PRESS
- Marlene Rockmore, Letter to Arlington Advocate
- Juli Brazile, Letter to Arlington Advocate
- Judi Paradis, Letter to Arlington Advocate
I met Cindy Starks over 15 years ago when we served on the Arlington Public Schools Technology Council. Our job was to develop policies and pilots to help introduce email and internet applications into Arlington’s school classrooms. We had a challenging task but we built a dedicated and knowledgeable team. Cindy brought amazing skills to the group. She was a trained electrical engineer who was creative, energetic, optimistic, realistic and fun.
Since then, Cindy and I have worked on other projects to help improve Arlington Public Schools, and I have watched her blossom into an incredible leader. She brings a strong set of analytical skills but her strength is that she cares about the relationships between team members and she makes working together on tough problems fun. For example, Cindy worked tirelessly to help school administrators understand why school nurses matters. Her presentation remains a great example of how she used her analytical skills to present the data, but she also told a compelling important story to gain support for health and safety as a critical component of safe school environments where children can learn and grow.
My children are now grown, proud alumni of the Arlington Public Schools. As an empty nester, I continue to care that future generations have great schools. But I now face life on a fixed income, I am concerned that our limited resources are well-spent. As Arlington faces tough, emotional issues such as redistricting, we need leaders like Cindy who can listen, learn, analyze, and use their enormous warmth and caring to pull people together to create a great solutions and manage our limited resources.
Cindy Starks won’t let you down. She has been hardworking and committed to our schools for a long time, and demonstrates her skills every day in her work as a math teacher and community leader. She has deep knowledge of our schools and the community the schools serve. She is sincere and committed to bringing all the components of a great education to our children. She’ll keep bringing her good humor and people skills to the School Committee. Please join me in enthusiastically vote for Cindy Starks for School Committee on April 10th.
Marlene Rockmore
Town Meeting Member Precinct 12
I am proud to support Cindy Starks for a second term on the school committee. Cindy is a wonderful example of the dedicated and knowledgeable citizens that Arlington attracts to public service and to public office. Her work for Arlington’s children began years before she ran for office and that was how I first met her. Cindy was one of the wise people who taught me years ago that not only did we need to work on school projects, or talk with local officials about school funding, we need to be very aware of what happens across the state that could impact Arlington.
I have been to the state house with Cindy to talk with legislators and she has testified on education issues. And she has worked to educate others on the issues because one voice alone is rarely enough. I attended many meetings with Cindy over the years to discuss how to let voters in Arlington know the effects of local aid cuts on the Arlington school budget. And then find ways to get those voters to call and write our legislators and support education funding.
It takes time and effort to learn the facts, build the relationships and work for change. We all hear the phrase “unfunded mandates” and complain bitterly about the state leaving towns holding the bag. Cindy picks up the phone and finds out who is working on solving the problem and sets up a meeting. She has been meeting with legislators for years to discuss issues, encourage solutions from the state and build alliances with other advocates. As this issue gets more attention at the state level, Cindy will continue to work with our representatives to increase support for the state to bear more of the cost.
I am grateful that the voters have the benefit of Cindy’s experience and vision for education and very pleased that she is willing to run again. Please join me and cast one of your two votes for Cindy on Tuesday, April 10th.
Juli Brazile
I am writing to urge support for Cindy Starks as she seeks re-election to the Arlington School Committee. As a community leader, parent and educator, Cindy brings great values to our school leadership. Cindy always puts our students’ needs first.
Cindy has a long history of working on behalf our schools and families. She has focused on improving the ability of our teachers to collaborate and share their expertise, on helping students transition from middle to high school, and she listens to all perspectives as we tackle difficult issues, such as school redistricting. Cindy knows that while much has been done to restore services and improve education in Arlington—much still needs to be done: rebuilding the Thompson School, selecting a principal for Arlington High School, restoring our school libraries, etc. Cindy has the perspective and values to make the right decisions and do the hard work that will ensure Arlington’s schools remain schools in which we can all take pride. I hope you will join me in supporting her for School Committee.
Sincerely,
Judi Paradis