{"id":5492,"date":"2011-11-02T12:31:07","date_gmt":"2011-11-02T16:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=5492"},"modified":"2011-11-03T12:27:06","modified_gmt":"2011-11-03T16:27:06","slug":"meehan-do-election-a-referendum-on-balance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=5492","title":{"rendered":"Do: election a referendum on balance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Region C candidate is self-described ‘policy wonk’; served in various school-related efforts
\n<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By Mike McGann<\/strong>, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Kathleen Meehan-Do<\/p><\/div>\n

Kathleen Meehan Do is, admittedly, a bit of a policy wonk.<\/p>\n

The candidate for Unionville-Chadds Ford School board out of Region C can cite chapter and verse of the successes and failures of public education policy and she gets excited about talking curriculum and program details.<\/p>\n

Actually, it\u2019s a bit of an occupational hazard. A former journalist, she has worked as a communications specialist and policy adviser for some high-profile elected officials, such as former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo and Congressman Joe Sestak, and more recently has worked as a public policy analyst. A report she authored on reforming No Child Left Behind was cited by then-U.S Senator Hillary Clinton, during hearings on the re-authorization of the controversial education program.<\/p>\n

But as much as she loves to dig in and talk, in detail, about education policy, she\u2019s just as likely to be talking about the latest efforts of the Unionville-Chadds Ford Education Foundation, for which she serves as vice president, to raise money to add programs and equipment to the district\u2019s schools, or about her two sons, the oldest a student at West Virginia University (and a Unionville High grad), the youngest attends Patton Middle School. She’s also worked on the high school AfterProm committee, was appointed to a committee studying the Keystone Exams and the Unionville High School Alumni Recognition Committee.<\/p>\n

Despite her deep involvement in school issues \u2014 both professionally and personally in the Unionville-Chadds Ford schools \u2014 she wasn\u2019t sure that running for the school board was the right move \u2014 and chose not to run 2009.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did think about running two years earlier,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd although I was concerned about the results of the 2009 elections, initially I thought I could do the most good continuing my work with the education foundation.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I recognized that the people who had been successful had a stated platform addressing the needs of non-parents above the needs of students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite that, the board seemed to be operating smoothly \u2014 and again, Do said she wasn\u2019t sure running for a seat would be of more benefit to the community than continuing her work with the UCFEF.<\/p>\n

After the filing deadline came and went in February, she said, there seemed to be a change, one that worried her and had people asking her about running.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a general sense that things were starting to shift,\u201d she said, citing the budget discussions and the shift in tenor in the talks with the district\u2019s teachers. The tipping point came when Superintendent of Schools Sharon Parker announced her intent to retire, Do said. The voices in the community, she said, urging her to run became louder, to an extent that she could no longer say no.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means a lot to me that so many parents, grandparents \u2014 and students \u2014 have expressed their support,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

At that point, she and Gregg Lindner \u2014 a former board member who lost a narrow race to Frank Murphy in 2009 \u2014 decided to jointly mount a write-in campaign. That campaign worked, as both won the Democratic nomination. Timotha Trigg and Sharon Jones won the GOP nod, while Murphy won both parties\u2019 nomination.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t expect to win \u2013 what we wanted to do was give people a choice,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

One change was required, though. Although almost universally known in the community as \u201cKathy Do,\u201d she chose to run as Kathleen Meehan Do. And while the politics of the situation called for keeping the shorter and better-known name, she had a higher motivation for not: honoring her late father.<\/p>\n

Robert Meehan served as District Attorney for Rockland County, N.Y. \u2014 a suburban county that sits just north of New York City and just north of New Jersey.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe always told me that someday I would run for office,\u201d Do said. \u201c \u2018Someday\u2019 is finally here \u2014 but he\u2019s not here. By adding his name, I get to bring him along in a sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

If she wins, she said she feels there\u2019s a need to look at more creative solutions to solving problems \u2014 and while she appreciates the need for spending reductions, she expressed concerns about whether the best options \u2014 ones likely to have the least impact on education \u2014 were even explored.<\/p>\n

She cites the reductions in support staff as an example.<\/p>\n

\u201cI recognize that we needed to save money,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I wondered if there was another way.\u201d<\/p>\n

She then talks about when she worked for Berkeley College in New Jersey when it was faced with budget cuts. Instead of laying off staff, it went to rotating four-day work weeks\u00a0 \u2014 cutting hours for more employees, but keeping all of them on the payroll.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust laying them off devalued the work that they did and created a burden for teachers, who were already dealing with larger class sizes,\u201d she said. \u201cOne or two children in a first-grade class does take additional time for a teacher, especially to give each child one-on-one time. And then we cut the support personnel. These are people who worked in the district for many years.\u201d<\/p>\n

And while there are innumerable specific issues Do can speak to, she suggests the biggest reason for her running and wanting to serve is to bring balance to the board \u2014 and she points to current members Keith Knauss and Jeff Hellrung \u2014 as having pushed the board to extreme positions. She notes that Knauss has endorsed Trigg, Murphy and Jones \u2014 and Rob MacPherson in Region A \u2014 and if they were to prevail, there would be majority of members embracing a what she regards as a fiscally extreme philosophy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think its clear that Mr. Knauss and Mr. Hellrung share the same general value system,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd clearly, Keith would have endorsed only those he feels share those same values.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are offering a different perspective,\u201d she said. \u201cI think it\u2019s a referendum on balance.\u201d<\/p>\n

On another note, she signals her concern about how partisan the school board races have become and her disappointment in Jones and Murphy\u2019s opposition to a bill by Sen. Andrew Dinniman to end partisan school board elections. Murphy said he takes issue with specific provisions of the bill, not the concept of non-partisan school board elections, while Jones said she was uncomfortable with the elimination of the primary election as described in the bill.<\/p>\n

But Do suggests that the parties \u2014 and just one party, the GOP, locally \u2014 have too much influence and too much money in these local races. She and Lindner, she said, are getting their fiscal support from a wide range of people, across political lines \u2014 and no support from the Democratic Party.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of our money has come from local families and local individuals,\u201d she said, saying funds came from Democrats, Republicans and Independents.<\/p>\n

EDITORS NOTE:<\/strong> This is the third in a series of profiles of the Board of Education candidates. Next up: Rob MacPherson.<\/em><\/p>\n

Previously run profiles:<\/p>\n

Region A<\/strong><\/p>\n

Victor DuPuis<\/a><\/p>\n

Region C<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sharon Jones<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Region C candidate is self-described ‘policy wonk’; served in various school-related efforts By Mike McGann, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com Kathleen Meehan Do is, admittedly, a bit of a policy wonk. The candidate for Unionville-Chadds Ford School board out of Region C can cite chapter and verse of the successes and failures of public education policy and she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[182,44,24],"class_list":["post-5492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-election-2011","tag-school-board","tag-unionville"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}