Andrew Sokoloff

School Board - District 6
Brunswick, Maine

Please Vote November 6th at Union Street School, 35 Union Street

Brunswick’s schools face great challenges:

Our school buildings are aging; many are inadequate.
Our “temporary” “portable” units have been in place for decades.
There are serious socio-economic inequities between the school populations.
The cost of busing is on the rise.
Our new school building project has divided the community, rather than bringing us together.
The state is pushing for schools to become larger and larger.
In the midst of this turmoil, we must find a new Superintendent.

Some of these problems are new; others have been growing worse for years. We need new, energetic leadership to deal with them.

I am running for School Board because:

I believe in small, diverse elementary schools.
I believe that all our schools need to have equitable resources.
I believe that we need to tackle our problems now, rather than waiting years for a new school to solve them.
I believe that our decisions should reflect the opinions of our community; no one should feel left out of the process.
I believe that building a consensus in the community is vital.

My wife Elizabeth and I have lived in this area for over six years. As director and administrator of Mad Horse Theatre for the past 14 years, I have a great deal of experience in the non-profit world. I have also taught middle school and high school aged children in Colorado, led workshops at a summer theatre program for kids in New Hampshire and taught college classes at Indiana University and the University of Southern Maine.

I am very eager to serve the 6th district and the Town of Brunswick.

Here are some short answers to questions posed to candidates at the Northwest Brunswick Neighborhood Association Candidates Forum on October 23rd.

IF ELECTED:

1. What would you like to accomplish during your term of office?

Address the issue of school equity

While we cannot put a cafeteria in the Longfellow School or a gym in Hawthorn we must not wait for a new school to solve inequities in our elementary schools. It is patently unfair to the children who are in school now. Furthermore, a large elementary school is more likely to cause greater inequity, as more kids will fall through the cracks. We must look at redistricting, pooling resources and building smaller schools.

Find the right School Superintendent for Brunswick.

The single most important decision a school board makes is the hiring of a superintendent. We need a clear, well planned and thorough search process that includes looking for candidates outside of the state.

Help the community find common ground on the school building project.

The best way to build consensus is to communicate with the community, which I will talk more about in a moment. Creating consensus on divisive issues requires that everyone feels that they’ve been heard and understood, that the process is clear and fair and that no one is shut out of the loop.

Establish optional all day kindergarten. Many single parent families and families with 2 parents both working full-time or more struggle to find childcare. Their children run the risk of starting school at a disadvantage. All day kindergarten is the best way for kids to learn how to be in school.

2. How will you communicate and interact with your constituents?

Clearly talking with the people of District 6 and Brunswick as a whole is a top priority. Short of having “official” regular hours when I shop at the Hannaford I plan to attend meetings of the Northwest Brunswick Neighborhood Association and the College Neighbors Association and give updates. If practical, I’d also like to maintain a website where people can read a brief summary of what’s going on and e-mail me their thoughts and questions.

But communication means more than attending meetings, answering e-mails and engaging in conversations in the produce aisle. It involves truly understanding opposing points of view. I think one of the problems that we’re facing as a town is that people feel shut out of the decision making process and that their issues or ideas are not heard. While I can’t promise that I will agree with everyone, I will promise to do my utmost to hear and understand each person’s ideas and concerns and represent the will of the people of District 6

3. Brunswick seems to base major capital investment decisions on least cost to the local taxpayer, to the exclusion of other values.

Do you feel that the effect on Brunswick’s Property Tax should be the sole determining factor in deciding how to invest in Brunswick’s future?

The determining factor in deciding how to invest in Brunswick’s future is actually phrased as a question: Is this best for the children?

I don’t like paying taxes. But the Libertarian/ anti-tax slogan “It’s your money” leaves out half the equation. Yes, it is our money but it’s also our responsibility to maintain roads, provide for police and fire protection, for snow and trash removal, to help out those in need and to educate our children. It is price we pay to live in a civil society. I would humbly suggest that paying for schools is cheaper than paying for welfare, unemployment, addiction programs and prisons.

I met a woman a few weeks ago who told me that she and her family have lived in Brunswick for 16 years. Both her children were educated Brunswick schools and had a great experience. Then she said that, despite the fact they love Brunswick they might leave because property taxes were going up.

I should have asked: Are you saying that it’s fine for other people to help pay for your children’s education, to take advantage of all the opportunities and infrastructure Brunswick has to offer and you’re not willing to do the same for their kids?

With all the uncertainty facing us with the closure of Brunswick Naval Air Station this much is certain: one of the best ways to attract businesses and people is to have and maintain excellent schools. When people decide where they want to live a deciding factor is often the quality of a town’s school system. It’s why I chose to live here when I got married.

Furthermore if we do a good job educating our children they are more likely to go to college, get a good job, buy a great house and pay their property taxes. Good schools will pay for themselves: it just takes 25 or 30 years.

The average age of our elementary schools is about 70 years. We have portable classrooms that are over thirty years old. Our schools are overcrowded. Clearly the result of the principle of “least cost to the local taxpayer” gets people elected but the bill gets passed to future generations.

One last comment: During the weeks that I’ve been meeting people in District 6 I have yet to find one parent who expressed concern for the quality of the teachers in Brunswick. It’s important to remember that we are doing the first job of education very well.