Rubinas files for Chatham Board of Education race

Posted Monday, February 25, 2008

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Pittsboro, NC - Chatham County parent Pete Rubinas filed today as a candidate for the District 2 seat on the Chatham County Board of Education.

“My interest in serving on the Board of Education began over two years ago when I participated in the first Citizens College organized by Chatham Citizens for Effective Communities,” said Rubinas. “I was struck by the breadth of the challenges facing our school system, including the significant challenges associated with the County's rapidly growing and changing population.”

Since that time, Rubinas has attended many Board of Education meetings and further familiarized himself with the challenges facing the Board. He believes he has the skills necessary to help the Board continue to make progress toward achieving its stated goal of “Building the Future...One Child at a Time.”

Rubinas spent over 9 years with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, first in Chicago and then as a Senior Manager in the firm's Raleigh office. During his time at PwC, Rubinas evaluated financial and operational controls for some of the country's largest companies. He resigned from PwC in September 2006 to spend more time with his sons and to allow he and his wife to pursue their adoption of twin girls from Tanzania. Rubinas believes that the skills he developed during his time at PwC will be very useful on the Board and a good complement to the skills of the sitting members.

“I believe that we already have many reasons to be proud of our school system. We have incredibly dedicated and talented teachers, involved parents, and administrators that really care about the children in our schools,” said Rubinas. “That said, I believe we can do a much better job of meeting the individual needs of each of the children in our school system by limiting class sizes, providing adequate facilities, taking better care of our teachers, and going out of our way to encourage parent and citizen involvement in the schools. We have the collective ability to transform our schools into truly extraordinary places for our children to thrive and grow into the unique and responsible world citizens they are capable of being.”

“While building new schools continues to be an important part of achieving this vision, it is also only one of many challenges the Board of Education needs to focus on if we are to succeed,” continued Rubinas. “We must meet challenges such as racial and economic achievement gaps and unacceptable dropout rates with creativity and hard work to ensure that every child's potential is being realized. I look forward to working hard with students, parents, teachers, and administrators on these challenges and others sure to arise over the next four years.”

Rubinas, 32, and his wife Tara will have children in the Chatham County school system for the next 15 years. Their six year old son Charlie is in the first grade at Perry Harrison School and four year old Patrick is in the pre-K program there. Twin daughters Senorina and Severina, 3, will be one year behind Patrick at Perry Harrison. Rubinas holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management Information Systems and Sociology from the University of Notre Dame.