{"id":3101,"date":"2026-05-23T01:22:43","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T01:22:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/ellen-burnham\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T18:13:32","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T18:13:32","slug":"ellen-burnham","status":"publish","type":"candidate","link":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/ellen-burnham\/","title":{"rendered":"Ellen Burnham"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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About the Candidate<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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I\u2019ve been involved in SAD 17 \u2014 as a parent, substitute teacher, afterschool program manager, volunteer and Music\/Arts\/Drama booster member \u2014 for 30 years. I now run a local nonprofit.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Education<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Did not respond<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Previous campaigns and elected office(s) held<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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President of the Otisfield PTA, President of the Oxford Hills Music, Arts and Drama boosters\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Why are you running?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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I love this district and was lucky to raise a child within this district, and now I\u2019d like to have a hand in supporting our teachers and kids. There are some changes I\u2019d like to see \u2014 I want the community to feel more heard, and I want families to feel more supported. I\u2019m a firm believer in the idea of being the change you want to see, and so I\u2019m running for this position on the school board.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Top three priorities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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My top three goals, if I\u2019m elected, are increasing community involvement, providing more transparency to the public and finding a solution to the bullying issues our kids are facing across the district.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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What is the biggest challenge facing your area\u2019s schools? The biggest opportunity?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Our schools are facing the same challenges that schools across Maine are facing: tighter and tighter budgets and costs that keep climbing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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That being said, this community amazes me every day. Many of us don\u2019t have much to give, and yet, we give so much. That is our biggest opportunity. This community cares about its kids, and from what I\u2019ve seen, many folks are passionate about what goes on in this district. I think we just need to work on getting more of those folks into our school board meetings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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If you could change one thing about how your local schools function, what would it be and why?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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I feel that it\u2019s currently difficult for many families to be involved in district decisions that impact their children. I want to make it easier for families to be involved, whether that\u2019s by providing meeting summaries online or publicizing the recorded meetings on social media.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In addition, I want to help better support our students, teachers and district employees. We have some amazing local nonprofits, all of which help fill the gaps whenever possible for folks in our district.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Do you think the state government is too involved in local schooling? Not involved enough? The right amount of involved? Explain your answer.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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I don\u2019t think there\u2019s an easy answer here. I recognize that the state has to be involved on some level, but I also think it\u2019s impossible for the state to know what\u2019s best for each district. I think too much state involvement is what leads to teachers having to teach to standardized tests rather than focusing more on their own lesson plans. Yes, state involvement is necessary for things such as having minimum standards of education, but I worry we stopped trusting our teachers somewhere along the way.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"voter_guide_candidate_first_name":"Ellen","voter_guide_candidate_middle_name":"","voter_guide_candidate_last_name":"Burnham","voter_guide_candidate_suffix":"","voter_guide_candidate_race_id":2576,"voter_guide_candidate_age":0,"voter_guide_candidate_hometown":"","voter_guide_candidate_occupation":"Non-Profit Founder, President","voter_guide_candidate_bio":"","voter_guide_candidate_education":"","voter_guide_candidate_years_in_state":0,"voter_guide_candidate_years_in_municipality":0,"voter_guide_candidate_time_in_area":"30+ years","voter_guide_candidate_website":"","voter_guide_candidate_headshot_url":"","voter_guide_candidate_date_filed":"","voter_guide_candidate_incumbent_years":"","voter_guide_candidate_is_clean_elections":false,"footnotes":""},"vg_party":[],"vg_residence_municipality":[],"class_list":["post-3101","candidate","type-candidate","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/3101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/candidate"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/3101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4026,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/3101\/revisions\/4026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"vg_party","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_party?post=3101"},{"taxonomy":"vg_residence_municipality","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_residence_municipality?post=3101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}