Hello! My name is Francis K. Ogura and I am running for Holliston School Committee. I grew up in a family of educators and local legislators and understand the importance of these roles in our community. Megan and I decided to raise our family in Holliston because of its strong community and respected education system. When we welcomed our son, Frankie, the strength of our school district became increasingly more important.  I am running because I believe the next few years are pivotal for our schools – to transform from simply funding our schools to truly investing in our future. As the theme of our campaign, we need to invest in our future – whether it is fiscal or social.  Holliston is our home because of its incredible strength, and I want to ensure we build a strong school district as the backbone of our community.

I believe that my financial, technical, and analytical skills will be important to improve our school community. As a leader in Product Management for the last ten years, my role is to identify problems and create/fund/staff solutions using creativity, effective communication, and collaboration. As for my leadership style, I am a strong believer in servant leadership to enable growth, ensure well-being, and empower our students, teachers, and staff.

Often, communication is the primary reason for the disconnect between administration, staff, families, and the larger community. I will ensure that there is no longer a gap by utilizing both in-person and social media channels with the goal of ensuring information is not just available but easy to access. As such, communication should not wait until after the election, but start as a candidate. Throughout this campaign, I plan to hold in-person meet and greets, provide updates on our campaign and issues on Facebook (Click Here) or send me an email at ogura4schoolcommittee@gmail.com.

What is important to our campaign –

1.     Building a Strong Budget – I believe that having a strong financial foundation will allow us to build a brighter future for our schools and begin investing in our students and community. This starts with ensuring our infrastructure can meet and exceed our children’s full potential and unlock new ways to learn – I will be a champion for our new high school and continued improvements to our elementary and middle schools. We need to partner with our town boards/committees, the state, and the building authority to advocate for increased investment and access to grants. With over 8 years of corporate finance experience, I will work to optimize our costs and drive investments for our students.

2.     Leadership for Positive Change – We need the right leadership in the district to provide guidance and support and to foster positive relationships between teachers, staff, parents, and our children. My goal is to open new and expand existing channels of communications to hear from our school community on our leadership opportunities. In my professional career, I have managed leaders and grown talent – skills that will be important to finding the next generation of leaders for our schools.

3.     Respect in Our Community – I will ensure everyone is treated with respect – our teachers, staff, parents, and students. There is no room for hate in the educational system. I will work with families and the administration and implement audits to ensure no manifestation of hate is ignored and actioned. We need to understand its root causes – so we can build and execute strategies to prevent and eradicate it.

4.     Supporting our Teachers and Staff – Our teachers and staff are truly heroes, especially over the past few years during the COVID-19 pandemic. I will ensure that we are fully funding and providing resources needed for them as a catalyst for our growth. Beyond funding, we must provide adequate support in the classroom to ensure they can educate effectively and safely.

We have built such a strong community, and our schools can lead us into our town’s next chapter. There is nothing impossible when we work together.

More information on our campaign can be found on our Facebook page: 

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61558150344601

I humbly ask for your support on Tuesday, May 21^st at Holliston High School.

Frank Ogura

Candidate for Holliston School Committee