Local Spotlight: Santino Perrone

Santino Perrone may have lost his first bid for elected office, but he will not be goinggently into that good night.

Perrone, 19, was more or less destined to become involved in Old Orchard Beachpolitics. His grandfather, Jerome Plante, was a state legislator and served morethan 15 years as the town’s manager. Plante also served on the Old Orchard Beachschool board.

Santino graduated from Old Orchard Beach High School in 2022, and although he is notyet old enough to buy alcohol, he decided to run for a seat on the town’s schoolboard in November.

“I thought – and still think – that the board could benefit from a more youthfulperspective,” he said.

Perrone served as his class president all four years of his high school career. Today, heworks for his family’s landscaping business and is heavily involved in writing fictionand producing independent films.

Though he lost his election in November, Santino says he will continue keeping a closeeye on local politics. He continues to regularly attend both school board and towncouncil meetings.

Typically, teenagers aren’t very involved in local politics. What made you decide toget involved?

“I’m trying to follow in my grandfather’s footsteps a little bit. He was very involvedwith the community in a lot of ways. I remember an election about 10 yearsago when my grandfather ran for school board and he lost that election.

“I remember having a conversation with him that evening, and he had all these cool stories about hisservice. He was one of the youngest people to ever be elected to the Legislature.

“I was fascinated by the process and all that it involves.”

When you say the town needs a youthful perspective, what specifically do youmean?

“Currently the age range on the school board runs from the late 50s to the mid-70s. Ithink they are all good people and doing a good job. But because I recently graduated, Ilike I could offer perspective from a student’s point of view.

“When we’re talking about infrastructure and needed repairs or renovations, I think itwould be helpful to have a fresh perspective from someone who was recently in thosebuildings.

“I was hoping to close the age gap and have the board more connected to the schoolboard.”

By staying active in local politics, what are you hoping to achieve?

“I think there is always room for improvement and new ideas. A lot of people don’t getinvolved or attend meetings.

“I want more people to know who I am, and that I am serious about helping this community. There area lot of issues we are all facing, and I want to be part of thosebroader conversations.”

What do you think are some of the important issues facing Old Orchard Beach?

“Parking is also a big issue for us, especially for year-round residents, and we do need totackle the ‘half-way’ intersection.”

“The schools, especially Jameson and the [Loranger] middle school, really need updatesand renovations.

“I spoke a few weeks ago to the school board because I think our schools should havebeen locked down like the schools in Biddeford and Saco when that shootinghappened in downtown Saco.”

In addition to local politics, what else do you enjoy?

“I like to be involved in volunteer activities.I also enjoy filming and writing movies.You can find Perrone Productions on YouTube. I’ve filmed a lot of originalwork and also some remakes, including Stephen King’s movie, It.

“I havealso self-published three books. They’re fantasy books about a young queenwhofaces many challenges to protect her kingdom. I have a fourth book in the works.It’s fun, and it keeps me thinking.”

To learn more about Perrone’s books, go to his author page on Amazon.