Martino, Aarati

Meet the Candidate

Running For:

School Board

District:

Central Bucks School District

Age:

Occupation:

Wife, Mom, Software Engineer

Education: (click to expand)

Biographical Info: (click to expand)

Why are you running for office? (click to expand)

I am running for school board because social media and school closures have damaged our children’s desire to learn. Teachers tell me they have trouble engaging kids. We need to work together to fix this. I want to cut through the drama and put the focus on academics, where it belongs. But people have made it all political or about money and it is a shame, because children need our help. In addition to strengthening their executive functions, we need to help our kids learn to interact and carry a conversation. We need to rebuild the human connections between family and community that have been destroyed during COVID. I have been volunteering at the local senior center over the summer to find out how we could build bonds between kids and seniors. The good news is that not only is there a lot of interest in doing so, the evidence shows this can help kids. This is more efficient than hiring more mental health professionals, and it simultaneously strengthens our community bonds. We can take this learning loss as an opportunity to revamp our curriculum and mold Central Bucks into a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) powerhouse. Bucks County has an abundance of highly skilled and lucrative manufacturing and biotech careers. I already know how to extend our existing curriculum so that our kids learn how to build planetary-scale systems like we do at Google. This is because I successfully taught fourth, fifth, and sixth graders the same search algorithms I learned in my sophomore year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Imagine what a jump these kids will have on the competition in college admissions! I can’t wait to see how they succeed. As one of the engineers behind Google Calendar, I know how to deal with large, complex systems. I know how to collaborate with others of different perspectives to come to amicable agreements. I do this every day at my job, and I am good at it. I believe we can make Central Bucks even better than before. We have a wealth of talent and good people that can put our district on the national map in a positive light. Let’s bring them together to make sure each kid gets a great education that caters to their strengths.

Survey

Response Legend

SSupport
OOppose
UUndecided
−Declined to Respond/Undecided, Position Unknown/Unclear
*Comment
†Declined to respond, Position based on citation

Question	Response	Comments/Notes
1. Providing state tax credits and education savings accounts to enable parents to choose what school their child attends.	S
2. Reserving girls’ sports exclusively for biological females.	S
3. Separating restrooms, locker rooms, and other privacy areas based on biological sex.	S
4. Permitting students to discuss their Christian faith with others during non-class time on school premises.	S*	Kids should be able to discuss any faith. This is what has made our country so great. Most of us came here from somewhere else and we share the best of all our faiths and cultures and leave the bad parts behind.
5. Allowing school personnel to refer students to abortion providers.	O*	If school personnel cannot give a child advil without parental permission, they certainly cannot refer students for a chemical/surgical procedure.
6. Requiring signed permission (opt-in) from a parent before a student may participate in sex education classes or presentations on gender identity theory.	S
7. Increasing transparency by requiring videos or documents shown to students [which are not part of pre-approved curriculum] be preserved for easy review by administrator and parents	S
8. Providing curricula that advocates critical race theory and its emphasis on defining people as oppressors or oppressed based on group identity or privileges.	S*	We should not only discuss this theory but also describe why it is such a seductive and dangerous one. Defining people based on their group characteristics is antithetical to the principles of our country. I would rather provide this curriculum and discuss its pros and cons openly, just like we did for Communism in the 1980s, instead of banning it. Otherwise kids will eventually be subject to this philosophy in college and lack any defenses against it.
9. Requiring teachers to use "she" to describe a biological male student who identifies as a female, even if the teacher offered a reasonable alternative.	U*	There are in fact some children with severe genetic abnormalities where this might in fact be the right thing to do, so leaving this open for that very small percentage of cases.
10. Specifying in school policy that materials containing visual depictions of people engaging in sex acts or explicit written descriptions of people engaging in sex acts is not age-appropriate for the school’s curriculum and libraries.	U*	We have to be careful with this definition because there are some existing works of great literature that contains some sex acts. Or some parts of sex education where written descriptions of sex acts are necessary for the purpose of educating students about the birds and the bees.