By Adam Cvecka, Class of ’27 — Staff Writer

Allan Motenko is back in Sharon. Most Sharonites remember Motenko’s SHS graduating class of ‘02 for their senior prank. The cohort made the old high school reek by putting dead fish in the ceiling tiles. Motenko, who was not part of that prank, hopes that as an adult he will leave a different kind of mark on the town that he loves: by contributing to the School Committee. 

Motenko is among the three newest members of the Sharon School Committee (the other two being Jeremy Kay and Daniel Newman). Even though he has lived in Sharon for 21+ years, it wasn’t easy for the authentic Allan Motenko to pick up votes at the beginning of his campaign. After his SHS graduation 22 years ago, Motenko left town to study political science at Suffolk University in Boston. He stayed in Boston for 18 years until he finally returned home in 2022 to be closer to his friends while working from home. Motenko realized he had been gone from Sharon long enough that he didn’t know as many residents. 

In an interview with The Sharon Talon, he described his first couple of days back in town:  “I walked down the street and there were two generations of people who I’ve never seen in my life.” He found it odd but understandable. Today, Motenko confidently claims that the town’s best new addition is Angel’s Cafe. “It’s basically my living room.” 

Motenko’s fondest memory from his high school days was being the soccer team manager. He is the only person in the SHS athletics department to injure themselves severely while sitting on the bench. On October 7, 1998, a player on the field got injured. Motenko, a freshman at the time, ran to get ice behind the bench and tripped! He landed awkwardly on the bench and broke his forearm. After that day, and throughout his high school career, Motenko fondly remembers being treated well by the upperclassmen. 

Since entering his freshman year, Motenko tuned into every School Committee meeting from start to finish. During his senior year of high school, Motenko served on the committee as high school representative. 

This year he decided to run for a position on the Committee, but not as a student. There were three open seats, and he knew that he could contribute something the other candidates couldn’t. So he went for it. 

May 21 was a hot election day. Every single candidate was in front of the high school suffering in heat from 6 a.m., trying to secure their final voters, not having any clue how it would go. Just over 4,000 Sharon residents had turned out to vote in this important election. Fifteen hours later, it was official. By a slim margin of 103 votes, Motenko had secured a seat on the Sharon School Committee.  

Motenko is very passionate about two hot topic issues: the calendar and the DEI (Diversity Equity, Inclusion) position. “I am in favor of the mission [for] the calendar to represent the diversity of the school.” He believes the federal holiday-only calendar will only alienate certain religious groups, and didn’t like the way last year’s committee approached the issue. Motenko has spent a whole professional career in DEI and, believes strongly in it,  “I think it’s essential, I think the topic [of diversity] is essential, I will always support it in the district,” he also said, “It’s about upholding people’s civil rights.” 

Motenko will be a great advocate for kids in the special education programs. He himself went through the special needs program from the Early Childhood Center all the way through SHS. “I have a solid and unique understanding of how that process works,” he said. He believes the School Committee needs to get a better understanding of the program because the town puts at least 25% of the yearly budget into it. 

Said Motenko: “In some ways, not a lot has changed, parents still have to be the advocate for their child’s IEP needs… A lot [of responsibilities] have been put on parents, the School Committee has the opportunity to be a resource, but also must hold the boundary [for the school district].” Motenko feels the need to deliver this service to the people. 

When speaking about the yearly budget, Motenko refers to this as a never-ending issue for Sharon: when the budget is tight, the town tends to cut funding to reduce expenses or, it has to raise residential taxes. That was the biggest issue facing the school committee 20 years ago when he was a student, and it still is now.   

The more you get to know Motenko, the more you realize why he is so passionate about the School Committee:  “Sharon feels like home … the essence hasn’t changed. Essence is what makes Sharon ‘Sharon.’ To know people on the street. Growing up here, as a high schooler, it felt boring; but home as an adult, I am here for it all.”