Candidate Profile: Dave Brown For North Andover School Committee

NORTH ANDOVER, MA — North Andover will have two contested races in the March 30 town election: School Committee and Board of Selectmen. North Andover Patch asked candidates to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles over the coming weeks.

Dave Brown is running for re-election the School Committee. There are five people running for two available seats. Brown faces Andrew McDevitt, the sole incumbent, and fellow challengers Rebecca Stronck, Pamela Pietrowski and Joe Hicks.

Brown is an electrical engineer and a management consultant.

Are you running for office in North Andover? Contact Christopher Huffaker at chris.huffaker@patch.com for information on being featured in a candidate profile and submitting campaign announcements to North Andover Patch.

Previously on Patch: North Andover Town Election Update: 10 Candidates On Ballot

David Brown

Age (as of Election Day)

64

Position Sought

School Committee

Family

Jamie (wife), Josh 25 (son), Kyra 23 (daughter) and Talia 19 (daughter). All were educated K-12 in Noth Andover public schools. Josh received his BS Mechanical Engineering at Tufts, Kyra a BA in Media Arts at the University of Southern California, and Talia is a sophomore at Northwestern.

They were well served, and I'd like to pay that back and serve the current and future NA students.

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

No

Education

BSEE and MSEE (Tufts University) and MBA (UCLA)

Occupation

Electrical Engineer (20 years) and Management Executive (20 years). Currently a management consultant in private practice and part-time Engineering Teacher, Andover HS.

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office

Chair, Trustees of Osgood Hill (North Andover) and Member, Fields Committee (North Andover). Member, NAHS Principal Search Comittee.

Campaign website

www.davebrown4naschools.com

Why are you seeking elective office?

I’m truly interested in public service and the greater good, and have been volunteering in town since we moved here in 2000. Schools are the heart and soul of a community - my family was well served and I want to give back! I’m concerned that our performance is not what it should be and can be, and want to help fix that.

The single most pressing issue facing our (board, district, etc.) is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

Funding, both short term in terms of Covid-mitigation and recovery, and then long term, to raise the level of performance of the district. According to the Mass DOE, we are considered 50% in "progress towards improvement targets" and 58% in "accountability" (with respect to MCAS and other measures), these are pedestrian results; our community should certainly strive to be higher!

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

Two primary differential qualifications:

First, I have a long history of public service to the town, the majority of which has been focused on improving opportunities for North Andover children through sports and the arts. I've led multiple community sports organizations and coached - even after my own children aged out - and been active in community theater.

Second, I'm a management executive, including experience negotiating complex contracts involving competitors, among other things, to create technology standards - I understand how to bring people together for the common good.

Management experience is very valuable. That's what, as a board, they're supposed to do. Review their work but not get immersed in the operational details. I'm a very data-driven person. I have a career in engineering and management. I want you to show me the results.

Sometimes I get the feeling that people look at me and think, you don't have any kids in the school system anymore, why should we consider you? I actually think that's the reason you should consider me. I'm objective. I don't have a kid in the school system.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community (or district or constituency)

There is clearly room for improvement in a number of ways:

1) Communications at the district level, particularly in a time like now, need to be more frequent and more detailed. You almost can't overcommunicate. Even if there is not certainty, it would be better to make everyone aware of what's in progress rather than, as it sometimes seems, to wait for definitive results to report. For example, public input is read into the record, but rarely commented on.

2) While understandably there is a lot of focus on here and now (getting kids back in school as much as possible, as soon as possible), there should be a bigger push on the administration to share more about their planning for mitigating the learning gaps that have already occurred, as well as accelerating our report card above the 50 and 58% levels I referred to earlier.

Our performance is really kind of very unexciting. It's not terrible — we're not a district that needs state intervention. But we were in the 50s. I don't think anyone in North Andover wants to be in the 50s. We don't want to be in the middle of the pack. We want to be near the top.

It would be interesting to look for other districts that climbed, and see how they did it. If we can then say, the things we need to do to go from mediocre to good require money, that's a good reason to ask for money.

How do you think local officials performed in responding to the coronavirus? What if anything would you have done differently?

Under the circumstances, the current Board and Administration have handled this reasonably well. It's a complex situation, and they have had to adapt and overcome on the fly. The principal difference would have been that I would have communicated to the public more frequently and in more detail.

More is better than less, as long as it's truthful. If you don't have the answer yet, but you're working on it, say that. When it's a crisis, it's almost impossible to overcommunicate.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.

Expand/Promote/Expect Accountability:
Are we getting the results we are paying for?
Show us the performance data
Evaluate the District’s performance vs. other towns and vs. private schools
Push for continuous improvements
Advocacy and Inclusion:
Consider all stakeholder interests
Address socio-economic equality issues in the district
Ensure fairness and equity in facilities and programs
Plan for specific ways to help disadvantaged students in the current and post-pandemic environment
Problem Solving:
Address NAMS facility in particular & space planning in general
Improve communications: volume, frequency & substance

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

20 years of management experience at senior levels, during which time I have successfully negotiated Mergers and Acquisitions, high-value technology development agreements, licensing agreements, services agreements and supply agreements. I have also managed projects involving multiple suppliers as well as over 100 development personnel. Some of the technology and licensing agreements involved multiple fierce competitors, so I know how to get deals done in an adverse and challenging environment. I also understand the dynamic between Boards and Senior Management - and that relationship is analogous to that between a School Committee and the Administration.

The best advice ever shared with me was:

Two things: Be honest and fair, and stand up for what and who you believe in, and 2) children are a precious gift.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

I have worked as a volunteer in the community, most of which has been for the benefit of our youth. I’m proud of the accomplishments I have been able to drive during my years of leadership and service with Booster Club, Little League and on the Fields Committee, overcoming many obstacles with respect to shortages of fields and facilities to provide strong programs in multiple sports for all young players. I have also volunteered over the years in my children’s classrooms at Kittredge and NAMS, and then as a supporter of their extracurricular activities at the High School (many of you have seen me announcing softball games, Halloween events, Senior days etc. over the years).

I put my heart and soul into that. I think that demonstrates a real commitment to youth and youth development. I stay with this stuff because I really believe in it and really believe it's important. I'm proud of that, proud of some of the accomplishments along the way.

I have that experience with kids from 5 to 18. I can be an advocate for all age levels.

I'm also (as of this school year) a part-time classroom teacher, teaching engineering at Andover High School. This has given me an up-close and personal view of the challenges our entire educational system faces during the pandemic, for all constituents: students, parents, teachers and administrators. So I can certainly relate to the issues we face right now.

Having a snapshot of it on a day-to-day basis has been really interesting. I'm not a detached, corporate guy — I can relate to the issues people are facing today.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.