Last Monday the residents of Ludlow voted for who will fill the remaining spot on the school board, their options were Sarah Bowler and Isabel Soares. After Facebook battles, heated school committee meetings, and a whole bunch of signs, Soares lost with 1270 votes to Bowler’s 2108.

Sarah Bowler is a social worker with a passion for the betterment of our school district. She initially ran for school board three years ago because she didn’t like the way the special education students were being serviced. This issue spoke to her as a mom of two kids with IEPs and she wanted to ensure “that these students and families had a voice on the committee moving forward.” She gained a spot on the board and has served until this year when she had to run for re-election. 

Her big goal this year is to tackle the bullying problem at Baird Middle School and to resolve it. Teachers have recognized worsened behavioral patterns post-COVID, and violence is on the rise because of it. There are multiple fights a week at the middle school, some kids are even afraid to go to school. 

She would like to continue to review the budget and get positions back that were lost during the cuts. She believes, “During a time when children are still catching up from COVID, and behaviors in the school remain heightened, now is the time the teachers, and students, need the extra support and not continued cuts.”

Bowler believes the biggest challenge the Ludlow Schools face “is all the false narratives going around trying to make our schools look bad.” For context, throughout the past few years, there have been many crazy rumors about our schools. From litter boxes in the Baird Middle School bathrooms to a pornographic book scandal in the Baird Middle School library, Ludlow Schools can’t seem to find peace. Bowler wants to crush this narrative and make Ludlow a more respectable school district by removing it from these harmful rumors. 

Students and the Ludlow Memes Instagram account, have perpetrated the narrative that there are litter boxes in the middle school. The rumors started due to a growing population of people identifying as cats in the middle school. I did not go to Baird Middle School, so in my eighth-grade year, I was seriously questioning if these rumors were true. From what I know, they are not. 

The pornographic book scandal in the Baird Middle School Library started when a few parents, including Bowlers opponent, Isabel Soares, and a group of teachers found an issue with a few books that were in the library. One such book is ‘Looking for Alaska’ by John Green, a book that I read last year in my English class. A policy was drawn up that would give the school committee the ultimate decision regarding what books could and couldn’t be in the school libraries. This policy was not passed, however, the sentiment remains among the more conservative Ludlow citizens. 

Regarding the controversial library book issue, Bowler thinks that “books are not the enemy, technology is.” These books are not teaching or “indoctrinating” the children any more than social media or other children are. She also thinks that “there are ways to ensure that your child is not able to have access to the books you don’t want your child to have access to.”

Both of these issues, along with a lawsuit against the middle school, have made the Ludlow School district look unappealing to outsiders looking for a place to raise their children. Bowler hopes to end this narrative and make the Ludlow school district something that the school board, and the rest of town, can be proud of. 

Another policy that caused quite a stir was the parental notification policy. This policy was proposed by two members of the board. Bowler states that “it was a cut and paste policy written by Mothers of Liberty from another state that is now being challenged through the Courts.” It states that if a child uses a different name, pronouns, or is openly transitioning, the parent will be notified, despite the possibility of the child being harmed if the parents are not accepting. In a Facebook post regarding parental notification, Bowler states,  “I do not support outing kids to their parents/caregivers when they seek support or guidance from school professionals.” This policy was not passed due to the fact that it is illegal.

I truly hope and believe that Sarah Bowler will make good decisions for the betterment of our schools, as she has for the past three years.