Meet School Committee candidate Paul Ruseau

How many years have you lived in Medford?
Nineteen years.

Please describe your professional background and education.
Software engineer.  BS in Computer Science, MS in Human Factors in Information Design.

What, if any, city positions (appointed or elected) have you held, and for how long?
School Committee member.  Eight years.

What volunteer roles have you participated in that you feel have made a difference in Medford?
Girl Scout Troop Leader, PTO after-school programming club co-leader.

Why should residents vote for you?
See ‘Why are you running or running again for School Committee, what changes do you believe you can facilitate?”

Tell us …

Why are you running or running again for School Committee, what changes do you believe you can facilitate?
I bring 8 years of experience in modernizing the policies of the Medford Public Schools. My negotiating skills have helped to modernize our contracts with our ten collective bargaining partners. My systems approach has reduced the length of negotiations. My focus on helping students with limited resources access the opportunities that Medford Public Schools provides is a major motivating factor in my work on the School Committee and why I continue to run for office. I grew up in deep poverty - and while this was not a pleasant experience, I have realized now that it is a superpower - I see every decision the public schools and School Committee make through the lens of how this will impact our poorest students. When something is not available to our poorest students, it isn’t just a loss of opportunity - it is a denigration and othering, and that is detrimental to them and our community.

What do you see as the top issue with the School District? There is no ‘top issue’ - the Medford Public Schools is a large, complicated organization with many constituents and many demands it must meet. The needs of a high school senior, a new kindergartner, an elementary educator, a middle school educator, a high school educator, a coach, a member of our facilities department, or the counseling staff are all very different. Building a new Medford High School is certainly one of my top priorities. Why?  Because our students and staff deserve an educational environment that reflects the quality of the education they receive. Our high school is also a significant polluter, using vast amounts of electricity and fossil fuels each year. We owe it to our community to modernize and reduce the carbon footprint that providing a quality education has on our planet.

With potentially deep cuts in federal funding and a local budget stretched thin, what are your budgeting priorities and how do you propose to make them happen?
Medford Public Schools, like all public school districts, is accustomed to responding to unexpected expenses and changes in revenues. Unlike the budgets of corporations or even the city of Medford, public schools do not have the freedom to simply not do something because we are out of money - we must educate the students we have, and that changes all the time, and their needs do too. Our budget is comprised of multiple sources of revenue, including local appropriations, federal grants, and others. These are not always known before we must pass our budget. When a student moves into the district, we educate that student - even if they have complex medical needs - we make it work. When a member of our staff goes out on leave, we hire a replacement at additional cost to the district - we make it work. When a group of kindergartners enrolls at the last minute before school starts, and we must hire two new teachers and two new paraprofessionals, and find space for them, we make it work. None of this is in the budget. We delay some purchases and some hiring of non-student-facing staff, and we take the necessary steps to ensure that we are educating students. There are limits, of course, and we must always maintain a balanced budget, as required by state law.

Constant monitoring of our budget is one of my priorities to ensure we do not ‘discover’ a huge shortfall late in the fiscal year, as has happened in other districts.

As we face a very uncertain federal situation, I am focused on students with the greatest need.  One priority for me is that we will not cut free school meals, even if the funding for this program vanishes; however, the state has committed to continuing this program for at least the next two years.

Proposition 2 ½ was never intended to ensure ‘fiscal responsibility.’ The communities where this originated pass overrides very regularly. They knew they would not be able to live with 2.5% increases, and didn’t want new growth in their communities, so they built in a mechanism called the override to ensure things would be stable in their communities - paved roads, well-funded schools, and tree-lined streets. They got what they wanted; to hell with the rest of the communities that couldn’t afford to do these regularly. So why did they want all of this? That answer is long and complicated and not worth going over here - but it was not from a place of ‘fiscal responsibility,’ that’s for sure.

Medford cannot just have overrides every couple of years.  A 2.5% increase year after year will cause our total city revenues to fall behind inflation. So, Medford needs a revenue plan. The city should create one soon. New growth is one answer, of course, but it takes a while - whereas inflation occurs every single day. This is a question to be answered by the executive. Thankfully, there is a large amount of free cash that should be able to help plug any sudden federal cuts, which historically have occurred after Congress takes action. However, with our current federal administration, which disregards the law, we may face unprecedented cuts at any moment.

What role should the community play in supporting the education of children?
The community plays a crucial role in supporting the education of its students. It is the largest single use of our local tax dollars. Communicating with the public about the education we provide has become more challenging without local print publication, but we must do better to ensure our community sees the education of our children as their responsibility - even if one does not have children in the schools!  A strong community supports the education of its children. One way to achieve this is to make the school buildings themselves more multifunctional facilities, rather than just for the education of students.

What book is currently on your nightstand? (just for fun) 
I prefer to read multiple books at once - my mood for what I’m reading changes frequently. I am reading “The Power Broker “(and will be for a long time - it’s so long) by Robert A. Caro, “Gumption “by Nick Offerman, “Anti-Intellectualism in American Life” by Richard Hofstadter, “Grandma Gatewood’s Walk” by Ben Montgomery, and a book I read and reread endlessly (and cannot recommend enough) – “Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer.