Medford School Committee Member to Lead State Association

Medford’s Ann Marie Cugno, a four-term veteran of that city’s School Committee will become President of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees (MASC). She will succeed Somerville School Committee member Mary Jo Rossetti at the state convention of school committee members and superintendents in Hyannis, MA on Friday, November 8.

Ms. Cugno, who was unanimously named President-Elect a year ago, will prioritize civic engagement, social and emotional health of students, and focusing on the role of school committees in improving the academic performance of students. For the last several years she has been a force in the public education around bullying and bullying prevention. “Bullying as a school problem moved to the top of the priority list in large part because of Ann Marie Cugno’s advocacy and persistence,” said Glenn Koocher, Executive Director of the MA Association of School Committees. “She framed the issue, pushed for legislation, and helped inspire a statewide education campaign to protect bullied children today and in the future.”

As MASC President, she will be responsible for organizing the MASC state and federal advocacy campaign that will include the badly needed revision of the No Child Left Behind Law, expanding funding for public schools, and managing the administrative burden of government bureaucracy on administrators, teachers and local policy makers. She will lead the Massachsuetts delegation to the National School Boards Association Federal Relations Network and the National Delegate Assembly in April.

Cugno, who is tri-lingual, will also focus on children in social and economic distress and students who are in the process of learning the English language.

Prior to serving on the Medford School Committee, Cugno was a parent activist and children’s advocate and has been a presence on the PTO and school councils for over 20 years.

“I hope to lead an advocacy movement and to put school committees in the center of the effort to help students learn,” said Cugno. “We know that school committees that work diligently and effectively find that their districts do better and students succeed more often. I want to help every school committee engage in professional development just as teachers do.”

Ms. Cugno will serve for one year in this presidency.

– Information from MASC