I am writing to support Ellen Whelen-Wuest in her candidacy for the ACSD board. I feel that Ellen has the skills and temperament to advocate for Cornwall on the board and to work with representatives of the other towns to reach equitable solutions for the stakeholders in this complicated process.

My daughter attended Bingham Memorial, and for several years I was head of the Friends of Cornwall School parent group and was part of starting an afterschool activities program at that time. Our family saw both the many tremendous positives but also the occasional significant negatives in being part of a small school. Some of the recent discussion surrounding the potential for school consolidation seems to me to ignore the complexity of the educational, administrative and financial issues that are inherent in our current school system. There is no simple, bumper-sticker-phrase answer for these problems, and approaching the search for solutions with a preconceived agenda is not a recipe for success.

Ellen has the ability to give appropriate weight to the wishes of the community, the underlying external and internal forces involved, and the educational needs of our children, and will use this understanding to reach better outcomes for the district.

Raph Worrick

Cornwall