~ Political Announcement ~ Mastrocola seeks reelection to School Committee

Hello Saugus. My name is Stephanie Mastrocola. I am seeking a second term on the Saugus School Committee. I wish I could say I was overly involved with other committees or on various boards, but I am not anymore. For those of you who don’t know me, I have been a full-time registered nurse in Boston for over 25 years. I also work 12 hours a week for Win Waste Innovations as a grass roots consultant. I am married and have a 16-year-old son who is a junior attending Northeast Metro Tech for electrical studies. He attended the Saugus School system up until the 8th grade. I saw things that bothered me while he was there. That is one of the main reasons why I decided to run in 2023. I was heavily involved in the Waybright PTO, the fundraising coordinator for the North Shore Stars Hockey, and I also served on the SBEC. I had to give up my positions on some of the boards due to time constraints.

These first two years have shown and taught me a lot about public education, including the many challenges with budgets, staffing, and certain rules set forth by this state and DESE. One thing I will say is that when watching a play, awards night, sporting event or when a group would come to speak at a school meeting, there was always a feeling of community. When I moved to Saugus in 2006, I knew I wanted to become involved. No matter what challenges you face in life, we can’t hope for a brighter day, we have to work for it. I will always make a strong effort to visit the schools, principals, teachers, and other staff who help make these schools work. After all, how can I sit on a panel and decide what works for the staff and the kids if I don’t know what’s going on in the trenches. Oftentimes the odds are against me, but I can tell you this, I will always have the kids’ best interest and support staff at heart.

There have been people along the way who have criticized me as a School Committee member, as well as on a personal level. I have learned through this process to hold my ground. It can be tough at times but bantering back and forth never leads to anything productive.

The School Committee’s job is to focus on policy and procedure so it’s my job to make sure the superintendent is following through with his leaders of each school. Many times, I get asked about the daily operations of the school, the drop-off, the pick-up, bathrooms being broken, or a bike that was stolen. Unfortunately, we often hear about it the same way parents do. I can promise you this: Whenever anyone has emailed me or called about an issue I have always looked into it and steered them in the right direction. What I can tell you about me and what I will ALWAYS DO is work on finding a better way to fix things. Work with the other members on my team to collaborate and find solutions. Pointing the finger keeps making us go in circles. My service as a school committee member started on November 4, 2023. My love for this town started in 2006. Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions. Please consider voting for me on November 4th as I look forward to continuing being the voice for the Saugus Public Schools.