Meet the Candidates: Maggie McDonald

(Editor's Note: Grafton Patch submitted a series of questions to the three candidates for School Committee. Some of these questions were submitted by readers via Facebook. Maggie McDonald's responses are published here. We encourage everyone to get out and vote May 15.)

Name: Margaret "Maggie" McDonald

Address: 59 Aspen Ave.

Age: 44

Education: Associate's in Human Services, Bachelor's in Social Work

Relevant experience: I have five years of social work experience dealing primarily with independent living skills and over 18 years in the events business/corporate America managing large teams of people and large P&Ls.  I served as a general manager, running event teams worldwide and know how to stretch a dollar, find efficiencies and think outside the box. 

I am a planner, a thinker, a good listener and a great implementer. More importantly, I am, have been and will continue to be a parent who is actively involved in the schools. For the last six years, I have been involved by volunteering in the classroom, being a room parent, chairing a committee on the PTG, heading up a PTG and sitting on search committees for both our superintendent and GES principal. 

Should full-day kindergarten be mandatory or optional?

So many families have wanted full-day kindergarten in Grafton for a long time.  It makes Grafton an even more desirable town for young families because we do have full-day kindergarten. 

What is your position on school choice and how can Grafton maintain a position as a 'receiver' school system, rather than losing students and becoming a 'sender' school system?

I believe school choice has the potential to be a win-win situation for the town as long as we keep our class sizes at the level we projected when building the new high school.  I think the bigger question is...why are we losing so many students to other schools?  I think it would be prudent to sit and talk with some of the families to find out why they choose to send their children elsewhere. 

As a district we need to take a long hard look at this and see if there are deficits that are causing families to pull their children out of Grafton and send them elsewhere. There are many reasons that a family might make the choice to go to another high school, but having accurate information will paint an accurate picture for us and demonstrate the areas we need to work on.

What should the School Committee’s top priority be right now? How about top five priorities?

I think the top priority for the school committee should be creating a smooth transition of all the grades and schools next year. But during this important transition year, we cannot lose sight of the fundamentals. Other priorities have to be special education; what are we doing for the children right now on IEPs and children placing out of the high school and whom we need to service from age 18 to 22?  What are we doing about the anti-bullying program in Grafton?  What are we doing to keep children IN Grafton schools? What are we going to do to keep a lid on the spending/budget?  Where can we get financially creative and not impact programming and curriculum?

What are the three most important characteristics of a successful School Committee member?

I believe the three most important characteristics of a school committee member need to be:

1. Someone who is able and willing to listen to people, whether it is a problem they are hearing or a recommendation.

2. To have the ability to be an independent thinker, strong advocate and voice for the schools in our community that encompasses children, parents, teachers and staff.                                                                        

3. To be fiscally responsible when making decisions that affects our school district and town.

How can voters learn more about you? (Website, Facebook page, phone number, etc.)

If people want to learn more about me they can either go to my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/maggiemcdonaldforschoolcommittee, e-mail me at Maggie.McDonald@charter.net or call me at 978-729-3546.  I welcome any kind of communication with questions that folks have.