Rooted in Chelsea. Focused on Students.
Chelsea schools are strong. I'm running to help keep them that way — and to keep asking, honestly, where we can do better for our students.
Chelsea Is Home
Chelsea isn't simply where I live. It's where my family has built its life across generations — and the place I chose to come back to when it was time to raise a family of my own.
Chelsea invested in me. Now I want to invest my time and experience back into Chelsea.
Jake with his wife Kristi, daughter Addie, and the family dog, Trig.
Meet Jake
I was born and raised in Chelsea and graduated from Chelsea High School in 2012. After college and the start of my career, my wife Kristi and I came back — because this is where we wanted to raise our own family. We're raising Addie here, along with our dog Trig, and she may one day walk into the same schools I did.
I earned a B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from The Citadel, graduating cum laude. The Citadel is where I learned what accountability and service actually require — not as slogans, but as daily standards you hold yourself to whether or not anyone is watching.
Today I'm a consultant at Tria Federal, leading projects and improvement initiatives that support programs affecting thousands of Veterans. The core of my job is taking a complicated problem, gathering the information that's actually available, developing a recommendation, and working with groups that don't always agree toward a solution.
This would be my first elected position, and I won't pretend I already know everything about school governance. Anyone who claims that on day one isn't being straight with you. What I bring is real experience leading people and being accountable for results.
Why I'm Running
I am not running because I think Chelsea schools are failing. They aren't. This district has real strengths worth protecting, and people who work hard every day to deliver them.
I'm running because strong organizations don't stop asking how they can get better. Preserve what works, identify where we can improve, and make thoughtful decisions that keep Chelsea strong for the long term.
Campaign Priorities
Student success is the board's highest responsibility. That means looking honestly at how our students are actually performing — in literacy, in math, in readiness for what comes next — and using data to find the gaps that district averages hide.
It also means preparing students for more than one path: college, skilled trades, career and technical education, and the practical skills of adulthood.
Special education. The question isn't only whether programs exist — it's whether students actually receive consistent support as they move from elementary to middle to high school. That means listening to parents navigating the system, looking for gaps, and measuring whether interventions are helping.
Mental health. Real resources for students who need them, alongside teaching resilience and healthy coping skills — supporting struggling students without treating every ordinary difficulty of growing up as something a child can't navigate.
Excellent teachers and staff are fundamental to everything else on this list. If we want strong outcomes, we have to be a district where strong educators want to work and want to stay — which means giving them the tools to succeed and actually listening to what they're seeing in classrooms.
Parents are critical partners in their children's education, and their concerns deserve serious consideration rather than a reflexive defense of the institution. A board member should ask questions and look into a concern rather than explain it away.
Listening to someone isn't the same as automatically agreeing with them. In the end, decisions have to rest on facts and what's best for students.
Fiscal responsibility isn't simply cutting spending. It's putting taxpayer dollars where they produce real value for students — and being able to explain why.
That means long-term planning, understanding the return on major investments, maintaining facilities responsibly, and following up to see whether programs delivered what was promised. It avoids both reckless spending and shortsighted cuts.
Trust is earned by how a board conducts itself: showing up prepared, asking difficult questions, explaining decisions in plain language, and admitting honestly when something isn't working.
Nonpartisan Leadership
Chelsea's students aren't political talking points.
My role wouldn't be to bring a political agenda into our schools. The question I'll ask on every issue isn't whether an idea is Republican or Democratic. It's simpler: does this help Chelsea students?
How I Will Serve
To students, parents, educators, and residents — including the ones who disagree with me.
Come prepared, and ask the question everyone in the room is already thinking.
Use data, outcomes, financials, and professional expertise to reach decisions.
Don't vote with the majority simply because it's easier or more comfortable.
Disagree with fellow board members without making it personal.
Once the debate has happened and the board votes, respect the decision — even when I voted the other way.
Did it work? Did outcomes improve? Did we do what we said we would?
If the evidence shows a decision was wrong, say so and correct course.
Questions & Answers
No. Chelsea has many strengths worth protecting, and educators who work hard to deliver them. But performing well relative to other districts isn't the same as performing as well as our students deserve, and strong organizations still evaluate themselves honestly.
Listen, gather facts, examine the data, consider who is affected, ask questions — then make the decision I believe best serves students. If I get it wrong and the evidence later shows it, I'll say so and work to correct it.
School board governance should focus on Chelsea students rather than national partisan politics. I'm not running to bring a political agenda into our schools.
Parents are essential partners, and their concerns deserve serious consideration. That doesn't mean a board member will agree with every parent on every issue — but it does mean listening carefully and actually looking into concerns rather than dismissing them.
No — this would be my first. I'd rather say that plainly than oversell a résumé. What I bring is leadership experience, a finance and project management background, and a willingness to do the homework.
Get Involved
Questions, concerns, ideas, or a yard sign — I read everything that comes in.
