The Town of Natick depends on the active participation of its citizens in governance of the Town. Natick voters on Tuesday, March 29 will cast their ballots for candidates running for School Committee, a contested race.

The Natick School Committee is an elected town-wide board. Among other things, it approves Natick’s school budget, appoints the Superintendent, and establishes educational goals and policies for Natick’s schools as a whole.

There are five candidates running for three open 3-year seats on the School Committee—in ballot order they are Cathi Collins, Henry Haugland, Julie McDonough, Kathleen Flathers, and Elise Gorseth.

Natick Report invited the candidates to answer a few questions about their qualifications and priorities for the Town of Natick. Below is the Q&A for Kate Flathers. We will run one School Committee candidate interview per day, then switch over to the Select Board interviews.

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Natick Report: Please introduce yourself to Natick Report’s readers.

Kate Flathers: Hi. I’m Kate Flathers. Kathleen on the ballot, and Mrs. Pollock to my kids’ friends. I am a parent to four kids who will be at Natick elementary, middle, and high schools next year, and I have been deeply engaged in school committee and budget discussions over the last two years. I am also a healthcare tech executive with decades of experience building and launching products. In this role, I am rarely the expert, but I live at the intersection of knowledge, discipline, and experience to help people create magic through collaboration. I believe I can bring that experience and a moderate, balanced voice to the Natick School Committee.

NR: If elected, what do you hope to accomplish during your 3-year term on School Committee?

Kate Flathers: COVID recovery is going to be the focus over the next several years, and we will want to see all students returning to pre-pandemic normal in terms of mental health and academic achievement. The vast majority of that work will come from our educators. As a committee member I will be a strong ally in that pursuit by working with the administration in two key ways. I want to ensure that this recovery also focuses on our teachers by listening to their needs and advocating for fair compensation. Secondly, I want to work with the administration to find the right metrics to measure progress for all students. Too often, the reports focus on the students with the highest academic achievement or the ones missing benchmarks. I want to know that we’re providing students with pathways outside of traditional secondary education, and I want us to make meaningful progress on increasing diversity in both students and staff. I want us to know that we have adequately served the 80% that fall in the middle.

NR: As we go into our third calendar year of the pandemic, mental health issues are at the forefront of educators’ minds. How best can the school system support students’ mental health?

Kate Flathers: I would lean heavily on our teachers, school counselors and psychologists to recommend the best way to support students. I would advocate for mechanisms to ensure that the parent and student perspective is heard and considered. As a committee member, my main role will be to interpret what I hear from the experts, help translate that into clear metrics, advocate for funding appropriate support, and assess the effectiveness of any intervention we put in place.  How do we know that they are beneficial? Clear metrics will help avoid the trap of being distracted by anecdotes and provide the fortitude to pursue the big picture goals.

NR: What is the best way to manage budget shortfalls in the system and still keep current service levels?

Kate Flathers: There are really only 2 ways to manage a shortfall while keeping service levels: 1) increase revenues or 2) make service delivery more efficient.

Ideally, our town finds ways to increase revenues as we exit COVID, but it is more likely that we will need to consider an operational override in the next few years. As a committee member, I would want the town to view me as a partner in evaluating options for our town holistically. As a partner, I want to make sure that the schools have done their due diligence to streamline service delivery as much as possible without reducing services or impacting student outcomes. To that end, it is crucial that the financial data from the schools clearly outlines how services are funded and how students benefit from those expenditures. I think this justification is true even for our capital investments where we need to assess how building features correlate to improved student outcomes. It is through this metrics based assessment that we also create more visibility into services that are less impactful and gather information for streamlining delivery.

NR: Is there anything else you’d like to say that the above questions did not cover?

Kate Flathers: My professional career has been marked by interpreting and translating an organization’s foundational goals into measurable outcomes. I have honed the skills of aligning everyone to the big picture, listening to concerns when they are raised without offering false assurances, and seeking common ground for the best outcomes. The next three years are critical for our students, school system, and whole town and will require all of these skills from our leaders. I would be honored to serve at this time.

NR: How should voters reach you if they want more information?

Kate Flathers: Learn more about me at www.kate4natick.com or send email to flathers4natick@gmail.com

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Candidate interviews that have run on Natick Report.

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The Town of Natick depends on the active participation of its citizens in governance of the Town. Natick voters on Tuesday, March 29 will cast their ballots for candidates running for School Committee, a contested race.

The Natick School Committee is an elected town-wide board. Among other things, it approves Natick’s school budget, appoints the Superintendent, and establishes educational goals and policies for Natick’s schools as a whole.

There are five candidates running for three open 3-year seats on the School Committee—in ballot order they are Cathi Collins, Henry Haugland, Julie McDonough, Kathleen Flathers, and Elise Gorseth.

Natick Report invited the candidates to answer a few questions about their qualifications and priorities for the Town of Natick. Below is  Julie McDonough’s Q&A. We will run one School Committee candidate interview per day, then switch over to the Select Board interviews.

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Natick Report: Please introduce yourself to Natick Report’s readers.

Julie McDonough: My name is Julie McDonough and I am running for a third term on the Natick School Committee. I have three children in the Natick Public Schools—9th grade, 8th grade, and 6th grade.

I started this journey 10 years ago, sitting around a kitchen table with a few of my neighbors wondering why the class size for our kindergarteners was so high. We started to do some digging and found enrollment was rising exponentially in Natick. I started going to School Committee meetings and advocating for a solution.

I was appointed in 2015 and elected for the first time in 2016. I have now served six and a half years on the School Committee. I feel so proud of all we have accomplished, perhaps most importantly the district’s very strong and real commitment to small class sizes. For the past three years, I have served as chair and have learned so much about working in partnership with a strong superintendent and as a team with a diverse set of colleagues.

Navigating through a pandemic is something none of us could ever have imagined, but through the dedication of our administration, our teachers, and our town leaders, we supported the students and families of Natick in profound and meaningful ways.

I ask for your vote on March 29th because I bring experience, knowledge, and a positive and collaborative approach to the work of the School Committee. I know this district has a vision for where it wants to go. I want to be part of the solution, working hand-in-hand with our town partners and the community, to make this vision a reality through proper funding, partnerships, and collaboration.

NR: If elected, what do you hope to accomplish during your 3-year term on School Committee?

Julie McDonough: My priorities if re-elected include the following:

1. Class size—Those large kindergarten classes I mentioned above are just now reaching high school. I need to make sure we maintain our commitment to small class sizes at all levels.
2. The Johnson transition—The School Committee made the difficult decision to close Johnson this past fall. I am committed to seeing that transition through so that the families most impacted feel supported.
3. Support structures for staff and teachers, and districtwide administration—In Natick, we run an extraordinarily lean district operational structure. This means that we ask our administrators to take on significant workloads and we ask our teachers to take on roles outside of their job responsibilities in the classroom. We need to consider more support structures to prevent burn out from our administrators and teachers as a result of attempting to, or being asked to, do too many jobs at the same time.
4. Implementing findings from our “audits.”—Audits in the Natick Public Schools are reviews of programs that identify issues and propose solutions. Due to budgetary constraints, these identified areas of need or growth go unrealized. Two areas of focus that have emerged from recent audits that must be implemented are staffing our elementary schools with certified librarians and ensuring proper supports for our students with dyslexia
5. Providing competitive compensation to our teachers and staff—Natick consistently ranks in the lower half of the state for teacher pay, and the situation is worse for our most experienced teachers. We must fix this. The contract we are negotiating now must address the disparity we see between what we pay our experienced teachers and what other districts pay. We cannot afford to lose them now.

The Town of Natick depends on the active participation of its citizens in governance of the Town. Natick voters on Tuesday, March 29 will cast their ballots for candidates running for School Committee, a contested race.

The Natick School Committee is an elected town-wide board. Among other things, it approves Natick’s school budget, appoints the Superintendent, and establishes educational goals and policies for Natick’s schools as a whole.

There are five candidates running for three open 3-year seats on the School Committee—in ballot order they are Cathi Collins, Henry Haugland, Julie McDonough, Kathleen Flathers, and Elise Gorseth.

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Natick Report: Please introduce yourself to Natick Report‘s readers.

Henry Haugland: I am running for re-election to the Natick School Committee because I have the passion and a unique experience blend that will allow me to continue to make a difference for our children and families.

I am completing my fourth term on the Natick School Committee, having served from 1998 to 2007 and again beginning in 2019. Since my first term, I have been deeply invested in researching educational issues and have continuously pushed for excellence in our schools.

In addition to my service on the School Committee, I was also on the Advanced Math and Science Charter School Executive Board, including multiple years as Chair. I am President of the Board of Kids Connect, a Natick non-profit that provides tutoring services to children, and a member of the Board of Directors of The Education Collaborative (TEC). I’m also a new member of the Natick Historical Commission and a long-time Town Meeting member.

I have seven children including two graduates of Natick High School. Along with one of my sons, I helped found the Natick High School Robotics team and am proud to have Team 3737 Hank’s Tanks named after me.

I’ve spent decades in senior executive positions and am currently the CEO of a Natick-based business.

I understand the challenges involved in managing a large, complex organization such as the Natick Public Schools, with its 1,000+ employees, 5,200 students, 3,500 families and $80M budget. My experience, skill set, and creativity help my School Committee colleagues and the administration address the difficult issues.

NR: If elected, what do you hope to accomplish during your 3-year term on School Committee?

Henry Haugland: My priorities are to provide the support the superintendent, leadership team, teachers and staff need to:

• Ensure that each child receives effective, personalized education. Our graduates must have the skills to lead the future they choose.
• Minimize pandemic-related learning losses and increased social-emotional challenges
• Manage budget growth to maintain affordability for town residents
• Attract and retain exemplary teachers and staff
• Foster a culture of excellence and inclusivity within our schools

We learned a great deal during the pandemic about creativity, determination, and finding new ways to meet the individual needs of our children. We need to expand these lessons while continuing to evaluate programs for efficiencies and cost reductions.

NR: As we go into our third calendar year of the pandemic, mental health issues are at the forefront of educators’ minds. How best can the school system support students’ mental health?

Henry Haugland: Over the past couple of years, and especially this current year, NPS has made significant investments to promote the social and emotional (SEL) growth of all our students, while also ensuring that we can both identify and support those students with mental health struggles. For example:

• We have a dedicated district-wide team working on amplifying our social and emotional learning programs and practices to make sure all students develop strong SEL skills including emotional management and resiliency from preK to grade 12.
• We use Panorama, an evidence-based SEL assessment to better understand our students’ social and emotional strengths and weaknesses so we can better target weaknesses.
• This year we started using the DESSA, a research-based mental health screening tool to identify students who are struggling.
• We have expanded the Hey NHS/Wilson/Kennedy How Are You? (a depression prevention and identification program).
• Using COVID grants, we have increased the number of mental health counselors to support pandemic-related struggles.
• Our high school and middle school principals have continued to focus on ensuring every student has a trusted adult in their school.
• We re-started extra-curricular activities as soon as was safe to do during the pandemic.
• We have partnered and continue to partner with William James College’s Interface Referral program, which allows any member of the community including students and teachers, to find mental health professionals outside of school.
• NPS continues to be a key player in Natick 180—our substance misuse prevention, treatment, and recovery coalition.

We have an urgent need to continue these efforts to prioritize mental health issues.

NR: What is the best way to manage budget shortfalls in the system and still keep current service levels?

Henry Haugland: Natick has a structural deficit problem. Revenues are not forecasted to keep pace with expense increases across the entire town. Collaboration between the Superintendent, the Town Administrator and Finance Director has enabled a budget proposal that meets most critical student and town needs for FY23. We were able to meet our budget targets through significant efforts in obtaining grants, minimizing hiring and utilizing revenue from revolving accounts, including state circuit breaker funding for special education. NPS has undertaken a substantial reorganization of personnel and is aggressively pursuing opportunities to improve productivity. However, our reality is that over time we do not have sufficient revenue to support the services being delivered to our residents. Additional revenue is needed or service reductions will be inevitable.

NR: Is there anything else you’d like to say that the above questions did not cover?

Henry Haugland: In the months ahead, the School Committee will be facing important challenges and opportunities that will impact our students’ academic and social-emotional wellbeing as well as our town’s finances. Based on the learnings over the past two years, my objective is to help NPS continue to improve outcomes for students. I want every graduate to have the preparation necessary for them to pursue their visions. To achieve the best outcomes for the town and our students, we need to elect members who are experienced, know how to collaborate with each other and the administration, and who will always consider the best interests of all Natick stakeholders.

NR: How should voters reach you if they want more information?

Henry Haugland: Please visit my website https://henryfornatick.com or my campaign Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/henryfornatick.

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Candidate interviews that have run on Natick Report.

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Subscribe to our Natick Report daily email

The Town of Natick depends on the active participation of its citizens in governance of the Town. Natick voters on Tuesday, March 29 will cast ballots for candidates running for School Committee, a contested race.

The Natick School Committee is an elected town-wide board. Among other things, it approves Natick’s school budget, appoints the Superintendent, and establishes educational goals and policies for Natick’s schools as a whole.

There are five candidates running for three open 3-year seats on the School Committee. In ballot order, they are Cathi Collins, Henry Haugland, Julie McDonough, Kathleen Flathers, and Elise Gorseth.

Natick Report invited the candidates to answer a few questions about their qualifications and priorities for the Town of Natick. Below is Cathi Collins’ Q&A. We will run one School Committee candidate interview per day, then switch over to the Select Board interviews.

Natick Report: Please introduce yourself to Natick Report’s readers.

Cathi Collins: My name is Cathi Collins and I am the current Vice Chair of the Natick School Committee. I’ve lived in Massachusetts for my entire life except for the two years after college when I lived and worked in Connecticut. My background and experience are in finance (Internal Bank Audit Manager) and marketing (instructor of upper-level undergraduate and graduate electives at Boston University, Suffolk and Bentley).

We moved to Natick in 1999 for its strong commitment to education, the wide array of Town services and its wonderful sense of community involvement and support, which was obvious the first time we visited. I currently share my home with my brother and Cooper, our 8-year-old Vizsla.

An elected member of Town Meeting from Precinct 9 for more than 15 years, I served on the Finance Committee (aka FinCom) for the maximum 12 years, including as Vice-Chair from 2017 – 2019, and as Chair of the Education and Learning Subcommittee for 11 of my 12 years. I have also served on multiple Town Meeting committees including the Town Meeting Practices and Rules, the Land Area/Make-Up, and the Conservation Study Committees.

I was elected to the Natick School Committee in March 2019, shortly after leaving FinCom. In addition to the normal committee work, I’ve gained valuable experience as the School Committee Vice Chair, as a member of negotiating teams, and as a member of the Policy Review subcommittee, among other assignments.

Given that two-thirds of my first term coincided with the worst public health emergency in a century, the School Committee accomplished a great deal, including bringing students back to school as safely as possible, focusing on our kids’ social-emotional health during this turbulent time, serving as a model to other districts for remote and hybrid education, and overseeing the construction of a new state-of-the-art Kennedy Middle School, which opened on-time and came in under-budget.

NR: If elected, what do you hope to accomplish during your 3-year term on School Committee?

Cathi Collins: While we will continue to contend with COVID-19, and will take important lessons from it, my goals for the next three years, which fall squarely within the School Committee’s limited purview, include:

• Continuous responsible financial stewardship to ensure the Natick Public Schools have the resources necessary to address the needs of all students while simultaneously controlling the rate at which the NPS budget grows. This includes overseeing the closing of the Johnson Elementary School while ensuring a smooth and supportive transition of all students.
• Defining annual and 5-year strategic and educational goals and policies to substantively improve student outcomes at all levels and demonstrate our responsibility and commitment to students, faculty, staff and families.
• Negotiating competitive labor contracts with each NPS collective bargaining unit which recognize the vital role our employees play in the success of NPS’ students and encourage experienced faculty to remain with the district.
• Ensuring equitable access to opportunity for all students, faculty and staff of Natick Public Schools so every individual is seen, valued, and secure.
• Identifying and providing necessary academic and social-emotional recovery resources for each student experiencing setbacks due to COVID-19.
• Approving an evidence-based structured literacy curriculum for teaching foundational literacy skills.

NR: As we go into our third calendar year of the pandemic, mental health issues are at the forefront of educators’ minds. How best can the school system support students’ mental health?

Cathi Collins: Goal #3 in the School Committee’s 5-year strategic plan focuses on developing a social-emotional learning and healthy living framework for student learning and parent engagement and partnership. And, just as our teachers provide instruction in a variety of ways, the School Committee has supported utilizing a multi-modality approach here. I am pleased that with the support of the Natick School Committee, NPS has added two new guidance counselors and five additional social workers in the last year to directly address students’ emotional needs. It has used grant monies to reduce some class sizes and expand a consistent Response to Intervention (commonly referred to as RTI) program district-wide to provide more one-on-one interaction opportunities which helps students both academically and emotionally. The costs associated with the expansion of intramural and middle school sports programs as well additional clubs to provide supportive enrichment opportunities to students have been included in the FY23 budget. The School Committee also continues to support an expansion of the externally managed “Hey NHS/KMS/WMS” program and other screening tools to identify students who are struggling with mental health issues. The district’s partnership with William James College to provide mental health counseling and referrals to students and families continues. To ensure that this vitally important work is appropriately coordinated as we move forward, a Director of Social Emotional Learning and Equity position will be funded by grant monies for the first year.

NR: What is the best way to manage budget shortfalls in the system and still keep current service levels?

Cathi Collins: As noted above, I have been intimately involved with the Natick Public Schools’ budget since 2005 so I’ve been on both sides of many budget gaps. In that time, I’ve seen “shortfalls” ranging from $0 to approximately $6 million. Often new staffing, programs or capital investments have been deferred and this is a reasonable short-term approach, but this approach does not account for the effects of inflation or permit the addition of new, often legally mandated, programs and services. In 2008, the Town’s chronic shortfall was “managed” by passing an operational override that was intended to address the gap for 2-5 years – that was 14 years ago. These represent the extremes as I see them of managing a budget shortfall while still providing current service levels.

In my experience, the most effective way to manage any budget in the face of revenue gaps is through communication, collaboration, trust and the development of respectful relationships with partners prior to any crisis. It was this respect and trust and the existence of robust relationships with Dr. Nolin and the Natick School Committee that all of our unions voted to defer their cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) as we struggled to close the multi-million dollar FY21 budget gap created by concerns about expected revenue shortfalls when COVID-19 hit. Union membership explicitly deferred its COLAs to preserve the then-current staffing and service levels for the long-term good of our students and health of the district. They trusted that if revenues came in higher than projected, the School Committee would seek to fund the deferred COLA. That trust was well placed. I have witnessed a similar respectful relationship between Natick’s Town Administrator, Jamie Errickson, and Dr. Nolin.

I am, however, keenly aware that communication, collaboration, trust and respectful relationships may be insufficient to bridge every budget gap on their own but I know, too, that without this as a foundation, the chances that current service levels can be preserved in the face of even a small gap are unlikely.

NR: Is there anything else you’d like to say that the above questions did not cover?

Cathi Collins: I am proud of what we (the Natick School Committee and NPS) accomplished over the last three years, despite facing the most challenging circumstances imaginable. I am committed to continuing this important work as I believe there is more that can and should be done to further improve our students’ outcomes. Together with my Natick School Committee colleagues, District Administration, our Town partners and community stakeholders, I vow to continue our hard but necessary work to ensure all Natick students receive a high-quality education and graduate as informed, thoughtful, and productive citizens. For more information, please visit my website at www.cathicollinsfornatick.org. I urge you to vote on March 29th, and I respectfully ask for one of your three votes for School Committee.

NR: How should voters reach you if they want more information?

I may be reached via email: cathicollinsfornatick@gmail.com or via Facebook: Cathi Collins for Natick School Committee

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