WinCentral.org

Name: Christian (Chris) Nixon, 38, Married (Amy). Father of three children ages 8, 5, and 2 months.
Schools: Lynch Preschool parent 2004 - 2006 Muraco Elementary parent 2006 - present
Occupation: Senior Associate in Boston architecture firm Member of corporate board finance subcommitee
Education: B.A. - Architecture, Art, Art History; Space Physics Minor – Rice Univ. 1993. B.Arch – Rice Univ. 1995.
Town roles: Town Meeting member – Precinct 1, Chairman of Muraco Facilities & Technology Committee

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Why are you running for School Committee?
I wish to play a more active role in the preservation and enhancement of the quality and value of public education in Winchester and to ensure that our long-term physical plant needs and capital projects are
thoughtfully addressed in a manner that supports our students, teachers, and staff for many years to come. My professional experience as a Senior Associate at a large Boston-based architectural practice would bring twenty years of facility programming, design, and management skills to the School Committee—qualities that are particularly important as WPS faces elementary school enrollment increases far greater than expected and with a substantial space shortfall projected at the High School. I have been attending the majority of School Committee meetings for the past two years, both to familiarize
myself with Committee processes and the history behind many initiatives, as well as to personally advocate for a number of important issues, including:
• Rising enrollment and space needs
• After-school busing
• Physical plant maintenance & project close-out (Ambrose, Vinson-Owen, and Muraco)
• District HR policy revisions
• FY10 & FY11 budgeting
• All Day Kindergarten [ADK]
• Special Education Funding
• Emerging Technology Funding
• School Facility RFPs
• WPS Master Plan update

Along the way, I have found both Central Office Administration officials as well as School Committee members accessible and interested in problem solving. I have appreciated their willingness to listen and respond and—in some cases—even include me in the process. While I have at times pushed the Committee hard on a number of key issues, our relationship has always been professional, respectful, and collaborative and I am excited at the prospect of participating at a new level.

Increasing enrollment and ongoing space shortages
As a district, we have significantly exceeded our 5-year elementary enrollment growth projections from January 2006 (14% versus 9%). While there is increased discussion and recognition of our rapid rise in enrollment—including the February Board of Selectmen Public Hearing with Rep. Jason Lewis—the experience is not uniform across the Town. Enrollment at Lynch has been relatively flat and Vinson Owen has seen a slight decrease in its census. Ambrose and Muraco, however, have shouldered the majority with dramatic 21% and 54% enrollment growths respectively. Lincoln’s enrollment has grown over this period as well and, like Ambrose and Muraco, it also faces space shortages and the prospect of higher than desirable class sizes. While there has been progress this year by the Superintendent and School Committee in responding to calls for change in enrollment growth methodologies, I will push for greater involvement of the recently established Enrollment Committee, clarity in the new metrics adopted by the District, and a more deliberate linking of 3-year outlooks to existing space availability in our schools. I am a staunch advocate for the new (and larger) Vinson-Owen school. This construction will not only address long-standing shortcomings in the existing facility, but—with redistricting—will go a long way towards rebalancing enrollment and staffing in all of our elementary schools. Capital and liquidity for a new Vinson-Owen—even with MSBA State dollars contributed—will be an enormous challenge to Winchester. I would like to draw on my experience with institutional clients to help facilitate a thoughtful, economical, and pragmaticproject delivery process. Similarly challenging is the future of Winchester High School’s physical plant. I will look to engage directly with the Winchester High School Parent Faculty Association [WHSPFA] and the newly formed advocacy group of residents and community members (members of the Winchester chapter of Stand for Children and others), which has recently initiated an exciting strategic planning process for this aging facility’s future.

Communication, Accessibility, and Transparency
Meetings: Those of us who attend School Committee meetings in person have access to information that others who tune in on WinCAM don’t have: the availability of hardcopy reports, charts, and presentations discussed. If elected, I will call for greater accessibility to key documents on the School Committee’s website (http://www.winchester.k12.ma.us/SC/index.html) so that taxpayers, parents, and community members can better understand issues before the Committee and comprehend subsequent debate and voting. I believe this will lead to greater engagement by stakeholders.
Documentation: I will call for faster production of School Committee meeting minutes. While it has been the practice of the Committee to formally approve minutes presented by the Superintendent, it was confirmed by the Middlesex County District Attorney’s office at this year’s Open Meeting Law Forum in Winchester that this process is not required. The DA’s office suggested that draft minutes may be made available in a more timely manner, with final Committee-approved versions posted at a later date. This issue is particularly important during the budget cycle—an iterative process in which Committee discussion builds on past meetings and consensus.

Technology:
I believe that we need to find creative ways to allocate greater resources to technology Nixon for Winchester School Committee Communication: Last year the School Committee physically visited each of our schools for evening meetings with the PTOs. This was well-received and by all accounts the meetings drew large crowds of interested parents, generating meaningful discussion and understanding on a variety of topics. I would like to see this continue with visits in both spring and fall, but be supported by more direct communication to our PTOs and include Committee responses to parent initiatives, such as this year’s Talented & Gifted program suggestion. Sustaining Departmental Resources with “less visible constituencies” Technology: I believe that we need to find creative ways to allocate greater resources to technology replacement as well as emerging technology integration. I applaud the School Committee’s most recent steps in increased funding (current SC budget approved in January for review), but am concerned that these measures must be maintained in subsequent years when other needs will demand attention. We should all be thankful for the substantial support of philanthropy, from large foundations such as the Winchester Fund for Educational Excellence [WFEE] or the John and Mary Murphy Foundation to the generous gifts of individuals. We cannot, however, come to rely solely on their generosity as the primary capital source for increasingly necessary educational tools, training, and infrastructure.

Special Education Services:
As a parent of a child diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, I can personally attest to the dedication and devotion of the many professionals in our Special Education Department. I can also attest to the visible strain in increased workload associated with our rising enrollment, dwindling space, and the requisite needs of a growing student body. I believe that we need to be looking for innovative ways
to enhance SPED staff effectiveness and the continuity of student services, and suggested to the School Committee at January’s FY11 Budget Forum some policy revisions that aim to do just this while maintaining fiscal responsibility.

Improving the “mid-term” Capital Planning process
I believe that Superintendent McAlduff and the School Committee have made good strides in improving the short-term capital planning process: for instance, calling for the development of full plans and specifications for major capital projects one year ahead of schedule to better assess the real costs of construction. We need to apply a similar (though not quite as detailed) rigor in our review of “mid-term” projects 3 to 5 years out. A systematic process that reviews initial WPS and Department of Public Works [DPW] assumptions (some 8 to 10 years old) and reconciles them with today’s physical plant assessments and conceptual construction costs with escalation will help the School Committee and Administration balance and prioritize our many needs in a
rolling three-year improved Capital Plan.

Onward and upward
My wife Amy and I-- and our kids-- are excited about this campaign. I look forward to sharing more with
supporters at our kickoff event as well as meeting and listening to my fellow Winchester citizens in the coming
weeks!

-Chris Nixon, February 2010