School Committee candidate Judy Caporiccio has never run for an elected position before, but she thinks she has a lot to offer Wareham's schools.

Caporiccio has 36 years of experience as an educator. She worked as a reading specialist in Somerset and as a special education teacher and head of Student Services at Westwood Middle School. A graduate of Emmanuel College, she has a Master's Degree in Education from Suffolk University. She also completed a licensure program in Educational Leadership at Bridgewater State University.

“I am running because my background, experience and my perspective would benefit Wareham,” said Caporiccio. “Quality education for all students is a concern, especially with the financial constraints the town faces.”

If elected, she said one of her main goals would be to control educational costs stemming the exodus of students to "school choice," which allows Wareham residents to attend schools in other districts at the cost of the town.

“My goal is to make Wareham the district of choice and have students from other towns opt into our schools while at the same time keeping our students and our educational funding in our own district,” she said. “We have a level-one (ranked) high school which should be attracting good students from other districts.”

She said students leaving the district lies in its in the perception, which she hopes to help change.

“Wareham has a perception problem that needs to be rectified,” said Caporiccio. “Public relations is an area that needs improvement and can be done with little to no additional cost to the town.”

Caporiccio said she supports the Common Core Curriculum and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) testing.

In June of 2014, the Wareham School Committee voted unanimously to have preliminary placement of testing for the PARCC program for both the ninth and eleventh-grades for next school year.

Similarly to MCAS, PARCC testing is meant to show whether students in grades K-12 are on track to be prepared for college and their careers, though one of PARCC's goals is to set up a nationwide standard for testing.

The Common Core State Standards Initiative was introduced to Massachusetts as a states-led effort to establish a shared set of clear educational standards for English language arts and mathematics.

“I agree with having consistent guidelines for what every student should know from kindergarten through twelfth-grade in order to help students to become more college and career ready,” she said of the Common Core Curriculum, which Massachusetts’ schools are required to follow. “The program was created by well-respected teachers and experts in their fields and is highly regarded by many educators across the country.”

“PARCC is an important set of assessments that will measure whether our students are on track to be successful in the workforce and in college,” she said. “These assessments then provide teachers with information to help meet their students’ needs. Measuring what students should know at their grade level is not new, and I hope that the data that is provided will help to improve our students’ education and success.”

In her spare time, Caporiccio is the newly elected president of the Swifts Beach Improvement Association, is a member of the Wareham Beach and Tourism Committee, and is a member of the Bay Area Senior Cyclists. A longtime summer resident, she moved to Wareham permanently a year ago.

“My heart has always been in Wareham, and now I am happy to reside here,” she said.

She said she was most recently inspired to run when visiting the Multi-Service Center.

“I was compelled to go by the school offices and even touched the doorways,” she said. “Even though I am retired, I clearly miss being involved in education.”