NORTHAMPTON — This year, the city watched the sometimes contentious contract negotiations between the School Committee and the Northampton Association of School Employees (NASE). Now, residents are focusing on the committee for a different reason — there are two contested races in the Nov. 5 elections. In Ward 3, Emily Serafy-Cox is challenging incumbent Howard Moore. At-large races will be profiled later in the week.
Moore, 61, is currently the Ward 3 representative and has been on the School Committee for nine years. “I’m enthusiastic about public education,” he said.
With several members departing, Moore said his tenure on the School Committee will be an asset. He has been through budget shortfalls, several superintendents and school employee layoffs.
A Northampton resident since 1992, Moore has four children who attended the public schools, including his youngest son who is currently at Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School. For the past 20 years, Moore has worked as a lawyer. He is currently a private attorney and is appointed to work on cases in the Hadley Juvenile Court “representing either parents or children after the state has removed the children from their home, as well as children who are truant or have run away,” he wrote in a statement.
He also regularly volunteers with the Bridge Street School walking school bus, a group of students who walk to school together every day.
In addition to highlighting his experience, Moore also spoke about further empowering school councils at individual schools and working to increase education funding from the state.
He also identified racial disparities in the school district as an issue he would tackle. “We know we have them,” Moore said. He noted that teachers are disproportionately white compared to the district’s student body, and suggested the School Committee itself could use more diversity.
Such disparity “means we need someone to look and figure out where it’s happening, why it’s happening and what we can do,” he said.
This past spring, the School Committee considered hiring a part-time director of equity, diversity and analytics, but the funding was later cut from the budget after teachers and school employees pressed the committee to eliminate new positions so as to have more funding for wage increases.
Moore wants to create a similar position in the future if the budget allows.
Serafy-Cox is challenging Moore and brings a background in community organizing.
“I’m really excited about bringing a fresh vision to the Northampton schools,” she said.
Serafy-Cox, 37, is a parent of a Bridge Street School third grader and works at the Peace Development Fund in Amherst, a foundation that awards grants for social justice-related causes. She also volunteers at the Pioneer Valley Workers Center and is the treasurer of the Ward 3 Neighborhood Association. Before moving to Northampton a few years ago with her wife, Serafy-Cox lived in San Diego and Minneapolis, working as a community organizer in both cities. “I’ve been working in and around decision-making bodies for 15 years,” she said.
Among her main priorities are supporting increased education funding from the state by collaborating with state legislators and “organizingour constituents to gather stories about the impacts of unfair state funding on the schools in order to be able to share those with the state legislators.”
She would also push for an “innovative curriculum,” which could include a dual-language program — for instance, teaching in both English and Spanish.
Another focus, she said, is “making sure we pay our educators and staff fairly.” While she was happy with the outcome of contract negotiations with school staff earlier this year, she said, “I know we still have further to go with that.”
Equity and inclusion are also key for schools, she said. There are equity impacts to every decision the School Committee makes, from changes in staffing levels to providing free breakfast, Serafy-Cox said. “Each decision will have a ramification on equity issues. So, when making those decisions, I’m going to always have an eye toward equity,” she said.
Serafy-Cox is endorsed by the Western Mass Area Labor Federation and NASE.
Greta Jochem can be reached at gjochem@gazettenet.com.