Windham residents Kate Brix, Dawn Dillon and Pete Heanssler are running uncontested for re-election to seats representing Windham on the Regional School Unit 14 Board of Directors.

Polls are open at Windham High School from 7 a.m.-8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 4.

Kate Brix

Age: 62

Address: 5 Wildflower Lane

Occupation: Domestic engineer, children’s advocate

Political Experience: 12 years on the RSU 14 Board of Directors

Q: How do you plan to make a difference for Windham if elected to the RSU 14 Board of Directors?

A: It has been an honor to represent the citizens of Windham on the School Board for the past 12 years. Much change has occurred during this time, most importantly, the consolidation with Raymond schools to form RSU 14. Having served on the consolidation committee, I have the unique perspective of being the only Board member presently serving who was a part of that process. That historical knowledge is valuable, in my view, as we proceed with the review of the cost sharing formula that was agreed upon when consolidation became official in 2009. It is also helpful to provide context as the town of Raymond proceeds with the citizen initiative to withdraw from RSU 14 by placing the question on the November ballot.

An enormous amount of time and effort have been dedicated to combine the two school districts into one educational unit. As Policy Chair prior to and during the years since consolidation, much work has been done to meld the two districts’ educational policies into one cohesive policy manual. This work is almost reaching completion.

Being responsible fiscal agents for the citizens of Windham is one of the most important duties of a board member and I take that responsibility very seriously. I served on the Middle School Advisory Committee whose task was to evaluate the condition of Windham Middle School, Field-Allen and Jordan Small Middle School. After a large amount of data collection, demographic studies and architectural review of the condition of each building, the committee provided the Board with three recommendations for their review. Serious discussion will ensue in 2015 regarding those recommendations. Whatever direction is taken – to build, renovate, or do nothing – will have serious impact on the RSU budget and subsequently on our students, staff and the community at large. I sincerely hope I can be part of that dialogue.

It has been my good fortune to live in Windham. My husband and I raised our three children here and we firmly believe that the education Windham provided them was a good one. I think my experience offers a good balance to those who are newer to the Board. Even with 12 years of experience, I am still as passionate about providing a quality education to our youth as I was when my children were in school. There is a tremendous amount of work to be done and I sincerely hope the citizens of Windham will allow me to continue to be a good steward of their tax dollars and contribute to making RSU 14 the best educational system possible. It would be a privilege to serve three more years.

Dawn Dillon

Age: 47

Address: 5 Meyers Farm Road, Windham

Occupation: Insurance

Political Experience: One three-year term on the RSU 14 Board of Directors

Q: How do you plan to make a difference for Windham if elected to the RSU 14 Board of Directors?

A: I am excited to run again after my first three-year term. We face some of the same issues we did in the last three years. I am planning to work immediately on the issues facing the school and the future of our RSU 14’s strategic plan. We face challenges of budgeting, facility planning, and our two communities’ cost-sharing formula.

Yet, as we need to examine the internal cost-sharing formula between our two towns, we have still experienced great success in our curriculum development and instruction. We have and plan to continue improvement in education. I am committed to this as a resident for 24 years and a parent of three children in our RSU.

I will focus on making sure the quality of education is exceeding our expectations in the state and nationally. I continue to have an open mind to change and understanding our community needs and dynamics that impact cost savings and learning for all.

There are many positive things going on in our district, which include education, sports and the arts for which we have been nationally recognized. The Windham High School offers advanced placement courses for college credit and I hope to see this participation rate increase.

The success of our students begins with our pre-screening summer program for kindergarten and we as a community should be proud of our accomplishments ranging from State Championship teams and National Merit Scholarship awards, and also other offerings for adult education, cooking, arts, technology and more.

I believe I can contribute to continuing our efforts of success in our children’s education and civic duty and am proud to work with RSU 14 and represent our communities.

Pete Heanssler

Age: 42

Address: 22 Harvest Hill Road, Windham

Occupation: Commercial Underwriter

Political experience: RSU 14 Board of Directors

Q: How do you plan to make a difference for Windham if elected to the RSU 14 Board of Directors?

A: First of all, my approach is to make a difference for the entire district, not just Windham. That being said, my overall goal for the next three years is to make sure that we are balanced. That means balancing the needs of both towns in the district, balancing how we address wants vs. needs at budget time, and balancing the focus between our students and our teachers.

In an RSU, both towns need to feel that they are being treated fairly and that there are mutual benefits to being in the consolidated arrangement. Not only is it important to make sure the cost-sharing component is fair, it’s also important that both towns feel that they have equal access to resources and have enough input into the decisions that affect their children’s education.

In reference to our students and teachers, there has been so much focus in recent years on developing more individualized learning plans for our students, and while there may be benefits to that approach, we need to make sure that we are not putting too many demands on our teachers or taking away their individual teaching styles. We have a lot of great teachers in our district and it’s important that they can be themselves and use the methods and techniques that they find to be most effective for our children locally. I want our teachers to continue to love what they do and to bring that enthusiasm to the classroom every day.

Kate BrixPete HeansslerDawn Dillon

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