Chantal Rich

What is your educational background?
I got my BA from the University of Maine at Machias, I double majored in Fine Arts and American Studies. I am graduating this May from Marywood with an MSW.

Describe your commitment to ethics and open records on the school board.
As a social worker, I am bound to the social worker code of ethics, which is something that I carry to all aspects of my life, including the school board if I am elected. I think that ethics and open records are very important, and that the entire community should be able to access what the school board is doing.

What is your experience managing budgets or programs?
At my last job, which was at a Middle East Center that was housed on a university campus, one of my tasks was to reconcile the budgets each month – we had two, one was a grant budget with a lot of rules, the other was matching funds from the university. If the budgets were balanced, we wouldn’t get paid or be able to invite outside speakers.

I have a lot of supervision experience in my previous work experience. Such as when I was a store front end manager when I was in college.

Describe your community leadership.
In the community, I took on a leadership role with Action Together NEPA when they were first founded in November 2016. I was a co-lead for Scranton. Along with my other co-lead, I would organize meetings and events in our community. I stepped down earlier this month because it became too much with all my school commitments.

What is the biggest issue facing Scranton schools and how would you address it?
I think the biggest issue is the budget. I’ve been spending a lot of time trying to figure out how to address it. I have been reading up on what other school systems have done and what worked for them and what didn’t – because I think that we will need to get creative to solve the budgetary issues. Clearly the old ways aren’t working. Some of the ideas I’ve come up with include raising admission prices for sporting events, not by a lot, those events are usually well attended and it could generate some revenue. Another idea would be to have some creative learning summer school classes, such as learning math via a cooking class, and charging for students to take those classes. I have a lot more ideas, but I don’t want to keep you all day.

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