McKenna has Integrity, Honesty
I recently ran into a gentleman who told me that, when it comes to politicians, he always votes for the person who he feels has the most integrity and honesty because those are the most important attributes of a community leader. When I think of Donna McKenna, those are two characteristics that I know she exhibits, to go along with her long history of dedication to the Town for many years now.
Donna Mckenna already has a great deal of Town Government experience as a long-time member of the School Committee: a policy setting body, just like the Select Board.
Being a good Select Board member is much more than voting on the issues at meetings. It involves taking a leadership role, researching issues that need to be addressed, and bringing solutions to the Board. Donna has demonstrated her initiative and leadership throughout her time on the School Committee. She was a member of a civil rights task force as well as part of a group that authored the School District’s anti-bullying policy. She has also been the School Committee representative to the Southeastern Educational Collaborative (SMEC) since day one. Her work ethic will serve the Select Board well.
With Net School Spending concerns on the horizon for the Department that represents the largest budget in our Town, we are at a crossroads and in jeopardy of facing major penalties from the State that could set us back very quickly if we do not strike the right balance between the funding we provide to the School Department vs. all other departments.
The Select Board and School Committee will need to work collaboratively to solve this problem. The solution should include regionalization with Acushnet which would result in both towns being eligible for increased funding as a “regional” school district.
Doing so will help the Fairhaven Public Schools to continue providing excellent education for our students and, in turn, that will significantly relieve pressure on essential services like Police, Fire and Public Works.
Striving to increase revenues through economic development is a good mid to longer term strategy, but our immediate need is to get out from the dark shadow of financial consequences we are facing in the near term if we don’t start investing more in our School district. The consequences could be substantial to the School Department and all other departments as well.
We need leaders that understand these issues and will work to resolve them quickly.
Donna McKenna will be a strong complement to the Board to work through those critical, imminent issues and longer term issues as well. She will bring another woman onto our Chief policy making board to more closely represent our population.
We are fortunate to have choices for Select Board this year. I encourage you to vote for Donna McKenna and I would also like to reiterate my support for Andrew Romano posted in this newspaper on March 7th. Most importantly, please take your civic duty seriously and vote April 1.
Bob Espindola, Fairhaven
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Click here to download the 03-28-24 issue: 03-28-24 CampaignSigns
Click here for Espindola’s OML complaint: EspindolaOML_3-11-24
Click here for the SB Response to the complaint: EspindolaOML_3-11-24_Response
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