Letter: Resident Expresses Support for Biagioni-Smith

For any Tewksbury residents unfamiliar with Kayla Biagioni-Smith, candidate for Tewksbury School Committee, there are a myriad of reasons to support her candidacy. Kayla is dedicated, focused, passionate about education, and has a vision for the future of our schools. 

I met Kayla about 5 years ago when our children attended preschool together at the Heath Brook School. We bonded over our passion for health and fitness and the challenges that come with finding time to prioritize this in our busy, working-parent lives. Over the years I spent getting to know her, it became obvious how much she valued our community, especially the schools. 

If you have elementary school children, you have probably seen her name as PAC leader for Heath Brook, Trahan and Ryan Schools as well as a school volunteer for just about every event and activity. For followers of any “Friends of PAC” Facebook pages, you’ve surely seen her live videos at school events. Not only is she committed to being directly involved in these events but she is also aware of the importance of keeping parents connected with their kid’s schools even if they can’t be present at the event. 

With any school events in the last several years, Kayla has been an active presence. You would have seen her there working hard to connect families, students, and faculty.  If you didn’t see her, it’s probably because she was the one in the school mascot costume, dancing around and making sure the kids were having fun. Kayla has donned numerous costumes to bring smiles to the student’s faces, just one example of her commitment to going the extra mile. 

Check out Biagioni-Smith’s Carnation Q&A here. Residents can also watch or attend in person the upcoming Tewksbury Town Crier Candidate Forum Series.

For those of you who have not had the privilege of seeing Kayla in action within the schools, these are just a few examples of her extraordinary efforts. In addition to her significant role in Tewksbury schools, Kayla is also involved in other community programs and philanthropy efforts. When I moved to Tewksbury 9 years ago, I started a free workout group for community moms. When I met Kayla, our similar interests aligned and she not only joined me in my workouts, but immediately stepped up to provide support in this vision I had for a healthier community. Even in her busy life, she was someone who always asked what she could do to help, and I could always rely on her to host a workout whenever I was unable to because she valued the positive impact these had on community moms as much as I did. 

At the beginning of the shutdown in March 2020, while everyone’s heads were still spinning not knowing what to do, Kayla was busy setting up free workouts on Zoom for moms as well as hosting dance parties for Tewksbury school students to help them stay connected with each other, all before most of us even knew what Zoom was. 

This is the kind of efficiency that she has. 

Kayla is driven in her professional as well as her personal life. Anyone who has seen her lunchbox notes and drawings for her girls knows how much she values being a mom. As a military wife, she has served our country and continuously looks for ways to support military families and veterans. Kayla balances life with a focus on her career and her family. She is currently completing her BBA, which emphasizes her desire to be a continuous learner as well as her focus on working to be the best version of herself. For many of us, our jobs are focused solely on business specific tasks but Kayla’s career with John Hancock has led her to engage in countless community initiatives that enable her team to give back.

With the craziness of the last few years, I have had several opportunities to talk to Kayla about many school related issues and I can honestly say she is someone who intently listens and gives consideration to the opinions of others, without judgement. Her level-headedness and ability to talk through issues with reason is a strength that is needed on our town’s School Committee. She is passionate, humble and someone who is unafraid of facing problems to solve them.  

I will be voting for Kayla on April 2nd, as I wholeheartedly support her candidacy, and ask you to do the same. She is someone I greatly respect, and I could not think of a better person to represent Tewksbury Schools, families, and students. 

Jennifer Dillon