Lorraine Santore Chosen—

School Board Unanimously Welcomes Seventh Member

By John Voket

Five members of the Board of Education unanimously selected transportation subcommittee member Lorraine Santore as the board’s seventh member following eight candidate interviews and more than an hour of deliberation Tuesday evening. In an unrelated development, hours earlier, school board Chair Elaine McClure accepted the resignation of Democratic Vice Chair Lisa Schwartz (see separate story).

Ms Schwartz reportedly told several board members she did not want to participate in choosing the new member because of her imminent plan to resign. She did acknowledge, however, the board’s choice during an interview with The Bee Wednesday.

“This just goes to show you how one person can make a difference,” Ms Schwartz said adding that she met Ms Santore by chance and “loved her immediately.”

“I saw in her a genuine spirit, and how genuine her motives were,” Ms Schwartz said. “I’m thrilled for the board and for her. She’s a great person.”

The selection of a seventh member was mandated by the April 22 passing of a package of charter revisions, which included the addition of one seat to the former six-member school board.

Ms Santore has moved quickly from being an interested parent and occasional volunteer at the Middle Gate School to a forceful advocate and now school board member.

In a call to The Bee from a business meeting out of state, Ms Santore acknowledged that prior to last September, she was satisfied to lend a hand volunteering at Middle Gate School where her son and daughter attend. But soon after the school year began, she became increasingly frustrated after hearing her children’s school bus was arriving late.

Ms Santore said she became motivated to act after hearing her children were not only arriving late to school, but that her daughter was riding four to a seat on the packed school bus run. After receiving no satisfaction after calling the district’s transportation department, she dashed off a letter of complaint to then-acting superintendent Tom Jokubaitis and commenced to doing her own homework on the subject.

“I got no straight answers from [transportation department supervisor] Tony DiLonardo,” Ms Santore said. “So I started standing outside of Middle Gate checking the buses myself.”

According to her observations, while her children’s bus was among four rolling into the school “jammed,” six of the ten other buses were arriving half empty. She said she first brought her observations to Mr DiLonardo but he told her there was nothing he could do.

Ms Santore than ramped up her effort, monitoring bus routes from Middle Gate and Head O’ Meadow Schools where she observed some crossover patterns that led her to believe a slight adjustment between the schools’ bus runs could easily alleviate both the late arrivals and overcrowding.

After appealing to Ms McClure, the school board chair decided to form a subcommittee to work with drivers and the district, and named Ms Santore as its first appointee.

“I met with Tom [Jokubaitis ] the same day the board formed the transportation subcommittee,” she said. Subsequently, she began meeting with the transportation office staff to make some changes to bus routes that she found had been in place for more than five years, despite significant student population growth in the neighborhoods served by the overcrowded buses.

“We got the owner-operators involved and found that hey had been suggesting solutions for some time,” Ms Santore said. Those solutions involved consolidating three half-full buses to two, and moving the third bus from Head O’ Meadow to Middle Gate School.

Taxpayer Savings Achieved

At the same time, school board minutes reflected Mr DiLonardo was seeking to add three bus runs to address the current overcrowding, as well as anticipated increased high school ridership in the coming school year.

“But the committee’s solution was to fix the [problem] by rerunning all the routes to alleviate the overcrowding,” she said. The result was an elimination of two of the three proposed new buses, saving taxpayers in excess of $200,000.

In addition, the cost of a third route would be minimized by hiring a temporary bus to cover the period when high school renovations will seriously compromise on-site parking availability, instead of signing a five-year contract for the third proposed run.

“By rerunning the routes ourselves, we got rid of two buses Tony was proposing and found a more cost effective opportunity for the third,” Ms Santore said.

In bringing her application forward for consideration for an appointed seat on the school board, Ms Santore said she hoped to get the chance “to do right by all the kids in the Newtown school system.”

“I have a lot to learn,” she admitted. “But I know I bring a very logical approach to the position.”

In her new capacity as a board member, Ms Santore aims to ensure that the transportation department continues to run as efficiently as possible. She also welcomes the chance to “jump in working on policies and procedures,” in cooperation with fellow board members, Superintendent Janet Robinson, and other district administrators.

Coming from a background in marketing, the new appointee said she hopes to help the board break down walls and opening up lines of communication between the Board of Education and all the other local boards and commissions.

“I also want to look closely at where we are spending taxpayers’ money — look at all the options,” she said. “Of course the money is important, but it’s more critical to see how spending is impacting our students.”

Honored To Serve

Ms Santore said she is very excited and honored to be picked as the seventh school board member. Several of her soon-to-be associates share her enthusiasm.

Kathy Fetchick said Ms Santore came to the Board of Education as a parent concerned about a busing situation.

“Our chair asked her to serve on a committee to solve the overcrowding issue, and the issue was resolved,” Ms Fetchick said. “But then Lorraine, with the help of the school administration, saw an opportunity to make further townwide bus improvements. It was her ability to look at the big picture, her willingness to roll up her sleeves, and her ability to bring diverse parties together that allowed the district to remove the need for two buses.”

Ms Fetchick added that Ms Santore’s outstanding performance on the transportation subcommittee could not be ignored.

“She was able to work well with the entire board, the school administration, and the bus drivers for a very positive result,” Ms Fetchick said. “I feel Lorraine will make a great addition to the board.”

Board member David Nanavaty said all eight candidates who were considered were very qualified.

“[But] the board wanted someone who would complement the personalities and abilities of the other board members,” he said. “Lorraine Santore, at this particular time, fits that bill.”

He said Ms Santore stood out to him mainly because she displayed qualities he feels will help the board. “She had the ability to be detail oriented, and that will allow the board to move forward on our current projects.”

Ms McClure said from her position as chair, she was looking for someone who would complement the board, “and make us even stronger. Lorraine Santore will do that.”

Board member Lillian Bittman made the motion to appoint Ms Santore at the end of deliberations, which fellow board member Anna Wiedemann seconded before the unanimous vote was cast.

Ms Santore, who grew up in Monroe and met her husband while attending Central Connecticut State University, currently works part-time as a senior health care professional.

She has a degree in organizational communications with a minor in marketing. Besides her volunteer work with Middle Gate School and the transportation subcommittee, Ms Santore also worked with Ms Bittman on high school expansion advocacy.

“Maybe you can call me a public activist because I’m not affiliated with any political party or special interest group,” Ms Santore said. “But I just saw a problem and jumped in with both feet — it was the right thing to do. And the more I saw, the more I had to do.”

According to Ms McClure, Ms Santore is planning to be sworn into her new office May 30.

(Education Reporter Eliza Hallabeck contributed to this story.).