Melrose residents have any opportunity to vote for these two reformers who have already demonstrated their strong commitment to students and to educational excellence in our city over the years. Carrie Kourkoumelis is running for her 2nd term and anyone who has watched her at school committee meetings know why she is considered the “conscience” of the committee. She consistently challenges committee members to develop programs that make sense for students and questions the veracity of those that don’t add value or have no impact on improving student outcomes. Her incisive, personable, and intellectual pursuit of answers and solutions to problems provides a needed balance in committee meetings. I only wish there were more of her type on the committee.
Gerry Mroz has been a citizen activist in Melrose over 10 years regularly attending school committee meetings and actively providing his input during each public comment session. He has been an avid supporter of increased parent and public input into the educational process. Through Gerry’s efforts over the past year, the school district has decided to participate in School Choice, thus providing the schools with the potential of $100,000’s of extra dollars of funding. Gerry has extensive experience in education, keeps current in all aspects of education, and has assisted in the formation of a local charter school. In addition, he routinely attends state board of education meetings where he occasionally presents his own educational analysis of student testing. Having a statistician background, Gerry has one of the most comprehensive and sophisticated databases of Melrose student test results in the district and uses this information to determine overall student growth and progress over the years. Such knowledge, energy and commitment are needed now more than ever on our school committee.
I respectively request that you consider voting for both these two individuals for school committee on Tuesday, November 5th
