Josh Lawlor Bio (www.joshlawlor.com)
Born in Rochester, NY – where Susan B. Anthony left her mark on the women’s suffrage movement – Josh Lawlor learned to respect the public education system from the educators who raised him – his guidance counselor mother and history teacher grandmother.
The product of public education himself, he began his career teaching English in a public middle school, where he also launched an open-source online platform to enable greater collaboration on curriculum design and development for thousands of teachers. Lawlor continued to teach English to older students while working for an NGO focused on promoting peace, human rights, and sustainability.
In addition to his hands-on experience as an educator, Lawlor has nearly two decades of financial services experience at global, systemically important financial institutions, providing financial governance over large budgets, managing annual planning processes, and mitigating risk.
In support of creating more equitable opportunities for all students, Lawlor organized and led in-person groups of volunteers (pre-pandemic) to support Operation Backpack, a non-profit that prepares and provides school backpacks full of school supplies to children living in homeless shelters.
Additionally, Lawlor mentors community college students from traditionally underserved communities, to help them find jobs within financial services and increase diversity in the workplace.
Why are you running for the Mamaroneck School Board?
- Academic excellence – we need to ensure academic excellence remains a key focus
- Accountability – we need to ensure greater accountability from school administration
- Transparency – we need to ensure increased transparency of school administration decision making
- Accessibility – we need to ensure the BOE listens to all community concerns
What is the biggest issue facing our schools, and how can you help address it?
While knocking on doors to collect required signatures of support to get onto the ballot for the school board, one of the major themes that emerged from my conversations with community members is that many people feel as though their voices aren’t being heard by the school administration.
From opinions about how resources should be fairly allocated across student programs, to concerns about academic standards, to concerns about physical, social, and emotional student well-being during the pandemic, parents want to be heard. They want school administration to be more accessible and accountable. They want decision making to be more transparent.
I’d like to address these concerns by implementing frequent short surveys (that can be easily completed via mobile device) to the entire Mamaroneck Schools community (parents, teachers, community members). We shouldn’t limit our solicitation of community input to school board meetings and school budget votes. I propose regularly surveying the community to better understand the priorities of the community. What is the biggest issue facing our schools? We need to ask ourselves, because we are the stakeholders.