: Chaperone at some of the MHS events, New England swim official primarily attached to the Merrimack YMCA swim club, member in the Milford United Methodist Church, committee member of a local Boy Scout troop; the adult leader of a local venture crew; singing with the Souhegan Valley Chorus and Valley-aires.

Family: Married with six children.

Give an example of a school program that could be cut to save money and an example of a school program that should not be cut under any circumstances, and explain why you feel this way. Please be as specific as possible.

Bert Becker:

In my opinion, cutting the co-curricular programs (sports, band, math and Destination ImagiNation) would save about $300,000, including salaries, memberships, officials’ payments, maintenance, supplies and $94,000 in transportation costs. All of the participating students are volunteers, and partipation is not required for graduation. This cut will not impact the regular curricula.

Reading, which starts at the kindergarten level and demands increasing competency until graduation, should not be cut under any circumstances. The ability to read and comprehend wide and increasingly difficult topics is essential to future rewarding employment and becoming a valued community member.

Personally, I would hope that all of Milford’s citizens would continue to support the the kind of education and operating budget that they would desire for their children and grandchildren.

Carolyn Magri Halstead:

So, how do you run your family, or your business? In good financial years, isn’t it hard not to give your child lots of things? Yet there are lessons to be learned by not doing that. In tough financial times, isn’t it hard to NOT be able to do something for your child that certainly would be a good experience? Yet, the lack of funds creates other experiences from which the child can learn. How does this relate to programs being cut or not?

As a School Board member, we have the role of a parent over the school. We advise them that this is what we have to spend, and the administration tries to come up with a plan that fits into those guidelines. Often times, the choices are limited and unpleasant, because in years of plenty the tendency is to overspend and in tough financial times the tendency is to act as if we are still in the years of plenty.

What would I personally cut? In my school, which includes both sports and academics, we start by scaling back on everything rather than trying to say that any one thing is not important. Likewise there would not be any program that would be immune to this scale back. Each of the activities we provide our kids (whether in the family or the school environment) provides growth, but then so does the lack of it.