Page Disclaimer Note: These posts contain opinions of one individual, not that of the governing body on which the individual serves. The purpose of this page is to fill members of the public in on the different options available when wanting to make change in their community. Residents and employees armed with more information on what is happening at their schools and important upcoming meetings and votes can better their community.
by Angie Cardinal
Let's keep the progress going, shall we? The next municipal election is about a month away and 2 seats on the Farmington School Board are up for a new term. Yesterday, I filed as a candidate for one of those seats.
Treating this opportunity to continue serving our town and state as a serious, long term position, I now share with you my updated resumé seeking your vote again. When I think about voting in elections, I want to know what the candidate's qualifications and strengths are for that position. That's my intention in posting my qualifications, background and strengths on this page as it's an easy way to tell you all about me as a candidate for re-election. Please share with other Farmington residents and feel free to contact me with any questions you may have!
Angie Cardinal
PO Box 432
Farmington, NH 03835
angiecardinal@gmail.com
Objectives: To continue serving the people of Farmington, NH as a School Board Member for the next three years, or more. To continue serving the people of New Hampshire's South East Region on the NH School Boards Association's Board of Directors for the next three years, or more.
Education:
- Anticipated 2019 Certificate of Business Administration through the New Hampshire Association of School Business Officials
- 2000 Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), Worcester, Massachusetts
- Internship/Project at the National Society of Professional Engineers in Alexandria, Virginia
- Internship/Project at Baxter Healthcare Manufacturing in Cartago, Costa Rica
- Graduated with distinction
- Inducted into the Order of Omega honor society
- 1996 graduate of Ludlow High School, Ludlow, Massachusetts
Employment:
- 2018-present: Dedicated Volunteer
- Volunteer Treasurer for the Farmington PTA
- Volunteer Coordinator for Farmington Chapter of End 68 Hours of Hunger
- Volunteer Concessions for Farmington 500 Basketball
- Superintendent Search Committee
- Policy Committee
- Farmington Budget Committee
- two Principal Search Committees.
- 2011-present: CEO & COO for the Cardinal household as stay-at-home mom to Anna (11) and Leo (8)
- 2014-2018: Dedicated Volunteer
- Volunteer Coordinator for the Farmington PTA
- Volunteer Coordinator for the Farmington 500 Boys & Girls Club
- Coordinating volunteers for Valley View and Henry Wilson
- Initiated the community service volunteer coordinating program to help Farmington High School students find meaningful volunteer opportunities
- 2005-2011: Production Control and Industrial Engineering Manager for Intel, Massachusetts
- Learned and subsequently taught leadership strategies, including Continuous Improvement facilitation
- Earned numerous recognitions for leadership performance
- Achieved cost savings goals as sole manager of a balanced department budget five years in a row
- 2004-2005: Sourcing Agent for First Act, Inc., a guitar company in Boston, Massachusetts
- 2000-2004: Procurement Associate for Pratt & Whitney's supply chain leadership program, a division of United Technologies Corporation in East Hartford, Connecticut
- Certification in Production and Inventory Management
- Supervisory role in a Union workplace
- Travelled through Europe as a Continuous Improvement Facilitator
- Managed joint-venture sourcing in China for the Hamilton Sundstrand division
Farmington School Board:
On March 8, 2016, this community supported my vision for the Farmington School Board by electing me for my first term with 498 of the 715 total votes that day. Over the past three years, I have served on the district's Superintendent Search Committee, the Policy Committee, the Farmington Budget Committee and two Principal Search Committees. During 2016-2018, several major milestones have been achieved in the district. A few of them are highlighted here:
- 2016:
- Superintendent hired.
- Successful Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiated with the Farmington Teachers' Association.
- New leadership at Henry Wilson Memorial School hired.
- 3 school district policies updated.
- 2017:
- All school warrant articles were approved by the voters in March.
- New leadership at Farmington High School hired.
- SAU 61 office moved from rented space off-campus to open spaces on-campus.
- 32 school district policies updated.
- 2018:
- All school warrant articles were approved by the voters in March.
- New Principal at Valley View Community School hired.
- Tardy financial audits completed.
- 34 school district policies updated.
I am in no way claiming sole credit for the positive results. Likewise, I share responsibility for the set-backs. This is how a productive governing body works.
New Hampshire School Board Association (NHSBA):
On March 21, 2018 the NHSBA Board of Directors appointed me as the Southeast Region Representative to the NHSBA Board of Directors. In this position, I serve as one conduit between the region's local school board and the NHSBA regarding, but not limited to, the following topics:
- all NHSBA membership matters
- any education-related questions or concerns which may have state-wide implications
- potential services which could further support members in their role as a school board member
- engage in legislative activities, up to and including testifying at the Capitol building in Concord
For the purposes of regional representation, the NHSBA groups the following school boards in the Southeast Region of our state: Barrington, Chester, Coe-Brown Northwood Academy, Dover, Epping, Exeter, Exeter Region Coop, Farmington, Fremont, Greenland, Hampton, Hampton Falls, Middleton, Milton, New Castle, Newington, Newmarket, North Hampton, Northwood, Nottingham, Oyster River Coop, Portsmouth, Raymond, Rochester, Rollinsford, Rye, Sanborn Regional, Seabrook, Strafford, Stratham, Somersworth, South Hampton, and Winnacunnet Coop.
Personal:
I am a first-generation American born to proud, supportive parents, Jim and Maria. They met as teenagers and married right out of high school. They built a family in Ludlow, Massachusetts while demonstrating a tireless work ethic as small business owners of a tax-prep service, a travel agency and a disc jockey service, all while being active in their town and leaders in the church community.
My big, close-knit, Portuguese family always includes children of every age group. For example, there is only a four-year age gap between my younger brother and my oldest daughter. I was a single mother to Samantha for nine years when I met my husband, KJ Cardinal. We married on Cardinal Hill in Farmington in 2006. We blended our families pretty easily considering we handled the teenage years with our daughter, Samantha, while rearing our two youngest babies, Anna and Leo, at the same time. After earning her bachelor's degree in Mathematics at UMASS-Dartmouth, Samantha is now married and living with her husband, Zachary, in Framingham, Mass.
While pregnant with our daughter Anna in 2007, I financially supported our family so KJ could go after his dream of starting his own business, Pack Network. In his first year of operation, he juggled his budding business with the role of stay-at-home dad to baby Anna. As a full-time working mother, I witnessed how fast our children were growing. So, we decided I can always go back to work, but we can't get our children's youth back. KJ's business was taking off, so we swapped roles...he became our sole breadwinner in 2011, while I decided to leave Intel to become stay-at-home mom.
In 2013, a year after Samantha went off to college, we moved the rest of our family to Farmington from Hudson, Massachusetts. KJ’s stories about growing up in this community and the friends we have made here set us on a course to make Farmington our forever home. The greatest motivating factor for our move is family. KJ's parents, Kim and Darlene, are the center of our "village" required to raise a strong family just as Kim's parents were the center of theirs. We assumed the family home from them and now all live under one roof just as Kim's parents did 39 years ago. Our bond with them has been the best relationship we could have hoped for. Ideally, I would have waited until Anna and Leo are a little bit older to seek a position on the school board but Kim and Darlene are the reason why I am able to balance volunteer and school board commitments with our family needs. This integration into our Farmington community is perfect timing. Our journey to Farmington is a unique one and we feel blessed we have been able to make the choices we have thus far.
Strengths:
Here are a few of my strengths as they pertain to the Farmington School Board:
- Culture change: it’s a slow, complex process that requires patience. I learned a long time ago that members of a successful team, whether it be a family, a collective union of employees, a sports team, or a fundraising organization, have to work toward common goals. My experience over the past three years has proven to me that the same applies to governing bodies. Those goals must be stated out loud, reminded and challenged on a regular basis. The mentality of “us versus them” (aka a partisan culture) rarely fits within a healthy team. When goals and motives are individual and conflicting, you end up with that partisan culture. From my observations, past district leadership has shown signs of a dysfunctional team. Within the past month, the school culture has begun to change and needs to keep improving. The taxpayers of Farmington need to feel they can trust elected board members to get the best use of their hard-earned tax dollars. All the uncertainty within the past budget cycles has caused many taxpayers to lose some trust in past school boards. We still see that lack of trust within pockets of the community leadership. Rebuilding trust is one of the most difficult culture changes to achieve. In my experience, communication and transparency of information and expectations is the first step in rebuilding trust.
- Strong leadership: it’s just natural. My greatest belief when it comes to being a good leader is it must start with empathy. Balancing our stakeholders’ concerns (which means you have to seek out their concerns, actually listen and affirm you have a clear understanding) with your own belief in what is fair and reasonable is the key. My observations with past board's culture is there was no interest in truly understanding all stakeholders' concerns. A great deal of progress has been made in understanding. Constructive feedback is given and taken well by all five members if the current School Board, plus the Superintendent. That’s what a real leader does: connects those points and shows others there is a way to reach that balance. This, to me, is what a high-performing school board member is: an elected leader who uses empathy to guide them in balancing the wants and needs of everyone affected in our district in a fair and reasonable way.
- Prepared, Passionate & Loyal: it's the only way. I was born a Lion and adopted by Tigers. Where I grew up, in Ludlow, MA, home of the Lions, I was able to learn in a strong school system and enjoy success as a student despite my personal challenges. I want the same things for my children, their friends, my friends’ children, and for this entire community of Tigers! I am the type of person who takes on solving problems all the time because I enjoy being challenged. I do not shy away from difficult challenges. Instead, I prepare myself really well to make the best decision with as much information at my hands as possible. If I’m not prepared to make a decision or give an opinion, I go out and prepare myself. From what I have observed with our current board's culture, the level of preparedness has greatly improved. The Board has morphed from scattered to high-functioning. The cost of legal services has dropped by 48% over the past 2 years. Another form of preparation I have put myself up to is strengthening connections with school board members in other New Hampshire districts. This way, I’m also learning improved methods for how our school board and other community leadership can conduct business more effectively. The future is bright in Farmington!
Thank you very much for allowing me the chance to tell you a little bit about myself. If you would like to discuss anything at all, I would love to sit down with you individually at your request to have open dialogue. My vision included role-modeling an approachable school board member in the hopes I influenced the other board members to be the same. The vision seems to be turning into reality. On March 12th, I would appreciate your vote. Go Tigers!
