Nancy was born in Trumbull where she learned firsthand how education impacts personal development and community strength. Her mother was an immigrant who left school after 8th grade to help support her family. Her father earned his high-school tuition by stoking the school furnace, graduating from college on the GI Bill.
Nancy earned a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Smith College and is a licensed psychotherapist with 23 years experience, Nancy specializes in family therapy, including school-based and community mental health. Also a Special Master at the Norwich Family Court, Nancy mediates challenging family cases.
Our Board of Education will benefit from Nancy’s skills as a consensus builder, her expertise with families, and her knowledge of our schools through her extensive volunteering. She has a daughter who is a high school Freshman.
Name the three characteristics (one word for each) that you believe will make you an effective member of the board of education? Expand on the one that you feel should be most significant to the voters.
I believe I bring critical thinking skills, a capacity to learn and grow, and training and experience in building consensus. I possess the capacity to listen to what others have to say, not just hear them, but really understand their point of view and and then use that understanding to build consensus and cooperation amongst people. I think this will be a crucial skill I can bring to the board.
What do you think will be the biggest challenge facing Lyme-Old Lyme Public Schools in the next four years?
I see the biggest challenge for our district as being the implementation of the Common Core Curriculum that are the new federally mandated educational standards for what will be taught in all schools across the country. These standards are often more rigorous than what is being taught now so it is going to be a large and swift adjustment for both students and teachers alike. Other changes that the program brings is that it requires student benchmark testing to take place entirely online, and in addition the method for evaluating teachers has also been completely revamped, so there are many issues that are bound to arise from all this change!
If you could achieve one objective — and only one — during your term on the Region 18 Board of Education, what would it be?
If I could accomplish one broad objective, if chosen to serve on the board, it would be to represent the will of our community and assist in the education of our children with a careful and protective use of taxpayer money. More specifically, with all of the challenges that I outlined in the last question, my goal would be to support our teachers and children as they adjust to the new educational standards being rolled out. Both populations are going to need the development of creative systems to assist them through all of the new and challenging adjustments. It’s going to be an exciting time to be on the board!