NORTHAMPTON — After this year’s city election, the Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School board of trustees could have new members for the first time in more than a decade.
Five candidates, including all three incumbents, have taken out nomination papers to run for three elected seats, according to the city clerk’s office. If at least four are certified to appear on the ballot, there will be a contest in November and the top three vote-getters will win the seats.
Michael Cahillane, John Cotton and Thomas FitzGerald are collecting signatures to run for reelection to two-year terms, while Thomas Pease and Julie Spencer-Robinson have requested papers to challenge the incumbents.
Cotton was first elected in 2001, followed by FitzGerald in 2005 and Cahillane in 2009. Since Cahillane’s election, the only contest for the seats came in 2013, when the three incumbents defeated two challengers.
Pease is the commander of Florence VFW Post 8006 and attended Smith Vocational. He graduated in 1965 and said he has “ideas about how to make the vocations more interesting” to prospective students.
Pease, whose family business 1812 Paint & Body has operated on Spring Street for more than 30 years, emphasized the importance of hands-on learning in the post-COVID era, when “there are help wanted posters everywhere.”
Spencer-Robinson is a Ph.D. candidate in educational policy, research and administration at UMass Amherst, and a resident of Florence. She worked as a Northampton public school teacher for 27 years, sent two children through Smith Vocational and is active in the PTO.
“It’s a fabulous school,” said Spencer-Robinson, whose research is focused on school choice programs. “It’s changed the trajectory of two of my children’s lives (and) I’d love to have a role” in the continued success of the students.
By state law, the board’s two ex-officio members are the Northampton mayor and the superintendent of Northampton Public Schools.
“The board has a vital policymaking and budgetary role in helping this historic, 112-year-old institution continue its mission of providing one of the finest vocational and agricultural educations in the Commonwealth,” noted Mayor David Narkewicz.
Narkewicz said Northampton is the only community in Massachusetts with two local school districts: the Northampton Public Schools and the Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School. The School Committee and the Smith Vocational board of trustees are two separate bodies.
In order to appear on the ballot, candidates for the board of trustees must collect signatures from 50 registered voters who live in Northampton.
City Hall is closed to the public until July 6 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but candidates can make an appointment to pick up nomination papers by visiting the city clerk’s website.
Candidates for all city offices have until July 30 at 5 p.m. to submit their nomination papers to the Board of Registrars. The general election is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 2.
Brian Steele can be reached at bsteele@gazettenet.com.