Holmes elected as the secretary-treasurer of MASC

Ellen Holmes

B. Ellen Holmes is now the secretarytreasurer of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees (MASC).

An Ashburnham resident, Holmes was elected to the Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School Committee in 1998 and is serving her third full-term.

She was elected to the position of secretary treasurer at the Association's annual meeting on Nov. 14, 2007. MASC is a nonprofit organization that represents more than 2,100 Massachusetts school committee members in over 330 local and regional school districts in the state.

Holmes has been at the forefront of MASC's drive to advocate for regional school issues, including concerns around transportation, funding and governance.

As secretary in 2004 of MASC's Division IV (Central Division) and vice president (2005-2007), she has also been an advocate on a number of MASC committees, including Student Assessment; Legislative; Special Education; Advocacy; MIAA-Lacrosse; and Regional Schools, for which she has served as chair since 2004.

She has also been a strong proponent for MASC positions on a number of Department of Education working groups, including the Adolescent Literacy Task Force (2006), and the Education Stakeholders Working Group (2007). She has also lobbied the legislature as a member of the statewide Regional Schools Caucus.

Holmes is a frequent participant at MASC events, she has contributed on a number of joint conference panels and programs: superintendent search (2004 and 2005); and autism (2006). She has also helped to coordinate several division/special topic meetings, including a program on Special Education issues (2004) and a program on charter school funding.

Holmes and her husband, Roger, are parents to three young children, two of whom are on the autism spectrum.

In the community, Holmes is active in a number of youth activities including coaching soccer, Little League, and the basketball. She has also been an assistant den leader for the Boy Scouts of America, a member of the steering committee of the Autism Resource Center and a member of the Central Mass. Families Organizing for Change Leadership Series.