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Community Corner

School Committee Member Carrie Kourkoumelis Seeking Re-Election

It has been an honor to serve as a Melrose School Committee member the last four years. My commitment to helping the district improve has been unwavering, and I would urge citizens to learn about my work through the meeting documents available online at: http://melrosecityma.iqm2.com/citizens/default.aspx and http://melroseschools.com/school-committee/agendas-and-minutes/   There is vast documentation of my consistent advocacy in Meeting Minutes, Superintendent Evaluations, School Committee Self Evaluations.

As a Melrose School Committee member the last four years, I've committed to substantive improvements in the education system of our children in all areas—policy, budget, hiring and management of the superintendent, accountability in governance. Taking the vast amount of time to attend and engage in all levels of district activities beyond school committee meetings—superintendent search committee, high school search committee, aldermen's meetings, school site council, PTO, curriculum meetings, athletic events, school concerts and art exhibits—has been part of my promise when I took an oath of office. Beyond that, I have a long history of involvement with education issues on state and national levels, including comprehensive research and communication with a wide network of educators and those involved in education policy.

As a professional concert harpist and teacher, my career has included solo appearances at Carnegie Hall, Music at Angel Fire Festival (New Mexico), Tanglewood, The Battelle Institute (Seattle), the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, The Getty Villa (Los Angeles), and chamber/orchestral engagements at the Kennedy Center for the Arts (Washington, DC), Sanders Theater (Cambridge), the Musical August Festival in Crete (Greece), Symphony Hall, Jordan Hall. For over thirty years I have taught privately and as a member of various faculties, including New England Conservatory, Smith College, Mt. Holyoke College, University of Montana, the Salvi Harp Studio in Santa Monica.

As a senior compositor and long-time consultant at The Rand Corporation, my specialized skills in mathematical, scientific, and foreign-language publications were entailed for the Pentagon and HUD manuscripts I produced.

My training included The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, a Leonard Bernstein Fellowship at Tanglewood with the Boston Symphony, and full merit scholarships at The University of Washington (Seattle) and the Music Academy of the West (Santa Barbara).

My role as a member of various philanthropic and foundation boards for several decades has included Vice President of the American Harp Society Foundation (currently), Executive Board, American Harp Society, National Chairman of AHS Conference, Massachusetts National Organization of Women Foundation Board, all of which have involved fiduciary and executive management responsibilities.

My family bought a home in Melrose eleven years ago. All four of my children succeeded in the Melrose Public Schools. Arthur was the Melrose High School 2008 Valedictorian, graduated Magna cum laude from the Harvard Class of 2012; he won a Fellowship for a ph.D in Classics at UCLA. Eli graduated from the MHS Class of 2009 as the SILs (Scholarship, Integrity, Leadership) winner; he graduated Magna cum laude from Chapman University/Conservatory/Honors Program Class of 2013 as a Presidential Scholar with a Bachelor of Music in Cello Performance and is currently studying in New York City with famed cellist, James Kreger and serving on the staff of the Apple Hill Chamber Music Festival. Nickolas graduated as a Scholar-Athlete with Honors from the Boston College High School Class of 2011 and won a Chancellor's Scholarship at Chapman University/Conservatory/Honors Program where he will graduate from the Class of 2015; he recently also won a scholarship to study at the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado. Lia graduated Summa cum laude from Boston University Academy as a four-year Acworth Foundation Scholar; she has matriculated as a member of the Harvard College Class of 2017 pursuing a pre-med path while continuing as a Research Trainee at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Melrose is blessed with a generous and deeply caring community for which its schools matter greatly. It is confronted by many unsupported mandates--budget, curriculum, special education, policy, and open governance. While its struggles are paralleled elsewhere, many communities of similar demographics throughout the Commonwealth are seeing considerably better student achievement results than Melrose. Recently we have seen a serious exodus in administrators, teaching staff (including some of our most revered teachers retiring earlier than they would have wished), and highly achieving students. Simultaneously new hires are generally those who are new to the job for which they are hired. Though our new administration is working diligently to address the myriad of issues and achieving notable success in some areas, a revolving door and achievement decline in too many areas continue. Our students deserve the best education that our tax dollars can offer. I believe Melrose can and should be providing a better education with the resources we already have.

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Our community is passionate about its schools and wants the best for our students. The school committee needs to do a better job of working in partnership with citizens to achieve better civic engagement. Working together creatively will increase the pace of change and lead to more effective improvements. I promise to remain dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in all areas of school committee governance should I win your support as a re-elected School Committee member. Thank you!

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