Three years ago, I was elected to the Claremont School Board to serve from March 2023 to March 2026. I told my family I would serve one term and I honored that commitment.

The School Board made a commitment also — to focus on improving student achievement. A strategic plan was developed, we heard presentations about curriculum/instruction being implemented, and the Curriculum Director was providing reports to the School Board about how students were being assessed in their classrooms.

At that point, we didn’t know what we didn’t know about many aspects of administration of the school district.

We were told the business affairs of the Claremont School District were in disarray due to past mismanagement from previous administrations. We were told by the business administrator that she was “working very hard” to correct long-standing errors and we were reassured that progress was being made. Things would be great when she developed her own budget.

We didn’t know what we didn’t know.

The School Board learned that reimbursements for monies spent in accordance with grants had not been applied for.

The School Board started to get copies of long-standing unpaid invoices from vendors.

The School Board learned of continued overages in health costs, and changes to approved health coverages were made without board consent. The School Board was questioning overages and deficit areas and given rationales that this was all due to prior mismanagement.

The School Board recognized that the mismanagement was continuing and we were not getting straight answers.

This was the board (from 2023–2026) that:

  • Requested reports/audits, then expected reports, and finally demanded reports/audits;
  • Had one board member refuse to leave the Dow, the district’s administrative office, without a budget report and then was given an incorrect report;
  • Appointed a board member to work with the auditing firm and the business administrator to halt the continued stalling by that business administrator in getting needed data to the auditors;
  • Faced proposals to eliminate vacancies, eliminate funding for sports, programs and instructional materials;
  • Adopted formal policies and procedures that were not in place in order to prevent future mismanagement, including policies regarding manifests and monthly actual-budgeted-to-expended reporting to the board, and incorporated opportunities for board questions or comments into the Citizens Comments portion of the agenda;
  • Posted School Board agendas with direct links to accompanying documents;
  • Authorized a forensic audit;
  • Faced special interest groups who are using this difficult time to, in the words of one of my colleagues on the board, “blow up” public education and support a “shadow system” of education;
  • Heard the community and presented an operating budget 0.5% lower than the previous budget.

We, as a board, had varying perspectives, had difficult public discussions and debates — not always agreeing, but wanting stability and success for our public schools. We often felt we were swimming against the tide.

We faced criticism on social media, in person at meetings and in the community.

Yet, in March, we were not facing a deficit requiring taxpayers to pay more, presented and got passed an operating budget 0.5% less than the budget presented last year, and are providing a full school year to our students, especially our graduating seniors.

We apologize to our students for the stress you faced this year and also congratulate you on your many achievements.

Claremont is a community that steps up, as evidenced by:

  • The Alumni Association, which through significant fundraising efforts was able to fund sports and the arts;
  • Individuals and local businesses that donated money, materials and time;
  • Employees within the Claremont School District:
  • Ms. Kennedy, who stepped up to fill the vacant superintendent role after being newly hired as CMS principal;
  • Mr. Angell, who came in to straighten out the district’s finances and internal business office protocols;
  • Building principals, who had to develop a plan for closing a building, carried out that plan, and provided stability and support on a daily basis with minimum resources while planning reconfiguration for this fall;
  • Teachers who have stayed out of a commitment to this community and their students;
  • Parents who eased stress to encourage a smooth transition and continue to ask the hard questions.

I thank this community for electing me to serve on that board.