Meet Lindsay Lindstrom, Candidate For Upper Moreland School Board

UPPER MORELAND, PA — As Patch continues its pre-election coverage, take the time to learn about Lindsay Lindstrom, a candidate for Upper Moreland School Board.

See below Lindstrom's responses to a Patch candidate questionnaire.

Age (as of Election Day)

39

Party Affiliation

Republican

Family

Married for 12 years to an Upper Moreland alumnus and lifelong Upper Moreland resident; daughter in 1st grade at Upper Moreland Elementary School.

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

My sister Is a federal employee for the Department of Defense

Education

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Southern California

Occupation

Senior Business Development Manager for Amazon Web Services, 15+ years of experience in technology.

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office

N/A

Campaign website

www.GrowthForUpperMoreland.com

Why are you seeking elective office?

I believe in hyper-local community service and I know my skill set, values, and experience will be a benefit to the school board to fill a gap that currently exists. I think we need more diversity in though, experience, and perspectives on our board.

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

The single most pressing issue facing our board and school district is pandemic learning loss. We need to allocate the over $3M received in pandemic relief ESSER funds to assess the amount of learning loss in our students and address the core educational subjects to make up that gap. At the same time, we need to address the immense toll on students’ mental health so they can recover educationally, emotionally, and mentally.

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

I believe in starting from a place of empathy, being transparent and accessible to residents / taxpayers, and having open and honest discourse – even when we disagree. School board members should be people-first, not party-first.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community (or district or constituency)

The lack of openness and transparency in their decision making and discussions. They frequently vote unanimously, without discussion or discourse. They take steps to limit public participation, and there is little conversation with the community.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.

Parental / Guardian involvement in their children’s education. There should be partnership between families, board, administration, and faculty / staff. Decisions should not be made without informing and consulting the community and faculty / staff.

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

In my day job, I have negotiated multi-year, multi-million-dollar contracts, and managed $100M+ budgets. I am passionate about diversity and inclusion, having participated and led many initiatives in my 15+ years at Fortune 50 tech companies. Lastly, I have taught over 300 classes and events geared to prepare students for 21st century jobs and STEM-related careers.

The best advice ever shared with me was:

Disagree and commit. We are all individuals, and we all have different opinions, but once a decision is made we need to move forward together to try to make it work.

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

I believe as humans we have more things in common than differences, and we all desire to do the best for our children, schools, teachers, staff, and community. We are a diverse community, and everyone deserves a voice. It is the School Director’s job to represent the full community and be stewards of the resources entrusted to them, to serve the public, not a party.