THE GENERAL ELECTION IS TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2025.
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Stow Collaboration for Change is excited to endorse Dr. Pamela Wind for re-election to the Stow-Munroe Falls Board of Education (SMF BoE). Pamela is the current President of the BoE and is running for re-election after serving a previous term which began in 2022. We had the opportunity to speak with Pamela about her work on the board so far, and her priorities going forward.
Follow Pamela’s campaign on Facebook @VotePamelaWind. You can donate to Pamela’s campaign at votepamelawind.com/contribute. Interested in volunteering? Sign up here or email friendsofpamelawind@gmail.com!
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Introduce Yourself
What motivated you to run for a second term?
During my current (first) term in office, I have seen firsthand the value of having a seat at the table, and I would like to continue this work. My presence on the Board of Education over the past three and a half years has made all the difference in several key decision points, including hiring a new Treasurer and a new Superintendent, strengthening equitable policy, resolutions in support of diverse students and proper funding of public education, and resisting overcompliance with what seem to be illegal actions at the federal level.
The end goal of course is to protect high quality public education in our District and protect all students and staff. As we have thoughtfully built a new leadership team, the District has begun to move in a more positive direction. This includes improved academics, producing the first balanced budgets in over a decade, the most positive Five Year Forecast the District has seen in many years, and improving District processes and procedures from HR to facilities operations. I am excited to be an integral part of this positive change, and look forward to the opportunity to continue this vital work.
Additionally, I am running to protect the District from the radical Moms for Liberty (M4L) agenda. We have one Board member currently (not on the ballot this year) who is extremely involved with M4L and consistently spouts their talking points and agendas.
While I remain Board President, I can work with this Board member on our common goals, while simultaneously protecting the District from his radical agenda. His Moms for Liberty groups are actively supporting some opponents in this race; allowing them to add more radicals to the Board would be disastrous for our students and staff.
What accomplishments are you most proud of during your time on the BoE thus far?
I am most proud of my key role in putting together a professional, knowledgeable, education-centered, fiscally-minded leadership team. When I ran four years ago, it was obvious to me that the District needed new leadership and better fiscal management. While it has taken time to put the right people in place (you cannot change the course of a container ship in a matter of minutes), I believe that the leadership we have chosen are what the District needs, and have been doing vital work in terms of our students’ education, our students’ and staff’s wellbeing, and our fiscal responsibility.
During my time on the Board, I have suggested and supported various Superintendent committees which ensure broad (staff, student, community) input into District problem-solving. I also suggested, researched, and developed a Student Representative position at the table, while taking my fellow Board members’ questions, concerns, and opinions into account in the process, leading to unanimous approval of the Student Representative position, and ensuring student voice at the table.
The leadership team’s work to improve the District can only continue with a supportive Board in place, and I am an integral part of that support. The most meaningful example of this was in the hiring of a new Superintendent. The previous Superintendent left quite a mess in his wake, and we needed an experienced, knowledgeable, and dedicated Superintendent to put things to rights. By the time we had our second round of interviews, it was extremely clear who the best choice was for the work we needed to accomplish.
A decision was made and a contract was negotiated, but the choice leaked to the community before the Board could approve the contract. The candidate selected by the Board happened to be a Black woman, and our primarily white, suburban community did not respond well. The then-President of the Board received threats as well as pushback regarding the race of our chosen candidate, and pulled the contract off the agenda over my objections, telling me “this town isn’t ready” to hire a Black woman. This led to several weeks of staff uprisings, public social media accusations, and angry emails to the board, sadly many with racist overtones and language.
I held fast to my convictions, and we did eventually approve the contract and hire the right person for the job, and the District is beginning to see the benefit of this choice. The processes which led to such controversy were eye opening, and I would make many changes to how it was handled if I were placed in the position of selecting another Superintendent in the future, but the resulting hire was exactly what the District needs.
What are your priorities, if you are re-elected?
I would like to continue the work I have done as President and as Vice President of our Board to build consensus around tackling difficult issues. We have many challenges at the moment, from state and federal funding concerns, to attacks on diversity and mental health supports, to a need to finance new buildings. Solutions can only be accomplished with broad buy-in among school leadership and the community; this is something I have worked actively on, and would like to continue. I plan to support our new District leadership in keeping a balanced budget while maintaining high quality education, even while there are threats to public education seemingly daily from the Ohio Statehouse as well as the federal government.
Additionally, the District is beginning its work to develop a new Strategic Plan; the next Board will be integral in contributing to this vision and directing the goals of the District for years to come. I would like to ensure that our next Strategic Plan is student-focused and fiscally responsible. Finally, the condition of our physical facilities demands that we continue to work with the community to find a path forward in ensuring that students have safe buildings which are conducive to quality educational practices and technologies.
What should voters know about your background and qualifications?
First, I am completing a term in this office, have weathered some of the biggest decisions and challenges which can come with a school board seat, and am currently the most experienced person sitting on the Board. In other words, I know what I am signing up for by running for re-election. During my time on the Board, I have consistently sought out hundreds of hours of training to assist me in being a more effective Board Member and Board President.While some others who have held or currently hold this seat seem to think that training around the role “constrains” their actions, I firmly believe that learning and engaging in Board best practices strengthens our work and our District.
Additionally, I have a long history of community service and volunteering on many other Boards. I was one of the founders of a local charitable organization, sat on PTA boards for many years while my children were younger, and served on a City-wide volunteer board. I have a habit of volunteering my time to my community when I think I can be of assistance, and while Board members are paid (a little), I consider this work an extension of my service to my community.
Finally, my decades of work in the field of mental health, providing direct services within k-12 schools, universities, and private practice, training the next generation of providers, and teaching at the university level have given me a broad knowledge of education and the whole child which I put to use in my role as school board President..
In your opinion, what are the most important aspects of being a member of the BoE?
There are many more aspects to this job than I anticipated when I ran the first time, even after following the Board for many years prior to that.
First, there is a weighty responsibility to learn the ins and outs of District operations, and of the Board governance role; this takes time, training, meetings with key stakeholders, and more. Another of the most important jobs of a Board is selecting our key leadership team (Treasurer and Superintendent), and ensuring that they are aware of the community’s priorities and values around public education so that we can work effectively together at continuously improving the District.
Then there is working with that team to find creative solutions to the difficulties the District encounters at any given time. In practice, this means continuous learning and maintaining constant lines of communication with District leadership and key staff, fellow members of the Board, and members of the community. I believe that there have been other Board members who approach this job as primarily showing up for the Board meetings; however, Board meetings are actually only the tip of the iceberg in being an effective Board member.
Policy & Important Issues
District policies, like the antiracism policy, and DEI initiatives, like the DEI Committee, have been suspended in the past year due to Trump’s Executive Order. How do you plan to uphold a commitment to an equitable, anti-racist, and inclusive environment in the district?
This has been a difficult year for public education. There have been countless hours spent in dissecting various state and federal actions in terms of their potential impact not only legally but on our students and staff. The way in which we suspended these policies allows us to reinstate them quickly if the relevant executive orders are overturned in court and I am committed to that reinstatement if at all possible.
In the meantime, we have continued to reflect on how intact policies and procedures may affect all of the varying groups of students and staff within our District, and have a Superintendent who is deeply committed to ensuring a positive, welcoming, and equitable environment for all; the Anti-Racism policy is not required to be in effect for this to happen. I remain someone who is open to learning where the district may not be living up to its inclusive ideals, and actively working with leadership to address any such concerns; this work does not (cannot) stop because a policy or a committee has been suspended.
Why is it important for BoE members to support mental health initiatives and anti-bullying policies? How do you plan to support mental health initiatives and anti-bullying policies if elected?
Students cannot learn (and teachers cannot effectively teach) if they do not feel safe and welcomed in their classrooms. There have been decades of research illustrating that students who have a more positive attitude toward their school, who feel safe, who feel connected at school, have improved academic performance.
I have backed several initiatives during my first term to increase effective student supports, including expanding counseling staff and encouraging the formation of the District Wellness Committee. My work to ensure that students are supported will absolutely continue into a second term.
The Board of Education passed a Pride Month Resolution in 2022. How do you plan to honor, uphold, and even expand the commitments outlined in that resolution?
Crafting that Resolution while in a minority on the Board is my proudest achievement during my first year in office. I am committed to ensuring that students, staff, and community members understand that our District endeavors to be a safe and supportive space for those who fall on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum. This includes supporting positive student-led groups and their activities, as well as ensuring that District leadership and staff understand the importance of supporting students who may feel marginalized and under attack in the current political climate.
With public education funding facing threats at both the state and federal levels, how will you face these attacks and advocate for fair and adequate public school funding?
This is obviously work that I have already begun, through personal advocacy to decision-makers as well as leading the Board in crafting and passing formal Resolutions which are shared with lawmakers. Previous Boards and administration felt that such advocacy was “political” while I see it as doing our job to act in response to threats to quality public education. We cannot sit on the sidelines, and must act to protect public education. I will continue to support administration and Board efforts to educate our community and advocate with our lawmakers.
SMF parents have been concerned for the past year about legal loopholes being exploited by religious organizations seeking to manipulate their children’s social networks during school hours. How do you plan to address this?
Last fall, I was a key part of the effort to repeal our policy regarding religious release time, in order to protect our students’ academic days. Unfortunately, the state legislature later intervened and made such release time policies mandatory for all school districts in Ohio.
As a member of the Superintendent’s Policy committee, I heard and considered much community member feedback regarding the policy that we were required to adopt, and have participated in thoughtfully discussing the implications with our school leadership and our community. While we are required to have a policy allowing release time, that policy was crafted to do the least damage to our instructional time and our students’ social relationships as possible. I have worked closely with administration around this and will continue to monitor the situation on an ongoing basis.
Do you support continued student representation on the BoE? Why or why not?
Absolutely! I worked for over six months to consider the role of a student representative, create the student representative policy, work out the application and selection processes, and mentor the resulting Student Representatives to the Board. I have found it valuable to have student input when the Board is considering various actions which directly affect our students’ experiences in our schools. The student voice is also essential in bringing student concerns to the Board, which members may not have heard about otherwise, and in communicating Board actions to their fellow students. This position has great potential to continue to grow in its value to the entire school community.
Some people in the community feel that members of the BoE should be completely non-partisan. What are your thoughts on this?
I find this contention interesting, to be honest, especially when it is usually followed with “and the Board needs a more effective conservative voice!” I find that letting people know which party my values generally most align with allows for a “shorthand” way of communicating my core commitment to quality public education and other social supports for the common good. In its essence, there is nothing inherently political about school governance, as it must be focused on the students, staff, and community as a whole. On the other hand, public education has become a political football and is under threat. That threat is currently coming from the right – from national Republican leadership to local Moms for Liberty groups. I think it is important for every voter to be aware of whether a candidate aligns with those that threaten public education, or those that support it.
Final word: why should people give you their vote?
I have been a dedicated Board member who has worked to make positive changes to the District, to the benefit of not only students and staff, but the entire community, and I remain dedicated to continuing this work. Through my leadership as Vice President and President of the Board, we have seen increased academic achievement and fiscal responsibility, and I am eager to keep Rebuilding Bulldog Pride.