Incumbent Frances-Feliz Kearns is running for her second term on the Old Rochester Regional School Committee.

She was first elected in 2020 and, according to Kearns, established herself as a “successful negotiator, engaged community member and dedicated education and student advocate.”

Kearns was elected into the Covid-19 pandemic and she said that now after “getting up to speed” on the School Committee, she can have “much more of an impact,” if reelected.

During her first term in office, Kearns served as a founding member of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Subcommittee, and hopes to continue that work into a second term.

“I want to make sure that we are following through on our commitments that we made to our students and community members about creating a more welcoming environment and school culture,” she said.

Kearns said she also aims to tackle improvements to high school facilities like revamping auditorium lighting and improving the quality of the football field.

This year, ten library books held in the Old Rochester Regional High School and Junior High Schools were challenged for alleged explicit content. This has sparked discussion over suitable in-school materials.

“The goal of our policy on instructional materials is to provide a diverse and inclusive collection of books that reflects the interest and perspectives of our students and promotes critical thinking and intellectual growth,” said Kearns
However, Kearns noted that popular issues surrounding library materials and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives are not “the practical issues that are facing the district.”

“The biggest issue is the budget,” said Kearns. “The challenge … is that the cost of everything continues to rise, particularly energy costs and also the costs associated with the benefits for retaining educators and administrators.”

Kearns said she hopes to help address budget issues by doing more “advocacy work” to bring money into the school district from grants, donations and government funding.

In her professional career, Kearns is a director of engineering at a medical device company. She said that her work experience gives her the skills to understand and follow policies “by the book.”

“The way the School Committee works — it’s all policy-driven,” she said.

According to Kearns, the greatest strength of the Old Rochester Regional School District is its community.

“I think we have a lot to be proud about here [in] the district. We've done a lot of good work despite really challenging conditions,” said Kearns. “Everybody steps up … People do what needs to be done … and [they] do it well.”