This information was submitted to the LongmeadowBuzz blog by Emily James Hansen who is a candidate for the 3 year seat on the Longmeadow School Committee.
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| Emily Hansen Candidate for School Committee |
My name is Emily Hansen and I’m a candidate for School Committee.
I earned my Master of Arts in English with an emphasis on 19th-century American literature and composition & rhetoric studies from Middle Tennessee State University (the largest undergraduate university in Tennessee), where I also taught Freshman Composition and Research & Argumentative Writing. At the time, I was the only MA candidate to teach Research & Argumentative Writing while still earning my degree; the course was typically taught by Ph.D students. Since leaving the university, I’ve stayed tangentially involved in academia. I’ve published essays on Edgar Allan Poe and also pop culture, and served as an associate curator for an online exhibit showcasing connections between Edgar Allan Poe and French poet Charles Baudelaire.
For over a decade, I’ve worked in tech including at two Fortune 500 companies. As a project and program manager, I’ve been tasked with keeping projects moving forward, raising and resolving issues quickly, motivating teams to deliver on-time, and tracking the budget so we can complete the work without asking for additional funds or removing a deliverable. I’m not afraid to raise my hand when something needs to be addressed. I’ve created roadmaps for long-term strategic planning and phased implementations, and worked with teams to make adjustments as priorities changed so we are delivering the most value to stakeholders. Currently, I am a program manager in operations and work to ensure everyone is on the same page about how we need to grow, how we plan to measure growth to see if we are on track to meet our goals, and to decide what we need to do if we are falling short. Additionally, I’ve been formally recognized for efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion within my company.
In 2023, my husband (Nathan) and I moved to Longmeadow with our son (Miles). As Miles approached school age, we decided to leave Nashville where we had both lived for decades and started looking for a community that valued education. My husband’s mother is from South Hadley so we were familiar with Western Mass and fell in love with Longmeadow.
We moved here from Nashville largely to seek better education opportunities for our son. I’m running for School Committee because I want to ensure the continued success of our schools. With the recent re-opening of the shops on Shaker Road and the upcoming build of the shops on Bliss, our fabulous library, excellent schools and after-school programs, more and more families are going to be attracted to our amenities and quickly fall in love with our community and the people who make our town so special. With this growth comes some growing pains. As we’ve seen with the middle school project, we have a lot of needs and wants from our community to consider. The increased traffic from cars and busses routing to the new middle school will impact our residents and I know they are keen to mitigate this. While I agree we need a new middle school (more cost-effective to build one new school rather than try to bring the existing schools into the 21st century), I also don’t want to lose sight of the refurbishments our other schools need as well. As a parent of a Wolf Swamp Elementary student, I’m concerned about the number of times mold has been detected in a nearby classroom this school year. While I’m grateful lunch is provided to students at no additional cost, I do want to explore some other dietary options. Having spent so many years in research, I’m comfortable spending time to understand the root cause of the issue and finding a solution to resolve it.
I value public education and believe a good education is one of the best investments we can make in our children. Growing up in both blue and red states, I know the value of education, and the importance of an educated populace. I also believe civic engagement is important and our community is strengthened by the commitments we make to nurture it – this is why I am excited to run for School Committee. I plan to put my background in education and my extensive experience as a project and program manager to good use as your representative. I’m creative and scrappy, and love solving problems. I’m also diligent and persistent. I see a challenge through to the end, even when it’s hard.
One last note and a thank you for reading this far. Servant Leadership is central to who I am. I’m not running for School Committee for me, I’m running to serve this town and to give back to a community that has welcomed me and my family and provided a nurturing space for all of us to be safe and to grow.
I humbly ask you to vote for me to represent you on the School Committee. Visit my website (www.emilyjhansen.com) for my info and please feel free to reach out with any questions.
Emily James Hansen
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