GUILFORD -- Windham Southeast School District Board candidate Jocelyn Fritts wants local schools to be inclusive and comfortable for students.
"While this would be my first time sitting on a school board, I do believe that my experience in information technology, planning and analytics will be an asset," she said. "Having come from a very diverse community prior, I can provide an outlook aimed at enhancing and building the school up in a way that includes everyone and facilitates growth and development."
Fritts will be facing off against former board chairwoman Kelly Young for a three-year term representing Guilford in the March 4 election. Young joined the board in 2018 and was ousted after Brian Remer won last year's election.
The race is the only contested one in the district. Vacating the seat is Shaun Murphy, who announced he wouldn't be seeking reelection.
Fritts said she has "a vested interest in the school district," as she has two children currently enrolled in two of the schools, Guilford Central School and Brattleboro Union High School.
"We moved here a year ago for better educational opportunities and I want to ensure those opportunities continue for all other students into the future," Fritts said, having previously lived in Titusville, Fla, near the Kennedy Space Center.
Her hope is to be involved in making sure all students feel safe, welcome and included in the schools.
"Feeling comfortable and being accepted for themselves at school will allow them to perform better in their classes," she said.
Fritts worries about the effect bullying can have on students when they become more focused on their peers' impressions of them than their work.
"It also can impact attendance when students don't feel comfortable in the environment, and impact their desire to stay and graduate," she said.
Fritts would like to serve on the WSESD Social Justice Committee, which she said "fits well with my desire to make all students feel welcome as their own individual self."
Board Chairwoman Deborah Stanford of Dummerston and board member Matt Schibley of Brattleboro are running unopposed for three-year terms. Voters in Brattleboro, Dummerston, Guilford and Putney elect all board members.