VOORHEESVILLE — Making her first bid for a seat on the school board, sees this period as an opportunity to affect change.

She and Kristine Gravino are campaigning together for the two seats on the board.

The students are important, she said, but they aren’t the whole focus.

Monaghan was impressed with the way the budget was handled this year, calling it creative.  She cited the change in the way the district will deliver Academic Intervention Services to save money as an example of creative budgeting.

“Regardless of where we live, we have to do more with less,” she said.

The key to developing next year’s budget is starting immediately, she said, and getting input from the community.  There is nothing obvious to cut, she said, so the district needs to look at different models and alternatives, she said.

“This is a new beginning,” she said of the change in district administrators, adding, “My trust is in these players.”

The district needs to maintain quality teachers, she said, which means it needs to pay competitively.  “We need to have updated technology in school,” she said also of the direction in which Voorheesville should move.  It is also important to foster health and wellbeing for the students, said Monaghan, who is a registered nurse.

From a purely academic standpoint, she is in favor of full-day kindergarten.  Both of her children went to half-day programs and then daycare, she said, adding that the reality of modern life is that households have two working parents.  A full-day program would offer an easier transition into the first grade, she said, and would prepare students to meet the increasing demands of education.

The district’s communication with the community could be improved, Monaghan said.  It should encourage participation from residents through avenues like volunteer opportunities, among other things, she said.

Monaghan works as a nurse practitioner at Seton Health in Troy and has two children in Voorheesville’s elementary school.