Currently serving his eighth year as a school committee member on the Ludlow School Committee, Jacob (Jake) Oliveira has emerged as a young progressive leader of vision and energy who is committed to advocating for students and their families, educators and local school committee members.
Having previously served as the Association’s President in 2016, Mr. Oliveira first joined the MASC Board of Directors in 2011 as Chair of Division V (Connecticut Valley), and previously served as the Division’s Secretary-Treasurer and Vice President. He is Chair of MASC’s Resolutions Committee, as well as the Board of Directors Policy Subcommittee. He has participated at numerous state and national education workshops and conferences and organized the first of several MASC division meetings that focused on the new educator and administrator evaluation regulations.
At the national level, Mr. Oliveira was elected in 2014 to the National School Boards Association Board of Directors. He is only the 7th member, and the first in nearly 20 years to be elected from Massachusetts. At 29, Mr. Oliveira is the youngest member of NSBA Board of Directors by over a decade. He is active on board of directors as a member of Agenda for Action and Board Policy Review committees. During the 2015 Congressional session, Mr. Oliveira has been active advocating for school districts as the House and Senate debate the re-authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
In Ludlow, Mr. Oliveira is an active presence both on the School Committee as well as in many community undertakings. He also serves as Chair of the Policy and Advocacy subcommittee and as the School Committee’s Legislative Liaison; and as Ludlow’s representative to the Ludlow Energy Committee; the Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative Board of Directors. Mr. Oliveira is also very involved in local initiatives. He is currently Chair of the Ludlow Democratic Town Committee; a former elected precinct member; member of the Michael J. Dias Foundation to prevent substance abuse; a member of a local credit union advisory committee and a former 8th grade CCD teacher.
Mr. Oliveira’s involvement in education is not limited to his school committee experience: as the Assistant Executive Officer of the MA State Universities Council of Presidents, his professional work entails representing the State Universities on Beacon Hill, with the Board of Higher Education, the Executive Office of Education and the public. Through his professional responsibilities, Mr. Oliveira believes he has become particularly attuned to the politics and complexities of education in the Commonwealth, especially in the budgetary and legislative processes. While in college, he served two years as the student member of the Board of Higher Education representing the nearly 50,000 students enrolled in the State University system, and three years as a member of the Framingham State University’s Board of Trustees.