I am excited to share that I have been endorsed by Somerville’s three weekly newspapers!

"...we think Pitone’s experience on the Healey School council and emphasis on working with parents, administrators and teachers equally gives her the edge."

"We proudly endorse Laura Pitone for School Committee Member in Ward Five."

Thanks to all my supporters who submitted letters to the Somerville print and online papers.

More than 20 parents with students from nearly all of the Somerville Public Schools penned a joint letter of support, published in both the Somerville Patch "Widespread parent support for Laura Pitone on Nov. 5th" and the Somerville Journal.   Ward 5 parents send their children to all the schools in Somerville, not just the schools in the ward, and I will strive to represent all perspectives. 

Celia Taylor, a former Somerville Public School teacher and School Committee Member, shared her support in a letter published this week in the Somerville Journal "Give Pitone your vote for Somerville School Committee". 

I was happy to read the letter of endorsement written by Paula Woolley and published prior to the September 24th preliminary election in the Somerville Journal, "Pitone for Somerville Ward 5 School Committee".  Paula is a parent of a Somerville High School graduate and a Brown School student. Paula is currently a member of the High School Improvement Council and is well respected for her school and city advocacy.

Mary Flemming, my neighbor and a lifelong Somerville resident, wrote a letter of support that was acknowledged, along with Celia Taylor's letter, in this week's edition of Newstalk in The Somerville Times (excerpt below.)

"We see that candidate for School Committee Member in Ward Five Laura J. Pitone has been working hard to fill the vacant seat. She has been knocking on doors and it looks like she is going to win this coming Tuesday. She has garnered many letters of endorsement, which normally we here at the Times wouldn’t print, but an endorsement from Mary Fleming on Highland Road is well noted. Mary is one of the nicest, sincerest people around. Despite her husband’s venture into politics, Mary has stayed away from it, except now she wrote a very nice letter in support of Laura and we just had to say something about it. Another lady we noticed who wrote a letter (there were many others) was Celia Taylor, former School Committee Member, a nice lady, and wife of retiring Tom Taylor. She recently retired from school work down at the Healey and wrote a very nice letter for Laura. Two ladies’ testimonials amongst the many letters of support of which we know she got from hard work and persistence. We think Laura will do an awesome job on the School Board. By the way, we like many others here in the city are big fans of Celia and Mary. If you don’t know them meet them and find out for yourself."

I made it through the preliminary election!  Here are the results of the election as reported by the different news outlets. I am so thankful to all the amazing volunteers and supporters. Now the hard work continues in preparation for the November 5th final election.

Somerville Journal:  "Somerville primary election: McLaughlin...Pitone...advance"

Somerville Patch: "See Which Candidates Are Moving onto the Final Election"

Somerville Times: "Unofficial Primary Results in Somerville"

I am excited to share that I have been endorsed by the Somerville Journal for School Committee in Ward 5. The Somerville Journal published their endorsements for the September 24th preliminary election in the September 18th edition of the paper.

The Somerville Times (formally called The Somerville News) predicts I will be one of the two candidates to nominate in the Tuesday September 24th preliminary election, meaning they believe I will be on the ballot for the final election November 5th.  Read the 6th feature in "Newstalk - September 18th" for details. 

This campaign season has been keeping journalist in Somerville very busy.  The Patch, Somerville Journal, and The Somerville News have all taken time to share with their readers information about preliminary candidates for Ward 5 School Committee.  

The Somerville Patch published candidate's answers to questions regarding priorities, background and why people should vote for them.  Read my profile in The Patch here. 

The Somerville Journal interviewed each candidate and shared their findings in the article titled "3 newcomers face off for Somerville Ward 5 School Committee seat".

The Somerville News published "Meet the Candidates: Ward 5 School Committee" as part of their 2013 election series.   Candidates were asked to submit answers to three questions and a brief biography.

Additionally, SCATV provided each candidate the opportunity to record a 2 minute statement to share with voters.  Watch my segment of the video. 

Watch me on SCATV as I share why I should be Ward 5’s next School Committee member.  My segment begins at 18:43 on the video.  Thanks to SCAT for providing all candidates on the ballot in the September 24^th preliminary election an opportunity to record a brief statement. 

The Progressive Democrats of Somerville distributes a comprehensive questionnaire for all School Committee candidates to complete.  Filling out the PDS questionnaire is a rewarding, time-intensive effort.   I enjoyed synthesizing what I have been hearing from community members with my personal experience in the schools.  Questions include opinions on budgeting, policy priorities and assessment of school strengths and areas for improvement.  Click here for my responses.  Please contact me at [email protected] if you have any questions or comments.

The debut of my campaign sign and my first stand out at the Brown School polling station. Thanks to super mom and graphic designer Karen McMahon for her inspired creation. Additional thanks to all the supporters who braved the heat to hold these beautiful signs at the polling stations in Ward 5.