Candidate Profile: Dan Futrell

For Somerville Patch's 2013 election guide, we asked all candidates running for office in Somerville the same three questions, and we posted their answers without editing them. Here are the responses from Dan Futrell:


Question: What are the two most important issues facing Somerville right now, and what would you do on the School Committee to address those issues?

Somerville schools are at a crossroads, at a time when we have several excellent character development programs like our music program or where we see early signs of momentum in our student growth percentile. Now is the time where parental engagement is critically important, to involve parents in decision-making in how we build on this momentum and to empower parents to reach into all community resources possible to help their children achieve their potential. There's no reason why parents at one school should feel disconnected from their administration and their teachers while parents at another feel very much a part of the community, and we will do our children a great service to maintain a high level of communication across all schools.

Secondly, we live in an area with world-class academic resources within our reach. We've recently signed a comprehensive agreement with Tufts, and there is an opportunity to build on this kind of agreement with other schools and with local businesses so that we can provide tutors and professional development opportunities for our students and their teachers. This is particularly relevant with regard to this second year of X Block, where there is a great opportunity to create a formal and system-wide relationship with a university or business that provides a reliable pool of tutors.

Question: Tell us about your background.

My professional career has been devoted to developing young adults - both in the military over 27 months deployed to Baghdad and in my current role at the year-long development nonprofit Year Up, a program that assists young adults as they transition out of poverty and into professional careers. Specifically in my role managing our budget and our hiring practices as Director of Operations at Year Up, I bring a level of financial experience that would be valuable as the School Committee understands and creates a $56M budget that represents both moral and practical decisions to get us to a future and attainable vision for Somerville Schools - the best school district in Massachusetts.

Question: Why should Somerville residents vote for you?

Somerville residents should vote for me because they believe my military experience demonstrates a level of sacrifice, work ethic, and judgment that they expect from our School Committee. Somerville residents should vote for me because they believe my financial background at Year Up, as someone who must dig into the deep details of a budget to present information clearly and inform important decisions, is needed on the School Committee. 

Somerville residents should vote for me because they believe I've learned something important through working at a youth development nonprofit that has created a sustainable workforce development model that has promise in a public school district. Somerville residents should vote for me because they believe that my personal story - growing up partially in foster care and then being raised by a single father - gives me life experience and perspective that helps me to understand the human element of policy and budget decisions.

Somerville residents should vote for me because I've committed my professional career to developing character in young adults and I'd appreciate your trust in continuing to invest in our community. I'd appreciate the opportunity to meet and continue a conversation. Please visit www.danfutrell.com for more info.