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Candidates try second time for office

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor



SPRINGFIELD There are some familiar names among the candidates seeking election to School Committee and the City Council this year and they are not necessarily among the incumbents.

The Reminder spoke to three of the returning challengers who all share the same characteristic of being passionate activists.



Orlando Santiago

Santiago is running for School Committee for the second time and brings to his candidacy an insider's knowledge of how the School Department works through his involvement with Springfield Parents Advisory Network and as a parental liaison.

A graduate of Technical High School, Santiago served in the Marine Corp Reserve and retired after 20 years as a correctional officer at Concord Prison. It was an injury he sustained while on the job that led to his early retirement and, ironically, his involvement with the school system, he said.

He and his wife are the parents of two daughters and one son and while he was recovering from his injury, he started reading more and more about the state laws that govern education. He started attending School Committee meetings and becoming active in the PTO.

One of his daughters has dyslexia and that has taught him even more about the strengths and weaknesses of the educational system, as he made sure she received the assistance she deserved.

If elected, Santiago said he would "bring the School Committee into the community." He explained that doesn't mean simply having meetings in different parts of the city, but rather to reconnect the School Committee with the children and parents it is charged to serve.

"The School Committee needs to understand that it works for the city," he said.

There is little partnership between the school administration and parents, he said. Parents need to be more involved with their children's education, but there are hurdles such as parents feeling intimidated speaking with teachers to parents who work several jobs that can prevent this, he added.

"The School Department expects children to punch in, punch out and leave their baggage at home," he said.

Santiago said there should be more parental liaisons, a role he took for a year. Home visits could make a difference in understanding needs of students, he explained. During his year, he contacted the Truancy Department many times, but never saw action taken to address specific absent students.

Santiago has been part of two petition drives to remove Dr. Joseph Burke from the position of School Superintendent. He said that Burke is intelligent, but "the end production isn't there."

"He's not hands-on," he said.

The deputy superintendents also must take responsibility for the problems the schools are facing.

"They have failed us miserably to bring awareness," he said. "Isn't there anyone [of the deputies] in there to step to the side and deal with things in a different fashion and a different way?"

Santiago noted an evaluation of the School Department cited there are too many upper-level administrators. He was disappointed the Finance Control Board has not yet addressed this issue, but privatized the janitors and the cafeteria workers in order to save money.

As co-president of the Central High School PTO from 2004-2005, Santiago said parents told administrators years ago of the situations that led to the threat made this year by state officials to put the school on probation.

He is also critical of the Step Up Springfield initiative and questioned what the program has actually accomplished to help students.

He noted the teachers have a union to protect their interests and Burke protects those of his staff. He said the School Committee should be the "union" for the parents and children.



Clodo Concepcion

Dubbed by many as the "Mayor of Sixteen Acres," Concepcion is vying for a seat on the City Council. The long-time president of the Sixteen Acres Civic Association is well known in the city for his activism on the behalf of his neighborhood and he said he would like to bring the energy he has demonstrated for this neighborhood to work on behalf of the entire city.

Finishing 11th in the last election, Concepcion would have been placed on the Council if a sitting councilor had resigned. He said he asked Domenic Sarno to resign once Sarno had announced his intentions to run as mayor, but he didn't.

"I don't blame him, " he said with a smile.

Concepcion is very concerned about the city's elderly. He is president of the Massachusetts Senior Action Council and said he would work for the establishment of the new senior center to replace the Good Life Center on Columbus Avenue. He would also work to establish programs to help seniors with transportation and housing needs,

"They made this country the way it is today. Why are we forgetting about them," he asked.

Concepcion is against the trash fee and believes if the city stops hiring consultants, it could find the money to replace the revenue generated by the fee.

"The consultants are breaking the bank," he declared.

He added the city has shown "no compassion" to seniors who can't afford the fee.

Concepcion would not step down from his civic association post if he were elected. And if he is not elected he will continue his activism.

"I'm doing more that they [the City Council] do and I don't brag about it," he said.



Charles Rucks

Rucks returned to his hometown because he thought young people didn't "appear to me to have the same presumption of success as I did."

The executive director of the non-profit Springfield Neighborhood Housing Service since 1999, Rucks is running a campaign for the City Council that emphasizes the rebuilding of the city through education and opportunity.

Born in Mississippi, Rucks moved to Springfield with his parents at a very young age. Educated in the city's schools, Rucks graduated from the Naval Academy and served in the Marine Corps reaching the rank of Lt. Colonel.

A trip back to the city to visit his parents provided the spark for Rucks to consider leaving the Corps to return home. He said the young people he encountered didn't have the same vision of their future that he shared with his peers.

Rucks earned his MBA from Cornell University and his law degree from Western New England College School of Law. He worked at Digital Equipment and was out of the country on business when a young person he knew was arrested for procession of the marijuana. He decided then to find a position that would allow for greater community involvement.

He worked for the Urban League, started a charter school and began his role at the housing agency in 1999.

Education is the key to the city's problems, according to Rucks. If you examine people in jail one sees a lack of education as a shared characteristic. To address public safety, the city needs to improve its schools.

And without improved schools, development of a workforce and economic development is difficult, he added.

If elected, Rucks said he would bring his experience with finance to bring more responsive government to the city. He supports the Finance Control Board (FCB) and its handling of the city's fiscal crisis and expressed concern there has not been much cooperation and collaboration with the FCB from some councilors.

He said that reaction to his candidacy has been good.

"Some citizens want to see new blood," he said.