Laurie Graham, Chair

Laurie Graham was elected to the School Committee in April 2008. She and her husband, Dan Downey, have lived in Belmont since 1993 with their two sons; one currently attends Belmont High School and the other is in the LABBB program at Bedford High School. Laurie has been active in a number of school-related committees, among them the Wellington After-Care Board, the Chenery School Advisory Council and the Belmont Special Education Advisory Council.  She has also served on the Belmont Youth Commission, the Belmont Human Rights Commission, the Disability Access Commission and is a Precinct 7 Town Meeting Member.

Laurie strongly believes in the need for meaningful collaboration between Town government and the School Department as well as the willingness for all stakeholders to work effectively to establish a quality educational foundation which not only includes all our children but supports their success and prepares them for their future as involved, engaged and productive citizens.

A graduate of Massachusetts College of Art, Laurie has spent the last twenty-years working as a data-base manager coordinating the electronic exchange of information between booksellers and publishers.

Dan Scharfman

Dan Scharfman was elected to the School Committee in 2010, and has lived in Belmont with his wife, Merle Kummer, for nearly 20 years.  Their children, Jacob and Rachel, are recent graduates of Belmont High School.  Both attended the Roger Wellington School and Chenery Middle School.  Dan has served on several town committees and is a Precinct 1 member of Town Meeting.

Dan sees education changing rapidly in the years to come as federal and state mandates, financial pressures, technological opportunities, increasingly complex student needs, and an evolving workforce collide.  He wants to insure that Belmont provides top-quality education to its existing students, while preparing our system to serve the students of tomorrow.  He believes that preparing our children for success in college and career includes extracurricular and social-emotional learning in addition to core academic strength.

Dan works as an information systems consultant to nonprofits, specializing in education, human services, mental health, foundations, environmental, and cultural organizations.  He has served on and chaired several nonprofit boards in the Boston area.  Dan graduated from Brown University in 1979 with a Bachelor’s degree in Classics and a Master’s degree in Latin.

Laurie Slap

Laurie Slap was elected to the School Committee in 2010.  She has lived in Belmont for 24 years.  Laurie and her husband, Lee, have three children in the Belmont Public Schools: two at Belmont High School; and one at Chenery Middle School.

Laurie is committed to working diligently to preserve the excellence of the Belmont Public Schools: the robust academic opportunities for all learners, the rich music and arts program, and the vibrant extracurricular programs.  In the face of limited resources, Laurie strives to find creative ways to reduce costs, maintain programs and deliver quality education.

Laurie holds a BA with a major in Economics/Mathematics from Colby College, and an MS in Management from the MIT Sloan School with a concentration in Finance/Corporate Strategy. She has over 10 years professional work experience in economic consulting and strategic planning. 

Pascha Griffiths

Kevin M. Cunningham

Kevin Cunningham was elected to the School Committee in April 2011. He has lived in the Waverley area of Belmont since 1995 with his wife, Lisa Gibalerio. They have three children now in the Belmont schools, two at Chenery and one at Butler.

Kevin has a Bachelor's degree in Humanities (Psychology and Literature) from MIT, and a Master's degree in Education from Harvard. He taught hundreds of people in technology topics (he created MIT's course on web publishing), has been a technical writer and documentation manager, and is currently an independent consultant, bringing technological solutions to business workflow issues for educational and other clients. He also has a certificate in screenwriting from Emerson College, and has directed high school and college students in many theater productions, especially Shakespeare.

Kevin has been a Belmont Town Meeting member since 2007, most recently serving on the TM Ad Hoc Committee for Communications. Kevin sought a seat on the School Committee to help the group undertake long-term financial planning and respectful engagement with the Belmont community.

Anne Lougee