North Andover Town Election: Dave Brown Candidate Announcement

NORTH ANDOVER, MA — Dave Brown is running for a seat on the School Committee in the March 30 town election.

A management consultant and engineering teacher, Brown is one of at least five candidates who have taken out papers to run for two open seats on the committee. He faces incumbent Andrew McDevitt as well as Rebecca Stronck, Pamela Pietrowski and Joe Hicks.

Friday was the last day papers were available. They are due back to the town clerk's office on Tuesday. As of Monday, 12 candidates had taken out papers across all open seats.

Brown submitted the following candidate announcement to Patch for publication:

Stating that “it’s time for all of us to demand accountability”, Dave Brown announced his candidacy for the North Andover School Committee. “We are facing an unprecedented challenge for our children’s education. It’s time that we take bold new steps to address the needs our growing community has to both address the learning gaps created by the pandemic as well as address the systemic issues that have faced our district the last several years,” said the first-time candidate.

Brown brings extensive management expertise to the table. “The School Committee is like a Board of Directors, with the Administration serving as the management team. A Board is charged with holding management accountable for performance and ensuring that the stakeholders - in our case parents, students, staff, and taxpayers - are getting the tools, resources, and performance they need and deserve. The School Committee needs to hold itself just as accountable as the School Administration for the performance of the district just as they, in turn, hold staff accountable, and they our students,” noted the longtime community volunteer and technology educator.

Brown has held numerous executive positions in both large and small companies and is entirely familiar with the role he would play as a School Committee member. He has led innovative technology and business projects, negotiated many complex high-value contracts, knows how to identify and diligence the salient points of difficult problems, resolve differences, and move forward to proper executions. He maintains a management and consulting practice working with entrepreneurs, centered now in aerospace technology.

Brown has brought his extensive practitioner experience to public education. He is currently serving in a part-time role at Andover High School, teaching courses in Engineering. He has also been an instructor in Engineering and Math at the college level. “My first-hand experience teaching under current conditions is invaluable in understanding the hurdles educators, students and parents are facing right now under hybrid and remote learning conditions. These are challenging times for all stakeholders, and strong leadership is needed to ensure all the needs of our children are met, and that the resources to make that happen are available,”

Brown has been very active in volunteer work in North Andover for more than two decades. He currently serves as Chair of the Trustees of Osgood Hill, sits on the Fields Committee, and is an active board member of the North Andover Booster Club and previously the NA Little League. He has been an active coach for many years in those programs helping hundreds of children learn basketball and baseball skills – as well as life lessons. He served on the High School Principal Search Committee and volunteered often at Kittredge School, NAMS, and NAHS.

Dave lives on French Farm Road with his wife Jamie. They chose North Andover because of the great value the Town represented and the strong reputation of the school system - important considerations as their eldest child was just about to begin school. All 3 of his children attended North Andover Schools from K through 12, the most recent a 2019 NAHS graduate. “All our kids were actively involved students that benefited greatly from their experience in our schools where their teachers demanded accountability. Each went on to attend rigorous academic college programs,” said the proud parent. “As parents we hold ourselves accountable. As citizens we need to hold our leaders accountable and I will demand that be done in an orderly and measurable manner,” related Brown.

Dave holds a BS and MS in Electrical Engineering from Tufts and an MBA from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA, with concentrations in Marketing, Operations and Entrepreneurship. He is running for one of the two seats on the North Andover School Committee. The election is Tuesday, March 30.

This announcement was produced by Dave Brown. The views expressed are the author's own.