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Celina Miranda announces candidacy for Milton School Committee

I am excited to announce my candidacy to serve Milton as a member of the School Committee. I am a Cunningham School parent, social worker, lecturer at Boston University, and a seasoned nonprofit leader. I currently serve as Executive Director for a Boston nonprofit that works to advance and empower youth through Afro-Latin arts and culture. I pride myself on being from an immigrant family from El Salvador, the product of public school education in the U.S., and the first in my family to graduate college.

My unique combination of skills will bring a new lens to the work of the Milton School Committee. These include deep practice experience in positive youth development, social and emotional learning and wellbeing, education, racial equity, and strategic nonprofit management. I believe our success hinges on our ability to bring together schools, parents, families, and communities. Through such collaboration, I hope to move MPS towards a path of greater excellence, providing the highest quality learning experiences and addressing youth development both fairly and consistently for all.

How do we realize that vision? I plan to focus on moving the Milton Public Schools forward in three priority areas:

Educating the Whole Learner – Student engagement, belonging, and social and emotional health are integral to academic excellence. Since the pandemic, families and students have felt disconnected to our school community. I plan to reconnect students to their optimal learning experience by ensuring social and emotional learning is fully integrated into academic planning in core subjects, such as math, English language arts, science and social studies, and the humanities and the arts. This includes following best practices in positive youth development to improve student learning and outcomes.

Equity and Opportunity for All – MPS has made progress in recent years by making equity part of its vision for a strong and excellent school system that works for all students. Now it is time to translate vision into action and make progress towards closing the persistent opportunity gaps we see in our student data. MPS must develop and implement a strategic plan that ensures that all groups of students consistently and fairly have the educational and enrichment opportunities they need to reach their full potential.

Strategic Path Forward – Families continue to flock to Milton to be part of our great community and school system. In order to not only keep up with growing demand for our schools, but to invest and grow in meaningful ways, we need innovative and resourceful approaches to strategic planning and financing to sustain our excellence.
I have experience taking fiscally-disciplined approaches to planning, budgeting, and monitoring. This requires a laser focus on key priorities, and tireless pursuit of opportunities that build diverse and sustainable revenue streams to support the things we care about most.

There are challenges ahead for MPS, but I have the motivation, experience, and skill set to help the Milton Public Schools navigate the path forward. I ask for your support and hope to earn your vote on April 26.

For more information, visit www.miranda4milton.com