NORTHAMPTON — Redistricting within the Northampton Public Schools has led to a three-way race for the two at-large seats on the Northampton School Committee.
Incumbent Gwen Agna and Aline Davis are again running to maintain their positions as at-large members, and are joined in the race this fall by Meg Robbins, the current Ward 1 representative who is no longer eligible to represent her ward thanks to redistricting.
“(Ward 2 school committee member) Holly Ghazey got moved into my ward from Ward 2, Gwen and I both got moved from Ward 1 into Ward 4, so there was nowhere else to go,” Robbins said.
The at-large race is one of two contests for the School Committee at next Tuesday’s municipal elections. In Ward 4, incumbent Michael Stein is being challenged for the seat by Endamian Stewart.
A longtime teacher of history and social studies in several districts across western Massachusetts, Robbins has familiarity with the education of students, and four of her children along with four of her grandchildren have gone through the Northampton public school system.
A current member of the school’s Curriculum and Rules and Policy Committees, Robbins said she is looking forward to continuing to serve on those subcommittees if reelected.
“(The Curriculum Committee) is a wonderful place to meet with administrators and teachers who come to this small group to share what is happening in their schools and what questions and concerns they have,” she said. “Rules and Policy is probably one of the most important things we do, because that’s how we run our schools. We decide, legally, what can we do and then how does that direct the parameters of how we do it?”
Robbins also said she was focused on ways the school district could help combat climate change, and expressed excitement about working with the superintendent and the new director of the Climate Action and Project Administration department, Carole Collins.
“There are some changes that we need to make in the short term and the long term, all of which will require community input and money,” she said. “I’m really, really invested in preparing kids for being able to handle what looks like irreversible change.”
Like Robbins, Agna also brings a wealth of educational experience to the school committee. The committee’s current vice chair, Agna is the former principal of Jackson Street Elementary School and has worked within the district for more than 30 years. She is also a published children’s book author with the book “True You,” in support of diverse gender identity expression.
Agna said she would focus on supporting the school budget if reelected to an at-large position. Prior to the passing of last year’s $37 million budget, the school district faced a $2.3 million deficit and job cuts to various positions across schools. The use of emergency funds by the city, combined with pandemic relief funding, managed to narrow the deficit gap to $649,000 and stave off job cuts.
“I think we have a big issue with how we’re going to continue to be able to fund,” Agna said. “Right now we’re already looking at a deficit, or what they call a fiscal cliff. So I think we need to come together with the City Council and the mayor and the taxpayers and figure out how we’re going to do this.”
Agna agrees that addressing climate change is important for the committee.
“The climate crisis is really the big one, besides the budgeting, we have to figure out,” she said. “We found that out during COVID when we had to shut down and look at air quality, and it was pretty shocking for all of us to find that the air quality is not great in our schools.”
Davis continues to work as an educator while on the committee, teaching second grade in the Longmeadow school district. She also has a master’s in labor studies from Rutgers University in New Jersey, with a background in union organizing before switching to education. She’s hoping to secure a second term as an at-large committee member in this election.
As with Agna, Davis cited the budget as one of her main priorities, saying the district needed to get creative in balancing the needs of teachers versus that of city’s overall financial needs.
“I really get all the work that these teachers have done during the pandemic,” Davis said. “I want to help in any way I can to have students be the focus at all times on what we do.”
Davis also said applying anti-bias and anti-racist goals for administration and staff was also an important priority for her, although she acknowledged that such implementation was “easier said than done.” She also wants to work with and support the school’s new superintendent, Portia Bonner.
If reelected, Davis said she would make it one of her goals to do more outreach to the community, to ensure they can go to the committee to have their concerns heard.
“I personally want to do a better job, if I’m given the opportunity to serve again, to make sure the community knows that we are here,” Davis said. “There are some people that know that they can write an email, and there are some people who have things to say or concerns and don’t know how to reach out.”
Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.
