Outgoing Wrentham School Committee Chairwoman Looks Back On Tenure

With Monday's election, there will be new faces on the Wrentham elementary and King Philip school committees.

Kim Carr, who had served as the chairwoman of the elementary school committee, decided not to seek reelection this year.

"I've served on the board for seven years — a long time," she said. "I started when my oldest [child] was in first grade."

Carr said, as her oldest is now in high school, she felt it was time to leave the board.

"I decided to move on," she said. "At night, I want to make sure I'm helping my kids do homework or practice."

Carr will also be leaving the high school committee.

"One member of each of the three boards of Wrentham, Norfolk and Planville is appointed to the King Philip committee every year," she said. "As I'm no longer on the Wrentham school committee, I won't be on the high school committee."

She said she was proud the schools were able to find new superintendents during her term.

"I went through the hiring process with Dr. [Jeffrey] Marsden," she said. "I was also on the KP board and took part in the search committee for Dr. [Elizabeth] Zielinski. I think it was a great experience, and I learned a lot from superintendents."

Carr also said the elementary school had started to explore new revenue sources and increased MCAS scores as well.

"I think any amount of time you can give to help educate children is meaningful," she said.

She also spoke about the current budget problems facing the schools.

"I think, right now with the elementary schools, we're at a little bit of a breaking point," she said. "We've really tried to think outside of the box, but there have been a lot of cutbacks over the last few years."

She said it's important to ensure the schools have the resources they need to maintain their level of academic performance.