Ingalls Campaign Announcement

My name is Stephen Ingalls, and I am running for the opportunity to serve on the Wakefield School Committee.

My wife, Myra Sessions, and I have lived in Wakefield for 14 years. We are fortunate to raise our two children here – they are in Kindergarten and second grade at the Woodville. We enjoy the strong bonds that this community affords us and feel strongly that if you are lucky enough to live in a town that you love, it is vital that you find ways to give back. As vice president of the Woodville Elementary School PTO, I have worked on student events, enrichments, and teacher appreciations, and operate on the philosophy of empathy and community stewardship.

The position on the Wakefield School Committee allows me to leverage the insights gained from the Woodville PTO and throughout my career in construction. I approach each challenge with an open mind, a commitment to sincere debate and transparent communication, and a sense of pragmatic optimism that we can solve the significant challenges in front of us. It is undeniable that the experience of COVID-19 has changed the landscape in ways that we never could have imagined, and that the recovery will take time and involve important and difficult decisions. Plus, we will soon re-focus on the new High School structure to meet the needs of the next generation of learners.

As a member of the Wakefield School Committee, I will operate with the following principles in all discussions and decisions.

• Open and Proactive Communication: Over the past year, I have attended most open School Committee meetings and have learned tremendous amounts about education policy, curriculum development and budget decision-making. As a member of the committee, I hope to be able to broaden community understanding and engagement in important topics that impact our community.

• Promoting Equity and Opportunity for All Learners: It is critical for our community that our schools be able to effectively meet the needs of all learners, whether that be additional support to close gaps, offer specialized support for specific needs, or increasing the breadth and depth of opportunity to continually challenge kids to meet their potential. Our responsibility as a community is to enable our students’ individual success. A well-thought-out reassessment of our district resources, in terms of services available to students, will become critical as we transition back to full-time classrooms and begin to resolve gaps that may have widened in our student population over these last 12 months.

• Goal setting for Focused Intervention: I would like to bring my background in project management to the School Board, with a focus on goal setting, prioritization of initiatives, and thoughtful measurement of where we have been, where we are, and where we would like to be. This is especially relevant for endeavors such as curriculum re-alignment and will become more important as we try to find innovative ways to manage the educational losses suffered during these recent hard times.

I believe that my 20 years of professional experience as a construction foreman and technology project manager, an engaged member of our community with a knowledge of the systems and structures to move us forward, and -- most importantly -- as a dedicated dad, prepare me well for the needs of the School Committee over the next 3 years. I am thankful for your time in considering me for a position on the School Committee.