E-mail: Susan.Petroni@Patch.com
Phone: 508-202-5597 Hometown: Resident of Framingham since 2000. Life-long resident of Massachusetts. Born and raised in Everett. Birthday: April 30 Bio: Susan has been a journalist since high school, when she was hired by the Everett-Leader Herald to cover basketball and other high school sports. After graduating from Boston College, Susan was an award-winning sports editor (New England Press Association (NEPA) awards) and an award-winning education reporter (named best education reporter by the Massachusetts Teachers Association) while working for North Shore Weeklies. Next, Susan worked as a political and investigative reporter at the Old Colony Memorial in Plymouth. During her tenure, the paper won New England Newspaper of the Year from the New England Newspaper Association (NENA); and Susan won individual NEPA , Suburban Newspapers of American (SNA) and National Newspapers Association (NNA) awards.  A  former editor of the Billerica Minute-Man, and an investigative reporter for Beacon Communications and the former Community Newspaper Company, Susan left weekly newspapers for the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Eagle-Tribune newspaper in 1994. Overseeing community journalism in more than a half dozen communities as Suburban Editor, Susan later became the Features  and Arts & Entertainment Editor. The daily newspaper was a finalist for a Pulitzer (Malden Mills Fire) and won numerous NENA & NEPA awards during her tenure. After getting married and having a family, Susan became a freelance writer and editor. She has written for national publications like FamilyFun magazine and was editor of  Bay State Parent magazine from 2004-2008. Bay State Parent won more than 100 awards while Susan was at the helm, including being named best regional parenting magazine in North America by SNA in 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008. Susan also won several individual Parenting Publications of America (PPA) awards for her writing and editing. Susan has been a presenter at New England Press Association conventions. She has done seminars on crime reporting, education reporting, sports reporting, religion reporting, covering and attracting younger readers, and investigative reporting. Susan also has been a presenter at the national PPA convention speaking on increasing Web readership, education reporting, and engaging readers. A multi-award winner in several journalism categories, Susan was invited to judge the Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Minnesota, New Jersey, Wisconsin, and Maine Press Awards. Susan lives in Framingham with her husband and daughter. She does a lot of volunteer work and has been a Girl Scout leader since 2006. An avid photographer, she is rarely seen without her camera. Susan and her family are active residents in town.   Beliefs At Patch, we promise always to report the facts as objectively as possible and otherwise adhere to the principles of good journalism. However, we also acknowledge that true impartiality is impossible because human beings have beliefs. So in the spirit of simple honesty, our policy is to encourage our editors to reveal their beliefs to the extent they feel comfortable. This disclosure is not a license for you to inject your beliefs into stories or to dictate coverage according to them. In fact, the intent is the opposite: we hope that the knowledge that your beliefs are on the record will cause you to be ever mindful to write, report and edit in a fair, balanced way. And if you ever see evidence that we failed in this mission, please let us know. Politics I am a registered voter, with no party affliation. It depends on the race, which primary ballot I request. I tend to vote for the person, not the party. I consider myself liberal on most social issues and conservative on fiscal issues. I believe it is important to vote in all elections—federal, state, and most importantly local elections. Religion I was raised Roman Catholic. I was very active in CYO and was named oustanding member my senior year in high school. I was married in the Catholic Church. We are members of the St. Bridget Parish. Today, I consider myself a "cafeteria" Catholic. I don't believe in accepting the entire Catholic Doctrine. I follow some beliefs and ignore others of the Catholic Church. I respect all religions. I am a firm believer of  not discussing "religion or politics" with people in social settings. Local Hot-Button Issues The biggest issue facing Framingham will be the economy and how it affects the fiscal 2012 budget and all town departments. The Framingham Public Schools made major cuts in its current budget, including the elimination of the elementary music program,  cutbacks in the elementary libraries and decreasing the number of school buses. All students who live within 2 miles of a school must either pay for a bus, if a seat is available, or find another way to school. The busing issue and the proposed reorganization of the elementary schools, which was tabled, were hot-button issues last year. I anticipate school funding to be a hot issue this year.  In my opinion, the on-going construction projects, state and local, in town will continue to be a sense of frustration to me and likely many residents. While winter will see a hibernation of sorts, construction projects will be back in spring 2011 and ongoing.