Terri Cortvriend at PHS gym mezzanine opening October, 2008.

If the headline didn't tip you off, let me say right up front that I am biased in favor of appointing someone to the Portsmouth School Committee with recent experience, familiarity with the issues, and the best interests of our students at heart, and I strongly believe Terri Cortvriend meets those key criteria. With the Town Council meeting Monday night to consider applicants for a vacancy, I would urge all parents and school supporters to show up and stand to say a few words; it makes a big difference to our elected officials when they see a long line of people queued up at the microphone on an issue. Let's be sure the friends of our schools are well represented.

This should be a no-brainer: Cortvriend ran a write-in campaign for School Committee last November and received 1,496 votes. (As a snarky aside, let me note that the turnout at the 2006 Tent Meeting which gutted the school budget was only 1,284*). The only reason Cortvriend was not an endorsed Democratic candidate was that she made the decision to run after their deadline. She has clearly earned wide support in the community and the Council should consider that.

And I want to make a personal observation. There are some politicians who lose elections and disappear. They stop showing up at Council or School Committee meetings. Six months later there's no sign of them. My metric for whether someone really cares is whether they show up and participate even if they lose or get voted off. Terri has been at just about every School Committee meeting since November, and she engages and is on top of issues. I know, because I cover these meetings.

Qualifications? Cortvriend has served for four years on the School Committee, and in the last two has led the Gym Construction Oversight Committee (GCOC) which saw the successful opening of the new facility and the buildout of the mezzanine weight room. She has been [and continues to be*] an appointed member of the Facilities Committee which has been analyzing the current school buildings and developing recommendations for enhancing and sustaining our infrastructure. She was a participant in the two-day (1/10/09, 1/11/09) Future Search workshop to generate a strategic plan for the District.

When Cortvriend announced her write-in candidacy last October, standing with her at the Portsmouth Playground were fellow committee members Sylvia Wedge and Marge Levesque, former member Dave Croston, Rep. Amy Rice, and Sen. Chuck Levesque.

Also on hand were State Senator Chuck Levesque and Rep. Amy Rice. Calling the school committee the "toughest job in the state of Rhode Island," Levesque voiced his support for Cortvriend's candidacy. "With Sylvia Wedge, I give her credit for restoring the financial integrity of the schools," said Levesque. Rep. Rice [...] added her endorsement. "Terri has worked really hard for the Town of Portsmouth, the children, and the teachers," said Rice, "I support her wholeheartedly."
— hard deadlines, 10/1/08

School Committee member Marge Levesque endorsed Cortvriend in a letter to the editor published here, and which I think is on point for the deliberation of filling a vacancy:

"A Member must first be dedicated to the students not just in words but in actions, secondly, s/he must understand or investigate all issues brought forward, in other words s/he does her home work, and thirdly, s/he listens to all sides before making a decision. Every decision that is made makes some happy and others not. As you, the voters, have been bombarded with this stuff let me cut to the chase; the records of Terri Cortvriend and Sylvia Wedge stand committed to the students. You need only to look at our new gym and the recently completed mezzanine for proof."
— School Committee member Marge Levesque

I don't have to tell you this is a difficult time for our town or our schools. We need someone who can hit the ground running. If you can't be there Monday night, please take a few minutes this weekend to let the Council know how deep Terri's support is. Thanks for everything you do.

Resources:
TerriCortvriend.com
Agenda on file at Secretary of State Web site (20k PDF)

2008 Election coverage
Letter to the Editor from Terri Cortvriend
Save Our Schools endorses Cortvriend
Former committee member Dave Croston endorses Cortvriend
Cortvriend announces write-in campaign, quotes from Levesgue, Rice

Town Council phone numbers available on the Portsmouth Town Council page, or use their e-mails: pmcintyre@portsmouthri.com, hlittle@portsmouthri.com, dcanario@portsmouthri.com, kgleason@portsmouthri.com, khamilton@portsmouthri.com, jplumb@portsmouthri.com, jseveney@portsmouthri.com

Full disclosure: I supported Cortvriend last November. I am an appointed member of the school Facilities Committee. I am a Democrat. I have a child in the Portsmouth school system. My wife is a teacher (in Massachusetts). I operate a local news blog and cover the School Committee and Town Council. I am writing this sentence.

*Clarifications: The turnout for the Tent Meeting was obviously just about twice this number; this is the number of citizens who remained in the tent and voted for the cut. Terri currently serves on the Facilities Committee, where she is secretary. I did not mark this post updated since these were not corrections but clarifications.