NORTHAMPTON — In a last effort to pitch their ideas to voters ahead of Tuesday’s municipal elections, the three candidates competing for two at-large positions on the School Committee fielded a bevy of questions about issues facing the public school system and why they want to serve.
The candidates in the running to represent the entire city as at-large members of the nine-member committee are incumbent Emily Serafy-Cox and challengers Tiffany Jewell and Robbie Saner Sullivan.
Addressing herself to a crowd of more than 50 people at Bombyx Center for Arts and Equity on Tuesday, Jewell kicked off the night with her opening statement.
She introduced herself as an educator of 20 years, a caretaker of two children, and an author of children’s books on social justice. She previously served as a member of the Jackson Street School council, and has worked locally and nationally giving anti-bias and anti-racist training to teachers.
“I’m running for school committee because I love our schools and I know our schools — the buildings, the teachers, the staff, the learners,” she said.
She highlighted her “zero-waste” campaign by using recycled lawn signs, and the $316 in campaign contributions she received were in the form snacks, spray paint and markers, not money.
Part of Jewell’s mission includes supporting community members without SNAP benefits or who are unemployed. “I don’t want to be part of the problem, but I will always be part of the solution,” she said.
Serafy-Cox, the six-year incumbent ready for another term, outlined her experience as a community organizer, the parent of a ninth grader who graduated from the Bridge Street School, and noted her role in being instrumental while public school staff contracts were being negotiated.
“I want to continue doing this,” she said. “I want to continue on the school committee so that I can bring the expertise of my experience and memory. I want to keep my sights set on the long-term vision of our schools.”
Serafy-Cox voiced her aversion to overrides as a solution to “plugging the hole” in municipal finances, saying that such a measure should be used to enhance resources for the public schools and not as a band aid.
“I’ve taken a stance that any future override should include concrete investments in long-term growth for our districts … but we shouldn’t just be plugging the hole with an override,” she said.
During her opening remarks, lifetime Northampton resident Sullivan said that the challenging, divisive times of today are trickling down to the local level.
“Despite history of true progressivism, we now have voices contemptuous of different views,” she said. “There is a willingness to attack and hurt others frequently through social media, rather than engage face-to-face to pursue our common goals.”
Sullivan wants to help make sure that future discussions are robust and grounded in accurate information.
Describing herself as both “hopeful” and yet at the same time a “realist,” she wants to see more funding allocated toward education, but at the same time said a lack of funding has been a decades long struggle.
“The fact is that we’ve needed more funding for the past 40 years, and there is no simple fix, or it would have already happened,” she said. “We all want the same thing. We all want what is best for our students. I am eager to work with others to pull our energy, ideas and wisdom to do all we can in the face of unfathomably difficult times.”
Funding charter students
Given that a few million dollars of the municipal budget support residents wanting to attend charter schools, candidates were asked their feelings on the situation.
Sullivan was the first to answer and said that, “Charter schools have been around for 30 years. They’re here to stay , and I’m not going to vilify them. Parents have come to expect a choice.”
But at the same time she wants to increase retention and attendance in Northampton’s district by both making improvements while touting the city’s “incredible” schools.
“Unfortunately we live in a time when we actually need to market our public schools,” she said.
For Serafy-Cox, more access to programs such as a dual-immersion English and Spanish programs, among other educational resources, are important to “stabilize the bleeding” of students leaving the district for charter schools.
She pinpoints the cause of the bleeding on the state’s funding formula.
“Let’s take the power away from the funding formula,” she said, and again reiterated her belief that any override voted in by the community should directly impact the growth of Northampton’s district.
Jewell said it is not possible to exactly pinpoint why students are leaving Northampton’s system since exit interviews are not conducted with families. But in her experience talking to people around the city, caregivers often send their children to charter schools because their children are being bullied.
“We really need to focus and get better at supporting kids who have been bullied, and create very clear protocols,” she said.
She said to keep a competitive edge with charter schools, more funding is a necessity, and admitted that expanding programming will require a large upfront investment. She also believes the schools need to affectively market themselves.
District strengths, weaknesses
Candidates were asked their views on the current strengths and weaknesses of the Northampton school district.
Serafy-Cox recalled walking into Bridge Street School for the first time with her daughter, which she said brought her to tears after walking past an ongoing dance class that was put on by a local community member.
For her, that memory encapsulates everything that is good, and everything that is currently eroding in the city’s public education.
“The strength is that I know these things exist in our community. They have existed in our schools,” she said.
But the current weakness of the district “is the potential erosion of that,” she added.
Sullivan ran out of time to express what she thought the strengths of the district were after taking her minute speaking on current deficiencies.
For Sullivan, these weaknesses include a failure to provide students on individualized educational plans (IEP) with the appropriate resources and continuous declines in literacy rates.
“But I’m confident that, since it’s out in the open , that things will continue to happen to improve the situation so the students get everything that they need,” she said.
Jewell identified the cause of a lack of funding and declining literacy rates as a “trickle down” from the pandemic. She said there has yet to be a full return to normal after the schools were shut down.
Meanwhile, she called the schools “incredible” and cited the staff, from cafeteria workers to crossing guards, “who are doing everything they can do with what they have, which in some cases is not much.”
Should mayor chair?
Candidates also gave their stances on whether the mayor should serve as chair of the School Committee.
Jewell is open to the idea of new leadership in the school committee’s chambers, noting that the shift in power would take a responsibility off the mayor’s plate.
“The mayor has a lot of work to do, and being the chair of the school committee is a lot on top of that,” said Jewell. “I would love to see power more distributed right now.”
Sullivan said the mayor chairs the committee because they are the most knowledgeable about the city budget. She said the question should come up when the city’s charter is under review in 2029. “I think that things are always open to review,” she said.
Serafy-Cox said that it may be beneficial to see how other districts operate, in places where the mayor is not the chair, to see different dynamics of decision-making. “I’m not necessarily saying that we need to have that change here. I’m just saying that there are many different ways to do this,” she said.
Super qualities
The district is starting to search for a new superintendent, and the candidates weighed in on what qualities they’d like to see in the next school leader.
Serafy-Cox said the new superintendent should be a good listener, have the ability to understand various viewpoints, and be firm when making decisions. But over the course of her six years, and having seen four superintendents, she said that “none of them” were able to embody these qualities.
“It’s really, really hard to find the perfect superintendent, because the position of superintendent is incredibly difficult, just like the president of any large body,” she said.
Agreeing with the challenge of finding the perfect person, Jewell said that unfortunately no “magical unicorns” exist.
“But in order to attract and retain we have to think outside the box, and we also have to check with our past superintendents and be like, ‘what do you wish someone had told you that they didn’t tell you,” she said. She said conducting exit interviews of superintendents would also be conducive to finding out more about what spurs turnovers.
The qualities that Sullivan is seeking is someone who is bold, innovative, collaborative and good at marketing the schools. She also encourages the current and future superintendent to do an in-depth review of the education budget, and learn what is working for other similar school districts to find answers to complex problems.
Contract negotiations
The Northampton Association of School Employees (NASE) bargains with the city on all contracts, and this month a deal was struck. The deal signed gives the 290 salaried staff and 155 hourly employees a 3% cost-of-living adjustments for salaried staff in each year of the contract, with hourly employees getting a 4% increase each year.
Candidates were asked their opinion on the latest round of negotiations to strike this deal.
Jewell, who was endorsed by NASE, was not quite certain of all the aspects of the latest contract negotiations. But she said that, “I want everyone who is working with our children to get paid a wage that allows for them to live in a way that doesn’t require them to also rely on SNAP and EBT to be able to go to sleep at night and not stay up stressed because they’re burnt out…having to do multiple jobs in one day.”
Serafy-Cox, who was part of the negotiating process, called it, “collaborative,” “lively,” and, “understanding.”
“We have made huge strides toward living wages for our paraeducators and our cafeteria workers who are the lowest paid in the district, and we have been able to make teacher contracts more competitive with neighboring districts,” she said.
She said all these positions at one time offered living wages, “and then the inflation kicked in.”
Describing herself as pro-union, Sullivan said that while she doesn’t know all the ins and outs of the negotiating process that took place, she nonetheless praised NASE for the work it does.
“I’m always happy when teachers and staff are rewarded for their incredibly hard work,” she said.
School closings
Serafy-Cox took a deep breadth before answering whether school closures are a potential remedy for fiscal shortcomings. After a few seconds, she said that the city should weigh savings and challenges and not assume that consolidation is the way to go, and used Bridge Street School as an example.
“There was a time when Bridge Street School was slated to be closed, and the school community reminded us how integral Bridge Street School is to our community,” she said. “It’s a historical school building. It’s the only urban school, highly walkable.”
Serafy-Cox doesn’t know what the outcome would be if the schools were consolidated.
Sullivan said that, “emotions and nostalgia aside, it’s a very real issue” to debate consolidating, and that as these conversations arise it is best to look ahead.
“We need to think not just about this year, next year, but five and 10 and 20 years down the line,” she said. “What is our school population going to look like, and how can we best serve those students?”
Communication is key for Jewell.
“The biggest thing for me is we really need to have community transparency around this, like consistent communication about what is happening,” she said.
She said it is also vital to recognize that the cultures of each school are, “incredibly different.”