Westport School Committee race begins to take shape

WESTPORT — Late in the election season, a race has emerged for the School Committee.

An operations director for a $30 million company, Michelle Orlando; a Boston lawyer, Carolina Africano; and a University of Massachusetts Dartmouth assistant dean, Melissa Pacheco; all will vie for two of the open seats heading into the April 9 annual Town Election.

Along with a ballot question, this School Committee race and a health board race will be all that voters will be asked to decide on. Challenger Tanja Ryden, a former state public health employee, will look to unseat Health Board Chairman William Harkins. Residents will also be asked to ratify a May 2018 Town Meeting vote in which residents approved turning the town treasurer position into a selectmen-appointed post, rather than an elected post.

All other candidates will be running unopposed, including Selectmen Chairwoman Shana Shufelt.

The school race emerged late. At first, only Pacheco filed papers, shortly after current members Margot DesJardins and Mark Carney revealed they would not be running for re-election.

After that, Orlando and Africano also filed nomination papers.

Pacheco served as a leader of the school board from 2013 to 2016. In 2016, by a narrow margin, she lost to DesJardins and Carney for one of the two available seats.

Pacheco was one of the School Committee members in late 2014 to vote on closing down the middle school and begin the process for building a new Grade 5 through 12 school building and campus on Old County Road.

“I worked hard to advocate to move students out of the middle school and to build a new school, both when I was previously on the School Committee and as a member of the parent group Save Our Schools,” Pacheco said. “My motivation was the health and safety of our students and their educational experience — I want to continue to be a part of helping that project succeed. In addition the school is in a great place — we have a well-run School Committee with people who care about our students and amazing teachers, administration and staff.”

Pacheco has been working in higher education for 23 years, including the areas of finance, grants and corporate programs. She is the assistant dean of Graduate Programs in the Business School at UMass Dartmouth, has a master’s in education leadership and is also working toward a Ph.D in education leadership.

Pacheco also has a daughter in the middle school.

Africano ran for two terms and decided not to run for re-election last year. At that time, she cited work obligations. Africano is a lawyer in Boston.

She said she decided to run again because she has four kids in the district — two are graduating this year but her youngest two are in the junior high school.

Africano said she wants to serve on the committee before the district ushers in a new Grade 5 through 12 school building in 2021.

“I want to ensure that the vision for the new school is done appropriately for the future of our community and kids,” she said, adding that she hopes the district “implements proper programs, leadership and people in the buildings.”

Africano was on the board that started the search committee, which led to the district in June hiring new superintendent Gary Reese.

“I believe that the Westport Schools face a number of challenges. There are vital decisions that will need to be made in the coming years,” Africano noted. “The advent of the new school reconfiguration and building will need a concerted effort from the school’s leadership to develop first-rate educational programs and opportunities to accompany the new structure.”

“We have been under new leadership in the district this year, starting with the superintendent and the principals in all of the schools,” Africano said in a written statement. “We need to build on the momentum of this energized leadership. With the opening of our new building, and the restructuring of all of our schools, we need to maximize the opportunity and potential that we have for the future of our students and our community.”

Orlando is the chairwoman of the town Republican Committee and is the operations director of a fine wine and alcohol wholesaler.

“I am confident that with my experience of managing 30-plus employees that I can be a huge benefit to the committee,” Orlando said. “I have spent years bringing teams together to reach common goals. It has always been my strongest asset to listen to all participants before developing a strategy.”

Orlando said she contemplated running for the School Committee in the past but was taken aback by the combative nature of some past school boards.

I want to be part of something productive where there is a free exchange of ideas and everyone works as a team. I believe that the present climate on the Committee with the District's new Superintendent is just that,” Orlando said, adding she would like to join the current team of people..

“Education is extremely important to me and I want to ensure that our children get a quality education in a safe and clean environment. Secondly and just as important, I want to make sure that the new school building is completed on time and within budget. The efficient completion of this building project is extremely important for the students and taxpayers in our community,” Orlando said.