Candidate Statement
Gabriel Crawford-Paree is a lifelong resident of Hamilton County, and has set down roots in Westfield. He is running for Westfield-Washington School Board At-Large in 2026. As a firm believer in public education, someone invested in the long term health of WWS for his future family, and problem-solving engineer he is the right person with a unique perspective not currently represented on the school board.
Education
BS Electrical Engineering
Occupational background
Electrical Engineer
Political Office(s) Held in the Past
None
I have been attending the school board meetings since early 2025 to get an understanding of the district as I am planning to have a family and use the schools down the line. What I saw while attending is part of what pushed me to run. While I don't have direct experience yet as a parent, I've been talking to as many folks in the community as possible who do in order to get a solid grasp on what the community is experiencing as a whole. If elected, my job is to represent the whole community on the board, not just my immediate viewpoint so getting this breadth of input is crucial.
I'm an engineer by training, and that job/profession is all about solving complex and interlocking system problems. The number one thing I know about problem solving is that the person who walks into the room with an idea already in mind is not the one who is going to end up with the best all-around solution. I know how to assess an issue, gather input from stakeholders, and THEN start to review options for how to solve a problem. The school board must be collaborative with teachers, students, parents, and the rest of the community in order to truly and properly serve everyone. I'm sure I don't have all the right answers in mind already, but I know that I have the right mindset to help us arrive at the best option together.
This is a challenging topic to answer cleanly given the referendum on the ballot this year, as the result of the referendum will greatly influence what options there are. If the referendum fails, I will commit to finding any feasible outlet to reduce spending aside from teacher pay unless that becomes absolutely necessary, the teachers are the backbone of the schools and we would be doing our students a disservice to pull back on that support. With a passing referendum, we can increase the number of student support staff (counselors and social workers) and maintain class sizes that allow teachers to help all students succeed.
Evaluation of a superintendent should come through a few channels. First and foremost, ensuring students are succeeding is top of the list as the superintendent's job is to oversee the operations of the district and the buck stops with them. I personally believe anonymous surveys which have results provided to the school board directly should be used to understand if there are gaps in support or issues identified by the staff, as the ones doing the work know if they have what they need. Finally, I'd like to explore having a parental advisory committee as an ongoing bridge to the community. If created, this group could provide some input on the positive or negative views from the community itself.
I would like to see the meeting agenda and minutes standards overhauled completely. The meeting agenda and minutes today appear to serve only as a check-box to say they were there. We should look to our peer school districts in the county for examples of high quality agendas and minutes which allow the community transparent access to board meeting topics (so they can attend and provide input) and board decisions (so they can stay abreast of changes/decisions that impact them).
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