Annette Calcagno for CSD School Board

April 24, 2011

About Annette Calcagno:

I moved to Corbett in 1995 it had always been a dream for my husband to build a house where he had farmed with his family for many years. Once I had been introduced to the area I instantly fell in love with its pure beauty. I grew up in a very small coastal town and was very excited to be able to have that small town community feel but still be close enough to the city to know you are in the country but just far enough.

I have been married for 14 wonderful years and we have three beautiful childfren. Anthony Jr, Anna Marie and Allison Nancy ages 11, 8 and 6. We stay very active in every part of their lives. We have been as involved as we can in the community and Corbett schools. My goal as a parent is to show them if we get involved we can all make a difference. I believe in giving back to the community that has given us such a wonderful place to raise our children.

I am serving my third term on the budget committee and have joined the local Citizen Patrol with the Sheriff’s office. Whenever possible I volunteer actively at the school and make sure that I stay involved at every level.

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Why are you running for the CSD School Board?

My goal in running for the School board is to bring the Community, Board, Students, Teachers and Parents together. I want us all to be able to ask questions and receive answers without it being negative or confrontational. The school board needs to be able to respectfully listen to all parties, take the feedback and objectively respond to the question being asked. I want to be an objective opinion and truly listen with open ears. In all aspects of life we need to be able to change directions if the situation requires it. Keeping an obejective direction will help us truly serve everyones needs.

Board members are there to approve an annual budget, hire a superintendent and evaluate that Superintendent. Other roles are to set policy, provide a vision or direction for the district, provide accountability and advocate for education and their District. I can and will do this to the absolute best of my ability and make sure I am listening to all parties involved. I want to know what is failing and what is truly working. There are many questions I want to have answers to and know that we are truly servicing the children of this community.

What impact do you hope to have on the Board?

After attending many Board and Budget meetings I am very frustrated with the process and the ability for the board to listen. The lack of professionalism  and follow up with these meetings are of great concern. This needs to change. We have some amazing resources within our community and we need to be able to tap into that. The possibility to truly create and maintain a phenomenal direction for our district is within our reach. Let’s bring us all together and work on  the good, the bad and sometimes the ugly and just listening will be a huge start.

We need to make sure we are serving the most vulnerable part of the whole equation, our children. Sometimes they feel like they don’t or shouldn’t have an opinion and that could not be further from the truth. We are all here to provide and maintain the very best education that we can. I believe we are leaving children behind or placing then outside of our district claiming we are not able to meet there needs. There are no easy answers but there are certainly better ones then I believe we are finding. Giving up on a child is unacceptable and if we truly get in that mindset we can help all our children achieve and by pass there goals.

What new ideas might you bring to the position you are applying for?

I want the Corbett School District to be able to set goals and track their progress. Testing and collecting accurate data to ensure we are doing exactly what we say we are doing. Having data to back up the statements we make is the only way to effectively know we are doing every thing we can within our power. We must be sure we are servcing the special need of every child. Many children are self motivated but there are also many that are not. Catching a problem at an earlier rather than later stage is of a huge benefit to all, especially our children. When they walk in that door I want them to know every single one of them matter.

Setting up easier ways for the community to give feed back to the board. Online survey’s and town hall style meetings are a couple of the ideas that I have. The better we listen and the more feedback we receive can help us do a better job in the role that we are entrusted.

What are the strengths you have to bring to this position?

I have been in customer service and have been an Accounting and Payroll specialist for over 15 years. Each one of these jobs gives me many useful skills to bring to the board. Customer Service helps you to listen , analyze and come up with the best possible conclusion in a very timely and positive manner. The delivery can be the most crucial part of the equation. Accounting and Payroll helps me with working with numbers and  this will be huge when dealing with the budget. My best strength is the ability to continually learn and improve the skills that I have. Be able to say this is not working lets find a direction that does or this works great. We never want to be stuck in one direction things change and you have to be objective no matter what. It all starts with listening to all parties taking an objective stand and reacting in the best way that will ultimately serve our children.

What do you feel are the challenges facing the CSD and school board today and what would you like to see happen to address them?

There are many challenges facing our district today with the obvious one being funding. We are in a tough economy and the choices / cuts that face us are ones we should not take lightly.  Listening and bringing the community and district together tapping in to the resources we have will benefit us all in the long run. I believe if the community felt they were being heard we could tap into that resources a lot more.

Education is another tough subject I don’t believe we have the right to say we educate the whole and sometimes the individual gets left behind. We may not be able to educate every single child but we certainly owe them the right to do our very best. I never again want to hear a child say the school has given up on me and I can feel it. We fight and we continually try to improve but we never give up. There is a balance for everything and we need to find ours. We owe it to every child that walks into those doors. Parents that entrust the district with there most precious commodity their children.

Annette Calcagno invites people to download her campaign sign to use on their cars.
Select this link to download the pdf to print.

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Each candidate has been invited to participate and share their personal statements and answers to five questions. If you would like to see the list of candidates invited to participate and that are running for the CSD schoool board, please select here.

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