I encourage all South Portland voters to reelect Claire Holman to the school board. She has been devoted to young people’s education for more than 20 years. She is a thoughtful, creative thinker, ready to continue to serve our community. We who know her can tell you that she has been an invaluable mentor and inspiration to many young people in southern Maine, a hugely formative figure.
Holman grew up in Lewiston, a fan of Franco-American culture and language. She studied French and broadened my perspective of the world through her curiosity. Work and study took her to different parts of the U.S., France and Mexico before becoming a longtime resident of Ferry Village. She lives with her husband and 12th-grade son who has attended South Portland schools since grade K. She is a champion of the public school system and a longtime advocate of equal access to education for all students.
She teaches French and Spanish at USM, working with students from Maine and many parts of the world as well as world language teachers in local high schools. She is well-respected by her peers for her experience, knowledge, skills and upbeat spirit; she loves to bring people together to make things better.
She has had a successful first term on the school board, helping write a grant for an expansion of South Portland Adult Education services and serving on the board’s policy committee, collaboratively negotiating a successful labor contract with our teacher’s union. She knows the loss of pandemic funding is a fact the board has to face, and is ready to advance school budgets mindful of seniors and taxpayers on fixed incomes.
She will listen, ask good questions, evaluate options and make realistic choices.
Please vote for Claire Holman for the South Portland Board of Education.
Debbe Davis
South Portland
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