I am so very grateful for the support our community is providing to town government, including our public schools, through the recent "Yes" vote for the operational override. Below is a version of the message of thanks I sent through email after the recent override vote:
Dear Shrewsbury Citizens,
The vote on June 3rd signaled the beginning of a new era for our town, because the Shrewsbury community said a resounding "Yes" to investing more money in town government in order to ensure that we have the resources needed to continue our tradition of excellence.
I want to personally thank each and every one of you who voted to support the override and those of you who did such excellent work to promote its passage. I cannot overemphasize how critical a “Yes” vote was for the quality of our school district. Thanks to you, our students now have a brighter future and our outstanding educators can move forward with their work with the knowledge that they have the strong support of the community, which is a huge morale boost given the difficult situation we’ve faced over the past few years.
In addition, other Town departments will also benefit from more resources. I feel so fortunate to work in a town that is so well run, and I am grateful for the support the School Department receives from the other Town departments, and that I receive from the other Department Heads.
We are indebted to many leaders in the community who made a successful vote possible. While there isn't space to name all who made significant contributions, I do want to recognize the following groups and individuals:
• our School Committee (Chair, Dr. B. Dale Magee; Vice Chair, Jason Palitsch; Secretary, Erin Canzano; Sandy Fryc; and John Samia) for their tireless advocacy for Shrewsbury's students and educators and for their constant support of my work as superintendent;
• our Board of Selectmen (Chair, Jim Kane; Vice Chair, Moira Miller; Clerk, John Lebeaux; Moe DePalo; and Henry Fitzgerald), for placing the override question before the voters and advocating for it as the most responsible way forward in order to meet the needs of our community;
• our Finance Committee (Chair, John Masiello; Vice Chair, Bretta Karp; Gene Buddenhagen; John Campbell; John Cygielnik; Donna O'Connor; Patrick Pitney; Chris Rutigliano; and Judy Vedder), for their careful oversight of the Town's finances and advocacy for additional resources through the override;
• our Town Manager, Dan Morgado, for his articulation and support of the need for more resources and his ongoing superb leadership of our town;
• our State Representative, Matt Beaton, for his active support of the override and his ongoing support of our schools through advocacy at the State House, as well as for his support of our programs, especially our community service learning initiative;
• the Community Supporters for Shrewsbury, the ballot committee who ran an extraordinary campaign to convince the community that a "Yes" vote was in the best interest of our town. Thank you to Campaign Co-Chairs Beth Casavant, Chris Coghlin, Joyce Danielson, Mel Gordon, Bob Holland, Ken Largess, and Clint Mills for their public support. A special thank you to the following campaign coordinators who gave countless hours of their time to run an extremely professional campaign: Campaign Manager, Beth Casavant; Campaign Strategists, Hannah Kane and Jason Palitsch; Data Manager, Suzanne Remington; Treasurer, Kathleen Keohane; and to the literally hundreds of volunteers whose hard work and dedication made a "Yes" vote possible;
• former Superintendent of Schools, John P. Collins, whose passion for doing the right thing for our students was contagious and whose contributions to the effort went miles above and beyond for someone who is allegedly “retired”;
• our Central Office administrators and support staff, and our principals, for the hours upon hours of skillful work on the budget plan, reports, and presentations that helped demonstrate the facts of our situation to the community; and
• all of our School Department employees, whose professionalism, expertise, and dedication to the well being of our students inspire me every day.
I am so pleased that a significant majority of voters have signaled their confidence in us. Regardless of how you voted, please know that we in the School Department will do our absolute best to be good stewards of the additional resources we are being provided through the override. With the Town firmly behind us and with the resources we need, I am very confident that we will build on our past successes in order to provide a truly world class education to our students.
As your superintendent, in the coming years I look forward to working with all of you to make our schools the very best they can be. As your fellow resident, I look forward to raising my family in a great town with great people. I couldn’t be more pleased and proud to work and live in Shrewsbury.
With deep gratitude,
Joe Sawyer
Superintendent of Schools
