Benjamin J. Speed (Bangor School Department, At-large, Maine, candidate 2025)
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Benjamin J. Speed is running for election to the Bangor School Department, At-large in Maine. He is on the ballot in the general election on November 4, 2025.[source]
Speed completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.
[1]Biography
Benjamin J. Speed provided the following biographical information via Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey on October 5, 2025:
- Birth date: October 24, 1979
- Birth place: Calais, Maine
- High school: Woodland High School in Baileyville, Maine
- Bachelor's: The Evergreen State College, 2002
- Graduate: The University of Maine, 2012
- Gender: Male
- Religion: Unitarian Universalist
- Profession: Public Relations
- Incumbent officeholder: No
- Campaign slogan: Bridging students, families, and communities
- Campaign endorsements
- Campaign Facebook
Elections
General election
The general election will occur on November 4, 2025.
General election for Bangor School Department, At-large (2 seats)
Frank Joseph Casella, Mallory Cole Cook, Laura Marlena Otis, and Benjamin J. Speed are running in the general election for Bangor School Department, At-large on November 4, 2025.
Candidate | ||
 | Frank Joseph Casella (Nonpartisan)  | |
 | Mallory Cole Cook (Nonpartisan) | |
 | Laura Marlena Otis (Nonpartisan) | |
 | Benjamin J. Speed (Nonpartisan) | |
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| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Endorsements
Speed received the following endorsements. To view a full list of Speed's endorsements as published by their campaign, click here. To send us additional endorsements, click here.
Campaign themes
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Benjamin J. Speed completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Speed's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I’ve dedicated my career to education and communication. For 14 years I taught at a local technical center, I continue to teach part-time at Husson University, and I now work in healthcare communications. I’m also accredited in public relations, bringing skills in collaboration, and community engagement. My wife, Sarina, and I are passionate supporters of sports and the arts. Our daughter is a sophomore at Bangor High (cheer + track = Go Rams!), and our son is a trainee at a professional ballet company.
- Champion for the Arts & CTE – Expand opportunities in career & technical education and the arts.
- Support Teachers & Students – Ensure educators have resources to help every student succeed.
- Build Community Trust – Improve the image and public perception of the Bangor School Department.
Funding for the arts, increasing access to career and technical education, and building trust with the community through transparent engagement are of vital importance. Policy that I am passionate about also includes strengthening academic achievement, attracting more families to Bangor schools, ensuring access to resources for students, providing access to behavioral and mental health services, and sustaining special education resources for families.
An elected official must be a thoughtful collaborator who listens deeply, and seeks to find solutions for those they represent. They are public servants who work as a team with fellow committee members to set policy for the schools, students and families. They must be transparent, and accountable for their actions, holding others accountable as well.
They must connect with their constituents and build trust, bridge differences and provide opportunities for people to share ideas and solutions. Elected officials have a duty to be honest, trustworthy, and dedicated to fulfill the duties they were elected to carry out.
My first job was raking blueberries in Washington County, followed by working in the blueberry processing plant. This was a great summer job that got us up early in the morning, supported local agriculture, and built character!
Food insecurity, and housing insecurity were things my family struggled with when I grew up. When my parents divorced I was a one year old child, my mother took care of myself and my two siblings as she became a single mom. We were homeless and lived in a shelter for about a year before my mother was able to access social services. Food stamps and social services kept us afloat. The end of the month was a time where our bellies growled, and learning was difficult in school. I still have conversations with my peers about the benefits of housing assistance, heat assistance, and food assistance. I am living proof, as are my siblings, that social services are an investment, and we are fully contributing members of society who benefited from assistance. I can appreciate that access to housing is a problem in Bangor that we all need to focus on. If students are not housed, or are living out of their cars, or sleeping on the couch of a loved one, then they are at risk. For those who are housed, their budgets can be stretched so thin, that a majority of their family income goes towards housing. For those who make under $35,000 a year additional units are necessary in the region. For our students facing housing insecurity, we need to provide resources to families so they can get the assistance they need to help their household budget and build their savings in case of an emergency. Social services are essential to this. I am grateful I am able to provide stability to my family, but I would not have made it where I am today without the assistance from my community and social services.
School board members are advocates for public education! The job of a school board member is to be a representative of our community by reviewing and approving school department policies. Our job is to oversee the superintendent who then administers the operations of the schools. A major influence we have is to review and approve the school budget, which effects all Bangor community members.
The constituents I serve are students, families, teachers, and staff. I also serve Bangor taxpayers, municipal government, state government, and community partners.
Our unique neighborhoods are all cherished, and always connected through the schools that bring us together! Our schools can bridge divides, differences, access, opportunities, and a place to belong. We can bridge students, families, and communities by providing access to excellent instruction, ensuring equity through access to technology and resources, and promoting inclusive, safe and welcoming spaces for students and staff.
Our school committee must listen to members of the Bangor community who generously support our students, teachers and schools. The school committee must collaborate with city council in passing our budget and setting priorities for our schools. We must work with state agencies to ensure we are following regulations established by state law. We must partner with colleges, universities, and trade schools to ensure our students are prepared for post-secondary education, and are able to meet the academic and financial requirements of pursuing higher education. We must also partner with local businesses who can provide mentorships, internships, job shadows, and workforce development opportunities.
Sitting down with parents and having conversations with them is an important way to listen to the individual needs of the families we serve. Encouraging public comments during school committee meetings allows us to hear the concerns of parents, and understand those we serve. I would also encourage community forums that build a two-way communication model, which will build transparency and accountability.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2025 Elections
External links
Footnotes
