Frank Joseph Casella (Bangor School Department, At-large, Maine, candidate 2025)
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Frank Joseph Casella 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]
Casella completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.
[1]Biography
Frank Joseph Casella provided the following biographical information via Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey on October 1, 2025:
- Birth date: July 31, 1981
- Birth place: Tulsa, Oklahoma
- Gender: Male
- Incumbent officeholder: No
- 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
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Campaign themes
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Frank Joseph Casella completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Casella's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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My wife and I moved from Philadelphia to Bangor in 2017. If you have ever moved states you know how difficult it can be to choose where to live. My wife is a native Mainer from Milford, which gave us a leg up.From the start we were focused on Bangor because we were around the amenities that come with living in a city as well as the quality of the schools in Bangor. My wife had always spoke highly of the Bangor schools and the opportunities they provided to the students.
We need to to better for our children. I'm not looking to make drastic changes, however we do need change. You may ask yourself what makes me qualified to be on the school committee? When I graduated high school I was going to enlist but I was talked out of and was told I would "figure it out" in college. That led to three degree changes (mechanical engineering, teaching, and finally chemistry). After that I didn't like what my options were so I went to grad school for a degree in biomedical research. While applying to jobs following that I was told that I was either overqualified or not qualified enough. The next step was medical school, and that was a mistake. So now I work construction.
- Technology is changing at an astounding rate. Just in the last few years AI is the large language model (LLMs) have progressed from a novelty to a very capable piece of technology. We need to teach our children how to effectively use it, incorporate it into their education, and to also not rely on it. When many of us were in school we were told that we wouldn't always have a calculator with us so we needed to learn math. Now we carry around the summation of human knowledge on our pocket. We need to teach our students how to think critically and how to be problem solvers. The information is available, students need to know how to use it to their advantage and not rely on it. This will set them up for future success independent of tech.
- I graduated from HS in 1999. This was the tail end of go to college and everything will work out. Many jobs don't require a college degree, and I'm not only referring to the trades. Many jobs prefer practical experience, which you do not get enough of in college. Internships and apprenticeships provide both real world experience and knowledge. Yes there are some professions that will require a college degree, but real world experience can be more valuable with many jobs. Success comes in many forms, but to me it means being a good citizen, being able to pay your bills, buy a home and start a family. To others it is being financially secure enough to do whatever you want. Unnecessary debt is avoidable.
- Schools do not exist to raise children. That falls to the parents. Schools exist to teach the next generation the information that some parents cannot. Teaching children requires trust and collaboration between the school and parents. Our children are the future and they need to be treated as such. We need to teach them how the world is and not how we want it to be. Life can be difficult and full of challenges, we need to teach them to be resilient. Information is easily available. We need to give them knowledge and the ability to use it. The parents, the community, and the school district need to work together to give the next generation the best chance at success.
Why are our students not meeting expectations? How are we progressing on the 10 year plan (Pathways to Excellence)? Are we doing any data driven analysis of methods and outcomes and are we making changes? Why is enrollment down, budget up, and outcomes lower? The data available isn't looking good and there hasn't been enough to address it.
I'm not in this to check a box on my list of accomplishments. I'm genuinely concerned about the future of our community and children. I want to know what is being done to address the educational shortcomings as shown in the data available.
I'm not in this to check a box on my list of accomplishments. I'm genuinely concerned about the future of our community and children. I want to know what is being done to address the educational shortcomings as shown in the data available.
A willingness to compromise as well as the ability to remain steadfast in your beliefs. In a representative government an official is elected to best represent their constituents. That means we may not always agree, but I will always listen. No one elected official is going to agree with every single constituent, and that ok. Come and have a discussion and make your argument. Challenge ideas and let the best one win.
The core responsibility of a member of the school board is to represent the parents and the community. As a member of the school board one should strive to work with the other members to enact policies that provide the best possible educational outcomes for students. These outcomes need to be backed up with data and results. The policies should be altered to meet the desired outcomes when and where applicable.
Vague recollections of the Berlin Wall coming down.
Painting school rooms as a summer job through high school
Enact policies to meet desired educational outcomes as decided by the community and the board.
The constituents of a school board member are the people who vote. In terms of importance parents come first followed by the community.
It depends on what those needs are. My primary focus is the students. They come first.
Are you a parent? Are you planning on having children? Did you vote?
Come talk or email. Lets discuss any concerns you have.
Come talk or email. Lets discuss any concerns you have.
Educational outcomes. That's what makes a good teacher. If their students are successfully meeting the standards that we as a community have put forward then they are a good teacher.
Show the community what we are doing is working. Be transparent about where their tax money is going. Everything has gotten more expensive and if we can show we are being responsible with at least the school budget, through improved outcomes and a transparent budget, I believe people will be less inclined to take issue with school funding.
Safety is paramount. There are so many other things that are less important more well protected.
Honestly it depends on the student, the material, and the teacher. I would need to see more data and talk to some educators and students to see what they prefer.
Generally I would say a smaller teacher to student ratio.
Generally I would say a smaller teacher to student ratio.
Just come talk or email. I'm a parent as well. I've probably thought about the same thing you have or haven't made it that far in my daughter's educational journey.
We should have performance based incentives. We know where we are at and we know what we want. If you do your job well you should be recognized for doing such.
Students need more practical skills. Home ec, shop, wood shop, etc.
They need to learn how to use it properly. It's an emergent technology and it's not going away. They need to understand that in its current iteration as an LLM it makes mistakes. They need to not rely on it yet still be able to competently use it.
Being a good father and husband.
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
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Candidate Bangor School Department, At-large |
Footnotes
