Norwood School Committee Member Joan Giblin Runs For Reelection

NORWOOD, MA - Norwood School Committee member Joan Giblin announced at Wednesday night's School Committee meeting that she will be running for reelection for another term.

Her seat is one of two positions that will be on the ballot, as fellow member Myev Bodenhofer announced that she will not be seeking reelection.

"I am announcing that I am going to seek reelection because it is my hope that I can have a three-year term where I can be committed to the agenda that I was hoping to come in with," said Giblin, "which is combining strong financial stewardship with best in-class education."

She noted she is committed to providing the "best possible education in the best possible way" while managing financial resources wisely and staying under the budgetary cap.

Giblin has confronted several challenges during her term, she noted. She took office shortly before the operational override was approved by the town on June 3, 2019 to restore and maintain key school programs.

"When I was elected to the School Committee, I arrived just in time to, I believe, cut funding for the Willett and athletics, as it was the beginning of the override [discussion] in order to be able to balance the budget," she said. "And then thankfully the voters of Norwood believed in our school system and our policies and funded the operational override, which allowed us to restore those cuts and move away from a draconian budget."

Among her accomplishments, she advocated for more fiscal responsibility. Then COVID-19 struck the world.

"The past two years of my three-year term have been spent helping to manage the pandemic response," she explained.

Giblin has been a member of the School Committee's policy subcommittee, which has been working on updating policies regarding several topics such as inclusion and the student handbook.