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Andover School Race:
While it is usually an uphill battle to win as a sticker candidate, Silberstein will be doing everything possible, including having large “how to” posters at the polls to make sure her supporters can easily register a vote for her. Stickers will be mailed to all voters who have voted in recent town elections along with instructions for use (see insert). Silberstein, 44, is a lawyer and owns her own law firm in downtown Andover focusing on estate planning and elder law. She attended Syracuse University and Hofstra Law School and has lived in Andover for 20 years with her husband and three children (19, 17, and 11; the youngest two currently attending Andover public schools). While raising a family and
building her career, Silberstein has been active in town
affairs including being a member of the Finance Committee
for 4 years, Moderator of town-wide PTO, PTO president,
Member of the Council on Aging, Member of the Board of
SHED (an after-school Kindergarten program), and Vice
Chair of the Merrimack Valley Community Foundation.
The three top issues that drive the Silberstein
candidacy are: >>>Ø Providing a balanced perspective based on her Finance Committee, Council on Aging, and school activities experiences, and >>>Ø Improving school management based on her experience with finance. With regard to restoring trust, Silberstein commented that the recent >>>discussion/decision in Executive Session to extend Superintendent Claudia Bach’s contract should have been communicated to the public “to >>>provide an opportunity for the public to be heard.” When asked whether she would honor recent requests by students and parents to implement an advanced math program in the Middle School, Silberstein favored continuing with the current heterogeneous classroom structure but indicated that she thought options should be explored for improving the ability of teachers to provide differentiated instruction to students at different achievement levels. In a written clarification she wrote, “The goals of every educator should be to challenge and allow each student to reach his or her maximum potential. The most efficient and effective use of our dollars is to provide teachers with the skills and tools they need to differentiate instruction.” Silberstein generally supported Superintendent Bach’s proposal to add $700,000 to the school budget to raise Andover to the state-mandated 990 hours of “Time and Learning” but thought that the courses to be provided by the new teachers need to be reviewed and that there may be ways to reduce the recommended budget increase. On MCAS, Silberstein thought the MCAS requirement was here to stay. While she would not weigh in on whether she thought MCAS should be required for graduation, she mentioned that possibly other “determinants” (e.g., a portfolio of student work) might be added. Asked about other key education issues, Silberstein responded: Ø Both smaller class sizes and teacher quality were effective and efficient means of improving academic achievement. >>>Ø Merit
pay was described as “Conceptually a good idea”
but that “implementation is difficult” and
there are “unforeseen costs.” >>>Ø On
school choice (typically referring to Charter Schools or
education vouchers) Silberstein said, “More
alternatives are needed within the And finally, asked whether she would support a Proposition 2 ½ override to increase school funding Silberstein responded, “There are opportunities within existing revenues to close the revenue gap.”
Send your
questions comments to ValleyPatriot@aol.com |
Jumping
into the school committee race late means that Debra
Silberstein needs voters to write in her name or use the
stickers that she will distribute to voters and make
available at the polls.