Dan Brosgol is finishing up nine years on the School Committee – and running unopposed for a vacancy on the Select Board.
“I don’t like being bored. I don’t like going home and sitting around,” he laughed, adding, “I like to be involved in making positive change.”
Brosgol, who grew up in Belmont, moved to Bedford in 2007. He got to know the community and its people “through doing things. In my life, you do the next thing – you keep on doing things. The more people you know the more ideas are present to you. You meet more people, you have more opportunities.”
He and his wife Elizabeth have five children, and “the more kids you have, the more people you meet.”
He was a member of the Lane School Council in 2014, and ran for Bedford School Committee the following year. “I’m still surprised that I won,” he said.
“When I got on the School Committee, it took two or three years to begin to understand,” Brosgol related.
So, as a member of the Select Board, “I am going to come in and know nothing. I don’t understand what I need to do to get ready, but I have got good instincts and am a quick learner.”
How did service on the School Committee prepare him for the next step?
“The School Committee works really hard, and there’s a great reward in doing hard work,” Brosgol said.
He pointed out that during his nine years, the committee oversaw four building projects and hired two superintendents.
He said he took great pride in “our work during Covid. We are now seeing what that time did to everybody. I think we did it the right way.”
Brosgol was committee chair in 2020-21, coinciding with the arrival of Superintendent Philip Conrad. Children returned in person to Bedford schools well before many neighboring districts.
“The School Committee controls the largest part of the town budget, so I’m sensitive to balancing needs,” Brosgol said.
He has also served as a member of the Capital Expenditure Committee.
There are “the relationships you build with parents of school-age children who grow over time. The School Committee is a great way to understand what’s happening in town all the time.
“We always engaged with the public. Ongoing conversation is a critical part of the process,” he said, adding that he has never hesitated “staking out a position that others don’t support.”
He said he tries to be a bridge-builder. “I am a progressive centrist who has diverse views and ideas,” he said.
Brosgol mentioned some of his major issues. A new central fire station takes precedence over a substation, he said.
He also pointed to a challenge that hasn’t been prioritized: “Our benefits lag behind” those of employees in neighboring towns, and “now we know salaries do also. Across the board, the town is hemorrhaging staff. We have to do better.”
“Change takes a long time,” Brosgol observed. “My platform is about how can I help.”
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