Cathy Allen, 55, of Hollywood will be seeking her fourth at-large seat on the St. Mary’s County Board of Education in the April 3rd primary. She is being challenged by Jim Davis and David Kelsey. The top two vote getters will face each other in the November general election. She has a B.S. in nursing from University of Virginia and is a former pediatric and adult critical care nurse. She taught critical care management to doctors, nurses, paramedics, respiratory therapists and tested paramedics for their national registry exam. She wrote a book pregnancy and newborns and an article for a critical care paper. Allen is past president of the Maryland Association of Boards of Education and past president of Leonardtown Rotary Club. Her family moved to St. Mary’s County in 1996 and her two children were educated in county public schools. She is currently a part-time consultant for a company that provides relocation services. The following interview by reporter Dick Myers was conducted at the Bay Net office and was edited due to space considerations.

The Bay Net (TBN): How did you get interested in the education system?

Cathy Allen: Well, part of the nursing work that I did always involved education and I felt when I had my children I knew that being in a place where there was a good educational system was paramount to wherever we lived. I didn’t come into this with an agenda. I wasn’t happy with things, I wasn’t unhappy with things. I just thought that with my love of education and through medicine and my children being involved in some way in the school system would allow me to have a better idea of how things were going and advocate for positive change if it was needed and give back to the community also was of significant importance to me.

TBN: Coming to the end of your third term, has the job changed over time?

Allen: It has changed in some way. With every superintendent, they have a different way of doing business and so while the skills it takes to be a good board member have not changed, it’s finding ways to advocate in a positive manner to make sure that the desires of the board go forward, has changed a bit.

TBN: What would you say to the community about the job that Dr. Martirano (the superintendent) had done?

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