The Choice is Clear

2010-01-23T10:31:00.000-08:00

Hello and thank you for visiting my page. I hope that after reading this will decide that I am the best candidate for this job and vote for me. Many of you expected me to run for town council, however, after being asked to run for this office I decided that it was the best choice for me right now. At this moment, I am unaware of who my opponents will be, and frankly, it does not matter. I am asking for your vote because I am the best candidate, not because of possible shortcomings of my opponents. Since voters often do not turn out in high percentages for these elections, this means your vote will be even more important than usual.Many would ask why someone my age would want to serve on the Board of Education or why they should be given the job. Both questions are quite easy to answer. The reason I want to serve on the board is because the board right now lack divergent views. Too many votes are unanimous head nods to the wills of the administrators. We can do better for the students and the taxpayers. I do not want to cut services, but I believe that with a little hard work we can make the decisions that are best for the students and the taxpayers by making things more efficient. I want to be an advocate for the students and the people of this town, not for the teachers and the administration. When I take office, I plan to take suggestions from students because no one knows what is working and what is not better than them. In my entire time in the school system, only once did a board member ask anyone I knew what they thought in an informal setting.Above all I plan to be an advocate for the students and what is best for them. Too often board members are detached from the students, many send their children outside of the district and many others have no children in schools at all. How can we be sure they have the best interest of the children at heart if their decisions do not affect their children? While I do not have children, my brothers are affected and anyone knows me knows nothing in the world means more to me than my brother Scott. What kind of message do we send when our last two board presidents send their children to schools outside the district? The message I draw from that is that our schools are not working.With a person as young as I am, you may feel that I am unqualified. However, I believe it is my youth that makes me the best candidate. Unlike the current board members, I am only one year removed from being a student in the district. I know what programs were successful and what were failures, I know what classes actually taught valuable information and which ones were nothing more than a study hall. I believe this insight will allow me to line by line figure out which programs we can cut costs with. Everything I have done shows that I want to help children. While currently coaching recreation basketball with my friends, Pat Lanni and Mike Lazzara, I have also helped with Special Angels tennis and other youth activities.I thank everyone who signed the petition to make me a candidate in this race. I will be handing it in next week and at that time will become an official candidate. Remember the election is April 20th, if you will not be around I will work on getting you an absentee ballot. Thank you and I hope you make the right choice this April.

Matt Gilson for Board of Education

The Choice is Clear