BRATTLEBORO — I urge voters in Brattleboro, Dummerston, Guilford, and Putney to elect Lana Dever to the WSESD school board.
Lana is a longtime Brattleboro resident whose diverse professional and personal life experiences give her a deep and broad lens on the needs of students in this district.
Not only is she a Black parent of a child attending public school in this area, she also grew up experiencing frequent moves and housing instability, a difficulty facing a great many students in this district.
At Youth Services, she works directly with youth who are experiencing this struggle. Student transiency and homelessness are two of the biggest challenges our schools face, and Lana is uniquely suited to help the board navigate this issue.
And that's only the most recent position in her extensive resume of serving our community. Through her work with Meals on Wheels, Big Brothers Big Sisters, United Way, and The Root Social Justice Center, Lana has spent nearly two decades quietly making Brattleboro a better place.
She also recently served on the Community Safety Review Committee, which took a multifaceted approach to examining what makes people in our community safe. There, she worked very specifically to create opportunities for impacted and marginalized people to share their experiences in an environment that felt safe and affirming, and listening deeply to them in order to create recommendations that truly encompassed the needs of all Brattleboro residents.
This skill set would be a tremendous asset to the board as it navigates the process of investigating sexual abuse at Brattleboro Union High School.
Lana has an optimism and energetic enthusiasm about this community that is infectious. Despite the significant challenges our schools are facing, not the least of which is providing education during a pandemic to a community of students experiencing the trauma of two years of Covid life, Lana is excited to serve on this board. She brings a strong vision of community collaboration and a belief that together we can overcome the challenges our school communities face - and emerge stronger and better than before.
Please vote for Lana Dever for WSESD school director (Brattleboro) on your ballot on March 1!