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Amy Berard
Amy Berard was a candidate for District C representative on the Lawrence School Committee in Massachusetts. The general election was held on November 3, 2015.[1] Amy Berard lost the general election on November 3, 2015.
Biography
Berard earned her high school diploma from Lawrence High School. She later received a bachelor's degree from Merrimack College before working for seven years as a reading teacher in Atlanta. Berard completed her M.Ed. in school administration from Kennesaw State University. She returned to Lawrence in 2004 and worked as a literacy specialist at Lowell Public Schools and an adjunct professor at Middlesex Community College and Northern Essex Community College. Berard has also taught at Spark Academy and Guilmette School in Lawrence.[2]
Elections
2015
Six out of seven seats on the Lawrence School Committee were up for election on November 3, 2015. The seventh member is the Mayor of Lawrence, who was not up for election in 2015.
In the District C race, incumbent Pavel M. Payano defeated challenger Amy Berard. District E incumbent Patricia Mariano defeated Homayoun Maali. This was a rematch from 2013, as Mariano defeated Maali in that race.
In the races for Districts A, B, D, and F, no prospective candidates submitted nomination petitions for certification by the Lawrence Board of Registrars by the filing deadline on August 5, 2015. There was no organized effort by write-in candidates in the district with only two write-in names receiving the 50-vote minimum to serve on the committee. Kamal Bozkurt received 70 votes, and Emmanuel Castaneda received 62 votes in District A.[3]
The lack of competition for committee seats stemmed from a 2012 takeover of the district by state officials. The takeover occurred after the district was deemed chronically underachieving and placed in the hands of a receiver.[4] Under the takeover, the Lawrence School Committee was stripped of its authority to make substantive decisions outside of recommendations to the receiver.[5]
Results
| Lawrence School Committee, District C, General Election, 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Pavel M. Payano Incumbent |
65.8% | 743 |
| Amy Berard | 33.9% | 384 |
| Write-in votes | 0.35% | 4 |
| Total Votes | 1,131 | |
| Source: City of Lawrence, "Certified Election Results," November 13, 2015 | ||
| Lawrence Public Schools, District C Primary Election, 2-year term, 2015 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan | Pavel M. Payano Incumbent |
72.6% | 353 | |
| Nonpartisan | Amy Berard |
27.4% | 133 | |
| Total Votes | 486 | |||
| Source: Lawrence Election Division, "Municipal Preliminary Official Results," accessed September 19, 2017 | ||||
Funding
Berard reported $670.92 in contributions and $504.38 in expenditures to the Lawrence Election Commission, which left her campaign with $165.66 on hand as of October 28, 2015.[6]
Endorsements
Berard received an official endorsement from Mass Alliance.[7]
Campaign themes
2015
Candidate website
Berard's campaign website highlighted the following themes for 2015:
| “ |
What work needs to be done? 1. In order for the turnaround to have longevity and be sustainable, we have to work better as a district in both hiring experienced and duly qualified faculty as well as administration. 2.When our Lawrence children spend such a large part of their lives in school, it is important that the adults in their school lives are not in constant flux during their academic career in Lawrence. Also, with every new staff member hired comes an adjustment period. For every staff member replaced, another staff member needs to be hired and acclimated to the district. There is time wasted on the learning curve of constant rotating staff. We need to be busy focusing on RETAINING teachers and not RETRAINING new teachers. When a teacher has taught many years in Lawrence, that teacher builds relationships with whole families. If a family already is familiar with a teacher, they are more likely to feel comfortable attending school events and teacher conferences. Strong communities raise strong students. If Lawrence is serious about building community, they need to address this teacher turnover problem. 3. There needs to be a more transparent and fair teacher evaluation process where the turnaround between observation and evaluation is timely, giving teachers adequate time to learn and make adjustments. The evaluation process needs to be educational, not punitive experience for teachers. 4. As a former teacher in Lawrence, I can tell you that there were very few staff members who are residents of Lawrence. We need to change that. An overwhelming majority of teachers and administrators in Lawrence are not residents of Lawrence. As such, many often leave after a few years teaching within the district.We need to work better as a district in at hiring qualified staff members already living within the city. It takes a community to raise a child. Having more teachers who are Lawrence residents will foster not only the school to home community, but will reinforce a pride in Lawrence. The message students receive when their teacher lives in their community is that good things come from Lawrence. Students see adults, after achieving academic success, modeling the importance of returning to the Lawrence community and giving back to it. By making it an initiative to hire more faculty who are residents of the city, the receivership invests in the people of Lawrence and in the sustainability of the turnaround. 5. The receivership has been in place for three years. While it was to be a three year turnaround, it has since been extended to an additional 3 years. There currently is no exit plan and there needs to be. Lawrence cannot be in receivership forever. It’s not sustainable. There needs to be a transition team set up because, eventually, the Lawrence School District will be returned to the Lawrence people to manage. Lawrence needs to be duly ready for when that day arrives. [8] |
” |
| —Amy Berard, (2015), [9] | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Amy Berard' OR 'Lawrence Public Schools'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Lawrence Public Schools, Massachusetts
- Lawrence Public Schools elections (2015)
- Incumbency no guarantee of success in Nov. 3 school board elections (November 6, 2015)
- What happened in Nov.'s top board elections? (November 4, 2015)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Lauren Dixon, Email correspondence with Lawrence Elections Division Sonia Garcia]
- ↑ Amy Berard 2015, "Home," accessed October 21, 2015
- ↑ Eagle-Tribune, " Write-ins carry the day for Lawrence School Committee," November 5, 2015
- ↑ WBUR, "Lawrence Schools Under State Control For At Least 3 More Years," June 8, 2015
- ↑ Eagle-Tribune, "Lawrence School Committee may dwindle to three in January," September 22, 2015
- ↑ Lawrence Election Commission, "Campaign Finance Reports and Information," accessed October 28, 2015
- ↑ Mass Alliance, "Endorsed Candidates: 2015 Municipal Pipeline Candidates," accessed October 19, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Amy Berard 2015, "What?" accessed October 21, 2015
| 2015 Lawrence Public Schools Elections | |
| Essex County, Massachusetts | |
| Election date: | Primary election: September 22, 2015 General election: November 3, 2015 |
| Candidates: | District A: No candidate submitted nomination petitions for this seat. District B: No candidate submitted nomination petitions for this seat. |
| Important information: | Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
