NORTHAMPTON — With several members of the School Committee not seeking re-election in next Tuesday’s election, a number of newcomers will soon be on the committee. At least one person new to the committee will hold an at-large seat next term, as Molly Burnham, a current at-large member, is not running. Three candidates — incumbent Susan Voss, Kate Bouthilette Cardoso and Roni Gold — are running for the committee’s two at-large seats.
Voss, an engineering professor at Smith College, has been an at-large member of the School Committee for two years and is now seeking re-election.
“I’m running because I think we have an excellent school system, but it could be stronger for a lot of children,” she said, “and I think I could make a difference in making it stronger, making the experience better for everyone.”
Voss, 50, is a Ward 1 resident. Her son attends Northampton High School and her daughter is an NHS graduate. Recently, she suggested the formation of a committee to develop guidelines around screen time for students, and the group met for the first time in August.
A major initiative the district undertook in recent years was implementing an inclusion model, a plan in which students receiving special education services move into the mainstream classroom instead of being separated. Voss is supportive of the model, but said community members have reported that “some children with substantial learning or behavioral challenges are not receiving the entire set of services that they need,” she said. The district needs to identify what resources are needed, she added.
Voss said the district is currently updating the code of conduct. “I think the code is a really good step forward,” she said.
“I’ve had a lot of constituents reach out to me with concerns about bullying,” she said, “certain behaviors around race or religion, or other things like that. I think we have a lot of work to do to make sure everyone feels safe at school and included at school.”
Voss also has questions about the 1:1 Chromebook program. “I’m an engineering professor. I’m all for technology,” she said. But she wants an analysis of whether the program in its current form is effective. For instance, she said she’s heard concerns from parents about screen time and though she acknowledged it’s an equity issue to provide laptops to students who don’t have access to them, she questioned if the district needs as many computers as it has and if students could instead share them, or create a computer loaning program.
The program’s costs need to be better assessed, she said. “Really big corporations like Google and others are telling all schools, ‘You really should have a 1:1 program.’ A lot of school districts are listening,” she said.
But, she continued, “if we put too much of our budget in technology we have less money for other things.” Funding to start the program came from the city’s Capital Improvement Program, but Voss said the School Committee budget will go toward replacing the computers.
For nearly 20 years, Gold has been a public school teacher. “I see a gap in the School Committee coming up,” he said, adding that several committee members who are teachers in other districts are stepping down.
“I want to make sure public school teachers are represented,” he said. “I’m the only public school teacher running for at-large.”
Gold, 42, is a Ward 3 resident and a math instructional leadership specialist at Rebecca M. Johnson Elementary School, a public school in Springfield. He has two daughters at Bridge Street School, where he serves as a parent representative on the school council.
Working with the Bridge Street School Council, the Ward 3 Neighborhood Association and the city, Gold said he led the group to secure a grant for $1 million from the Massachusetts Safe Routes to School Program. The money will go toward making road crossings and sidewalks safer for the walking school bus, a group of students who walk to school together every day.
Gold wants to ensure teachers and schools have the resources they need and says he will support efforts to improve state education funding, like contributing to public comment at state hearings on related legislation.
He would also like to expand the School Committee’s communication and gather feedback from more people, potentially through creating an anonymous form for teachers to report information.
“A teacher could say anonymously, ‘I want to share this great thing,’ or ‘I want to share this challenge,’” he said.
In addition, he said he would also like to see committee members hold regular open coffee sessions to talk with the public. In the case of the recent contract negotiations between the School Committee and Northampton Association of School Employees, he said communication could have been better.
He also wants to get people excited about the public school district and share the good work they are doing, he said. “The more members of our community involved in our public schools, the greater they will be.”
Cardoso, a Ward 5 resident and corporate event planner, became motivated to run for School Committee during the recent contract negotiations between the School Committee and NASE.
“I became aware, as many Northampton residents became aware, of the contract negotiations and how unfairly our school employees were being paid,” she said. “We have to do more to make sure our school employees are taken care of.”
Cardoso, 40, has two daughters at Leeds Elementary School. She grew up in Northampton and started dating her husband, Andre, at Northampton High School. “I love this town. I couldn’t imagine a place where I’d be happier,” she said.
In her job planning corporate events, Cardoso manages large budgets, she said, a skill that’s key to managing the school budget.
If elected, she plans to make the School Committee more “collaborative, proactive, effective, and efficient,” she said.
“I envision doing that through relationship building, better communication and more respectful communication,” she said.
As a resident, Cardoso said she would have appreciated better communication during the contract negotiations. “Definitely more transparency,” she said. “It’s our tax money being used.”
Cardoso also said she wants to make sure schools are getting the resources they need. “I really want to focus on the budget distribution of resources in the schools,” she said.
She suggested the possibility of creating a subcommittee to increase diversity. “We need to attract teachers and school employees that better reflect our student population,” she said.
Greta Jochem can be reached at gjochem@gazettnet.com.