Special to the Transcript
Layne Petrie has announced her candidacy for School Committee, and has shared her statement:
I am excited for the opportunity to serve on the Winthrop School Committee. My name is Layne Petrie, and I have been a resident of Winthrop since buying my home here when I was 25 years old. Since that time, I have become a parent and am proud to be raising my family as members of the Winthrop community. I consider myself fortunate to have established family roots here, and for the opportunity to raise my daughter, who is now a student at Fort Banks, in Winthrop.
I firmly believe that strong schools make strong communities.
As a resident, parent, educator, and small business owner, I have a vested interest in ensuring that we’re collectively working to make decisions that will provide the most benefit to our students, staff, schools, and community as a whole. I’m a product of public schools (save for my undergraduate degree from Boston College), and much of my career has been dedicated to supporting and bettering public schools, by playing different educational roles in several communities. In addition to holding a Master’s degree in Education, professionally I am a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and Licensed Applied Behavior Analyst, and have been a special education administrator for the past four years.
As an employee of a school district, I have a deep understanding of the capacities and limitations of public school budgets. I am experienced and proficient at making choices that benefit the students and programs that I support as well as the staff that I supervise.
Prioritizing our students’ social/emotional growth and well-being is a top priority for me. I share the sentiments of many parents and educators when I say that the past couple of years have been challenging, to say the least. I am constantly in awe of how, despite spending some time apart, communities have come together for one another. I will advocate to ensure that the well-being of Winthrop’s students is both protected and prioritized.
I have made a career out of putting students first, and I am looking forward to the opportunity to do the same for the students of Winthrop.