A local School Committee election may overshadow the state races for some people in Northfield and Bernardston — and, to a lesser extent, in Warwick and Leyden.
With seven of the Pioneer Valley Regional School Committee’s 12 seats opening — and only one person running unopposed for re-election — town officials are hoping that the election will be a turning point for the School Committee, whose relationship with the towns has been strained.
At the beginning of October, the selectboards and finance committees of three of the district’s four member towns gave a letter to the School Committee, requesting that the chair position be reassigned.
Three of the seats are contested. In Bernardston, three people are running for two seats. Jeanne Milton is running for re-election against newcomers Mike Townsley and Aaron Gerry. In Northfield, newcomers Martha Parker and Kristen Gonzalez are competing for the same spot.
The other four positions, two each from Leyden and Warwick, are uncontested, with three newcomers and one incumbent running unopposed.
The new committee has its work cut out for it, as was clear at a candidates forum this week moderated by state Rep. Paul Mark, D-Peru and organized by the League of Women Voters.
Questions covered the inevitable task of restructuring the district, which will likely include school closures and combining administrative functions with other districts; the school district’s sometimes adversarial relationship with its member towns; dysfunction at committee meetings; and routine committee responsibilities, like replacing the school police officer.
Bernardston candidate Townsley expressed strong opinions that in restructuring, the district’s curricular and extra-curricular programs should be highly prioritized, especially if certain elementary schools have less access to resources.
“The technology is not there in all the communities,” Townsley said. “That bothers me that kids in the district are not getting equal access.”
He also made the point that if resources are spread too thin, it will encourage parents to take their kids out of the district. He also argued that combining services with another district would be overly complicated, and that it could worsen the district’s finances.
Gerry, also from Bernardston, was cautious on most points. “I have a lot to learn,” he said.
The two Northfield candidates had different opinions on the school police officer. Gonzalez said that the officer was an important resource for school safety and drug issues. Parker was skeptical, pointing out that disciplinary issues were handled well enough in the past, and suggesting that the committee review what the officer has actually done, rather than focus on what he should do.
The candidates all agreed that committee meetings need to be more focused, and that the public comment section could be handled better.
For the two current committee members running for re-election, the forum was also an opportunity to speak frankly about the committee’s challenges and its relationship with the district’s towns.
“We hear the call for better communication and more collaboration — I get that,” said Sue O’Reilly-McRae, who is running unopposed for re-election in Warwick. “I know we can craft something that we all can celebrate.”
Milton, who is running for re-election in Bernardston, said that the committee needs to work with the towns to determine “what the necessities are to educate our students in this world at this point,” so that clashes over budget can be reduced — although she added that the committee, out of necessity, proposes its budget knowing that the towns will negotiate it.
“Definitely you have to take into account what the towns’ abilities are,” Milton said.
“In the end,” O’Reilly-McRae said, “the tension is going to be there because the School Committee’s role is clear. We advocate for the children.”