Marie St. Fleur came to the U.S. at the age of seven, when her parents
fled their native country after her father spoke out against the Dictator,
Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier. The family first traveled to New Jersey
before eventually settling in Dorchester, Massachusetts.

A graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, St. Fleur,
earned a Law Degree from Boston College Law School in 1987. After
graduating from law school, she served as a Law Clerk in the Massachusetts
Superior Court and later as an Assistant District Attorney in Middlesex
County. In 1991, she became an Assistant Attorney General in the Trial
Division of the Office of the Attorney General.

Representative St. Fleur was elected to the Massachusetts House of
Representatives to represent the 5th Suffolk District on July 6th 1999.
Gaining 77 percent of the vote in a hotly contested election,
Representative St. Fleur became the first Haitian American to hold an
elected seat in the state of Massachusetts.Representative St. Fleur is a
member of the Democratic State Committee and a member of the Board of
Directors of Ward 13 Democratic Committee. She also serves on the advisory
boards of Project Hope, the African American Federation, Action for Boston
Community Development, Inc. and the YWCA of Boston.

She is the recipient of the Massachusetts School of Law Thurgood Marshall
Leadership Award, and was one of five lawyers featured in a Lawyers Weekly
article entitled Up & Coming Lawyers. She has become a forceful voice on
issues linked to education, economic development and political
empowerment. She has been featured on numerous television programs as well
as the International Institutes Dreams of Freedom exhibit.

February 3, 2003, Speaker of the House Thomas Finneran named Marie St.
Fleur to chair the legislatures committee on Education, Arts, and
Humanities. St. Fleur, first elected in 1999, will take the helm at the
Education Committee immediately.

"I am really honored," St. Fleur told the Reporter. "The Speaker has put
me in a crucial position. Education is on the minds of constituents across
the state, especially in these tough fiscal times. We have to preserve
some of the hard-fought gains we've made in the classrooms." The Education
Committee, however, brings her profile to a whole new level. Through the
position, St. Fleur will be a key arbiter of policy governing education
legislation and funding. The new posting means a new office, more staff,
and an increased salary for the third-term state representative. It will
also, most certainly, mean more pressure, particularly with the state's
gloomy financial prospects.

"I am excited about this opportunity and also anxious, to be honest," St.
Fleur admitted. "We're in the midst of one of the worst economic crisis
we've ever faced. That's a reality. I hope to bring some insight and make
cuts judiciously."

Like St. Fleur, Finneran remains a staunch advocate of the MCAS
examination, the test that screens high school students across the state.
St. Fleur also shares Finneran's moderate position on bilingual education,
which she has pushed to reform, but not eliminate altogether.

The two topics, which remain controversial, will likely take the
back-burner to the state's deepening financial crisis in the Legislature's
2003 calendar. A more immediate concern is how cities and towns will
manage to improve or at least stabilize education gains in the face of
what could prove to be massive cuts to local public education budgets.

A wife and the proud mother of three children, Representative St. Fleur
loves to sing and spend time with her family.

Her Ward Fellow is Ruthzee Louijeune.