Salem Candidate Profile: Kristin Pangallo For School Committee

SALEM, MA — Salem will have several contested races in this fall's election, including a 11-way race for four at-large seats on City Council. The preliminary election on Sept. 17 will thin the field of at-large city councilor candidates to eight and the field of school committee candidates to six. Salem Patch asked candidates in the contested races to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles as election day draws near.

Kristin Pangallo, 40, is one of seven candidates running for three open seats on the Salem School Committee. The preliminary election on Sept. 17 will thin the field, with the top six vote-getters appearing on the ballot in the general election on Nov. 5. Pangallo's husband is chief of staff for Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll.

Are you running for office in Salem? Contact Dave Copeland at dave.copeland@patch.com for information on being featured in a candidate's profile and submitting campaign announcements to Salem Patch.

Previously on Patch: Salem Election 2019: Here's Who's Running

The single most pressing issue facing our (board, district, etc.) is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

Our most pressing issue is ensuring that all of our students have access to programs and policies that are proven successful. My focus on the school committee will to seek out programs and policies that lead to success for all of our learners - this includes things such as examining current programs that are only available to some learners in our district (such as the extended day) as well as new ideas that we should consider (such as re-evaluating currently practices on recess and schedules).

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

I am a parent of students in the district, an educator of graduates from the district, and a scientist trained to independently seek out and analyze complex data in order to answer questions with an evidence-based approach. No other candidate combines these three attributes that I think are valuable in a School Committee Member.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community?

While not a failure of any one member, it is a problem that there are no parents of current Salem Public Schools students on the Committee. The turnover of every principal and the superintendent in the past few years also suggests that the committee could benefit from some new voices and viewpoints.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform:

Evidence. Equity. Excellence. These are the three things that will always be my focus while campaigning for and while serving on the School Committee. I can say that with confidence because these are personal guiding principles. As stated above, we must seek out, implement and assess programs and policies that have been proven to be successful. That might mean looking at evidence from programs that have been used in our own schools, looking to other comparable districts who have made successes in areas that we are targeting for improvement, or looking to scholarly research for new ideas on how to solve complex problems. While excellence is always a criteria when evaluating programs and policies, equity must be held as equally important. It must underscore every decision and conversation, because equity is not something that is easily achieved or an accidental occurrence. Equity must always be sought, cultivated, celebrated and insisted on.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

I have served on the Academic Policies Committee at SSU for the past 2 years, most recently as co-recorder. I have experience evaluating and overseeing policies and programs relating to education. I have served on hiring committees for faculty at the university, which provides insight into the hiring process of educators. I have sought out professional development in the areas of equity, diversity and social justice. While I have a limited personal experience of the world, I am always working to expand it by listening to other's stories and improving my own understanding of bias and discrimination. Professionally I am a successful teacher and scholar. In my classrooms I have sought out and use current best practices, and am familiar with both the research on education and its practical implementation. As a scholar I have created and evaluated complex data sets in order to answer my research questions - and I teach my students to do the same.

The best advice ever shared with me was ...

Take all the advice you can. Use what makes sense now and file away the other advice for later, because things change and you never know when you will need new ideas. I received this advice in regard to becoming a new parent, but have since applied it to many other aspects of my life and I pass it along to my students, too.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

I believe in having open and civil discussions about complex and difficult topics. I think all ideas should be critically and constructively evaluated - just as I evaluate my own ideas and those of my students. Any idea can be improved upon, and working collaboratively from different perspectives will produce the strongest result. In order to do this, however, we must seek out and include the largest range of perspectives possible - we must find the voices that are not being heard.

Previously Published Salem Candidate Profiles:

Candidates for reelection are marked with an asterisk (*).

City Council, At Large

Domingo J. Dominguez *

Ty Hapworth

Alice Merkl

Maribel Steadman

City Council, Ward 4

Timothy Flynn *

City Council, Ward 6

Megan Riccardi

School Committee

Jim Fleming *

Beth Anne Cornell

Donna Fritz