Statement: School board candidate Garrido-Carmody will prioritize academic rigor, strengthening engagement with parents
Editor’s note: This candidate statement was provided by school board candidate Connie Garrido-Carmody. The Pelham Examiner publishes statements in the form received as a service to the community.
Dear Pelham Community,
My name is Connie Garrido-Carmody and I am running for the Pelham Board of Education. Almost ten years ago, my husband Terry and I moved to Pelham with our two sons. Having already raised my older son in a top-rated Long Island public-school district, we understood the importance of living in an education-oriented community with high academic standards. After looking at a number of towns, we chose Pelham — because of its strong schools and commitment to community.
Brief background
I was born in Colombia, South America, and grew up in Woodside, Queens attending both public and parochial schools. I earned my B.S. and MBA degrees from St. John’s University. In my 30-year career I have led and launched multiple companies, serving as CEO and board member to both public and non-profit organizations. I’ve learned to effectively manage teams, design budgets, set clear objectives, and implement effective strategies to achieve success through measurable outcomes. Currently as an HR executive I spend my days improving work experiences through targeted training and performance-based management to promote learning, growth, and teamwork.
Since moving to Pelham, I have become integrally connected to the community. As a board member for the Pelham Education Foundation, I’ve spent 4 years supporting educational initiatives. Currently, I am proud to serve on the BOE Cultural Competence Committee, with the goal of using my expertise to help make sure that our schools are welcoming places for all students, regardless of background, personal characteristics, economic situation, or political viewpoint. I’m also an active parishioner at our local church, teaching religious instruction for 5 years and serving on the Special Events Committee.
My Focus
If elected, one of my core objectives will be to make sure that the district’s finite resources are focused on: (1) improving academic rigor and excellence, and (2) strengthening the district’s approach to communications and engagement with parents. To be sure, there are many other important functions that our district provides that I will no doubt support, but this will be my initial focus because I think our schools can make significant and rapid progress on both of these fronts.
Academic Rigor and Excellence: It is no secret that giving our children the tools to achieve academic excellence, in a rigorous environment, is a paramount ingredient for their future success. The district must prioritize student achievement, with the BOE actively overseeing this goal and holding the administration accountable against measurable standards. There has been progress on this front, but we can be even better.
Each child should be encouraged to achieve the very best outcomes that they are personally capable of reaching by making sure that the district: (1) offers high quality instruction, (2) measurably monitors individual student need and progress, and (3) provides active and impactful academic intervention to help our students stretch to the next level, regardless of whether they are high achievers, students with special needs or the majority of our children, who find themselves somewhere in between.
Of course, all of these academic objectives need to be undertaken while making sure that we support the development of each child’s social and emotional wellbeing – an area in which the district has made significant strides over the last couple of years.
Considerations: It is easy to talk about rigor and excellence in broad terms, but we need bold ideas and the mindset to make specific improvements actually happen. Such improvements could, for example, include: (1) expanding our elementary foreign language program (FLES) to five days a week so that our children can achieve greater language proficiency, (2) initiating a “high-impact tutoring program” that offers real-time, in-class intervention for students who struggle with a particular topic regardless of whether or not the students have special learning classifications – a new approach with encouraging results in a growing number of schools, (3) implementing a measurable dashboard that helps the Board monitor the academic progress of students in each building – the administration has talked “around” implementing such a mechanism for a couple of years, but this has not happened in any type of meaningful fashion despite repeated calls from multiple Board members – why is that?
Plainly said, the school taxes in Pelham are significant. We all willingly pay them but it is time for a systematic and measurable way to monitor the impact of the administration’s programs — to make sure our children are actually benefiting from the increased taxes we are all spending.
Parent Engagement: Despite the district’s recent laudable efforts, many parents I talk to still feel disconnected from the day-to-day aspects of their child’s education and want to know more about what is going on in our schools, both in and outside of class, particularly at the middle & high school levels. We need to continue to improve this communication to capitalize on what I see as one of Pelham’s potential core strengths – a meaningful partnership between schools and families.
If elected, I would like to see the district redouble its focus on this area and foster a formal “Year of the Parent” approach to our district – where all core educational programs are evaluated from the vantage point of the parent, as well as the child. Absent effective communication and engagement with parents, much of the district’s well-intentioned efforts risk getting lost in the shuffle of day-to-day life.
Considerations: This approach could include: (1) the posting of a full curriculum (listing specific books and assignments) for each class at the beginning of the year – permitting busy parents and families with special needs children to engage in advance planning, (2) a comprehensive series of in-depth tutorials for parents to make sure that they fully understand and can utilize the technology that their children are using in and out of the classroom, and (3) expanding parent-teacher conferences at the middle and high school levels so that they occur more than once a year and so that the parents of high school children are not forced to have 7-minute “speed conferences” with teachers. Obviously, no one Board member can implement change by themselves, but these are the types of specific improvements that I would like to focus on with my fellow trustees, if elected.
Opportunity For Change
This upcoming year, the BOE will be adopting a new five-year Strategic Plan. This presents a unique opportunity to build upon the successes of previous goals while making sure we address the above objectives – and to actively engage with the community to ensure that the Strategic Plan reflects views from all corners of our district.
I am committed to working with the community, the board, and the administration to achieve our common goal of providing the best education possible for our children and being good stewards of our community’s taxes. I humbly ask you to join me in this effort by voting for me on May 16, 2023.
Thank you for your consideration and support.
Connie Garrido-Carmody
Cell: (646) 318-7579
EJ Sepp • May 1, 2023 at 1:36 am
So cool to see Connie running for the BOE! She’s super-nice and a really good mom who cares a lot about education. Personally, I think increased transparency and engagement is awesome and definitely welcome. My wife and I were so happy when we had a chance to connect with our child’s teachers recently. I don’t think it is always the norm, but it should be! More connection = an increased likelihood of a mutually respectful and collaborative relationship with teachers, which can only help our kids achieve.
Rhett Speros • Apr 26, 2023 at 5:35 pm
Yeah, it’s that time of year again when we hate disparage our neighbors.
Great lessons for our children and our community! If you disagree with someone then immediately lump them into a generalized category of evil.
Good luck to anyone who wants to run for any position in this town.
Bob Shepherd • Apr 26, 2023 at 11:11 am
I wish Connie and the others running all the very best in the up coming election for a place on the BOE. However, as a Brit living in Pelham, and paying my taxes, I’m not allowed to vote (wasn’t there a war here over that?) as I’m not American. I’m sure that there are many more parents in the same boat here in Pelham…parents that cannot vote.
The idea of individuals running, is so that they can bring their skills and thinking to enhance Pelham schools. If you agree with them and you’re qualified to vote, then vote for that individual. If you don’t agree with them, then don’t vote for that individual…it’s called democracy.
Pelham is very divided outside of the schools by “adults” not agreeing on a range of issues. But it’s really sad to see a well meaning individual running for a place getting whacked on the back of the head for all to see, when quite clearly she is simply setting out her stall like the others.
All the very best once again to those running, as a tax payer I simply wish that I could have one of those votes.
Peter S Liaskos • Apr 25, 2023 at 11:25 pm
It’s important to point out that the rest of Eileen’s comment appears to respond to straw-man arguments that are entirely absent from Connie’s statement. Connie does not ask for parent authorization or approval of school curriculums. She simply wants busy parents to be able to know what the curriculum is in advance, so that they can help their children. She makes this perfectly clear in her statement. Why this would be problematic for anyone or how anyone could disagree with this is beyond me.
There are a number of additional misplaced remarks about the role of parents in our school district and their capabilities — and an odd comment about book banning. Once again, these baseless remarks seem to respond to fictitious arguments that were simply not made in Connie’s statement — not by any stretch of the imagination. I encourage everyone to read Connie’s actual statement for themselves. I am positive that they will quickly reach the same conclusion.
Finally, speaking only for myself, in my humble opinion, I think many would also strongly disagree with Eileen’s notion of what Pelham parents are “qualified” to opine on when it comes to their own children.
Peter S Liaskos • Apr 25, 2023 at 11:02 pm
I’m both surprised and disappointed by Eileen’s comment. I had hoped that this election would not have the vitriol and personal attacks that we have seen in recent BOE elections in our town. Eileen’s comment attacking Connie Garrido-Carmody is completely unfounded.
During my last year on the BOE, in 2018, I encouraged Dr. Champ and the board to look for ways to increase parent communication & engagement. In discussing those issues, I used the phrase “Year of the Parent.” I’ve also used that phrase from time to time since my term ended. Eileen was actually on the board with me at that time. I will give her the benefit of the doubt and assume that she simply did not recall this.
In doing research to run for the BOE, Connie spoke to me and other BOE members about the many ideas she has to improve the district — including a focus on parent engagement. During our discussion, I trotted out that phrase and Connie liked it. She decided to use it in her candidate statement. It has absolutely nothing to do with Ron DeSantis or anything going on in Florida. And any suggestion to the contrary is completely unfounded and incendiary.
A simple phone call to Connie or anyone who knows her — as opposed to a public accusation — would have made this clear. Or perhaps it would’ve been wise to just wait until the candidates had a chance to discuss their ideas publicly.
As we go into this election, I hope everyone thinks twice before making hasty accusations or leaping to groundless assumptions.
Eileen Miller • Apr 25, 2023 at 2:18 pm
I don’t know Ms Garrido-Carmody personally, so I’m taking her remarks at face value. Gov Ron De Santis declared 2022 the “Year of the Parent” in Florida, which led to many hate-filled policies, including Don’t Say Gay.
As for the type of involvement from parents described, I could not agree LESS. Professional educators are not only qualified, but they are paid to assess and implement curriculum. We are fortunate that the reputation for excellence that has been a hallmark in Pelham Schools attracts very seasoned, well educated administrators. The typical parent is not qualified in this area. We should also all notice that this type of language has also led to book banning by parents in other parts of the country, which is something I can’t imagine anyone in Pelham would support.
Please make sure to vote this year, it’s a big one.
Carla Caccavale • Apr 25, 2023 at 10:47 pm
You are right m, you don’t know Connie. And you should get to know her before making a comment like this. Your comment here — and drawing a parallel to Florida — is far reaching, way off base from what she was saying and far from neighborly. Comments like this are what have divided Pelham in recent years. And in past recent BOE elections, such language has only worked against those spewing it.