To the Editor:
Serving on Greenwich’s Board of Education is ultimately rewarding, sometimes frustrating, very time-consuming, always educational and in the end meaningful both to the board member and to the entire community. That is why one runs for a seat on this board. Yet board membership is not for the faint of heart.
Thank goodness Barbara O’Neill is seeking a second term on the Greenwich BOE. She brings experience, leadership and tenacity to her position on the board. Barbara has been the consummate board member, showing up on time, showing up prepared, engaging in the conversation, and as the Board’s Chairman for the past two years, working hard to build board consensus. Not always possible, given the current board’s entrenched differences with both process and content. Yet Barbara pushed to bring the school budget under the BET guidelines for the past two years. Barbara initiated a strategic plan for the district. She was instrumental in extending Superintendent McKersie’s contract for two more years—critical, as the district has experienced revolving superintendents for the past decade.
What does all this mean? It means that Barbara O’Neill has worked diligently for the past four years to provide a first-class education for all Greenwich students and has earned a second term to continue this work. Please join me in voting to re-elect Barbara O’Neill to the school board on November 3rd.
Lile Gibbons
Past Chairman or the Greenwich Board of Education
DEADLINE to submit letters to the editor for candidates in Nov. 3, 2015 election is Friday Oct. 30, 2015