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Date: 10/31/2023
NORTHAMPTON — With the election only a few days away, Reminder Publishing continues its preview with the At-Large School Committee race.
This year, there are three incumbent candidates vying for two at-large seats: Meg Robbins, Aline Davis and Gwen Agna.
Reminder Publishing asked the candidates three questions about their vision and goals for the upcoming term. The candidates and their answers are listed below in alphabetical order.
Reminder Publishing: Why did you decide to run for re-election?
Aline Davis: I decided to run for re-election because I still have much to offer and contribute to our School Committee and this community. We now have administrators in our schools, and our new superintendent, Dr. Bonner. I have experience in this at-large position and an excitement about how we can move our district forward in a positive way.
Meg Robbins: A quick explanation of “run:”
I thought I could just “stand” for re-election with the support of the constituents I have represented in Ward 1 for the past two years, but was redistricted to Ward 4, which has an incumbent. Two other current committee members were also redistricted, one assuming the Ward [1] constituency and the other also moved to Ward 4 but running at-large as well. The second incumbent at-large member chose not to run in the vacancy in her own ward. That meant me having to “run” at large. I am surprised at the politics this has engendered as I think we current committee members share a common sense of purpose. There was a seat at the table for each of us.
School Committee is demanding but rewarding work and requires a huge learning curve that takes that first term to get up to speed with policies, budget and committee work, as well as the history and dynamics of the way things are and how they came to be. I am on our Rules and Policy Committee, chair our Curriculum Committee, am a member of the Ad Hoc Exit Interview Committee and am liaison to the Board of the Collaborative for Educational Services.
Every single discussion, decision or assessment we make centers on how it impacts children. It requires a lot of homework, research and informed contributions and questions to come prepared to meetings and committees and to follow up on commitments. We have had some intense decisions to make dealing primarily with the outfall from crises and administrative turnover. We absolutely need to shift our focus to serious planning for the future while of course paying attention to what is in front of us right now.
RP: I know budget season always beckons major discussions around school funding. If re-elected, how would you approach those discussions?
Davis: Budget discussions are always complex. Schools are funded from a few sources — a combination of local property taxes, state money federal grants. Northampton has advocated and will need to continue to advocate, for more state funding. The School Committee will need to decide on priorities [including investing in teachers], to see the big picture, look for ways, if any, to make schools sustainable [heat, electricity, water]. We should think about how to promote Northampton schools, keeping in mind that there has been decreased enrollment.
Robbins: Fundamentally we have to radically look at how we can appropriately fund our schools in the face of escalating costs for just about everything. My approach is realistic. While we must continue to actively and consistently lobby the state for our fair share, we have to take a hard look at our annual city allocations. We need to work with our City Council to prioritize budgets that recognize education as our common responsibility to our rising generations. We can’t keep cutting faculty and resources on our children’s time on learning. We can’t keep expecting teachers with advanced professional degrees and years of experience to work out of the goodness of their hearts or to choose a profession out of college that they know will not pay the bills.
Now is the time in declining enrollment to explore whether we are able to sustain six schools. We need to focus on green sustainability in building design and function. While it is impressive that we have, as a city, accumulated millions in our ‘rainy day fund’ we need to name where that “stability” funding came from and thoughtfully revisit with our City Council what we mean by ‘rainy day.’ As far as I can see, it’s been raining on our school district for years.
RP: What are other issues relevant to Northampton Public Schools, and how would you address those?
Davis: There are numerous issues relevant to NPS. We have begun the work of addressing the importance of diversity and representation at all levels in our schools, and I would support all efforts toward that end. The School Committee will certainly be focusing on the budget. As noted above, we will need to think creatively to do what is best for the students and teachers and continue to advocate at the state level.
Robbins: We have lots of paper about creating schools as safe and respectful places for BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ students and staff but not much data on whether that has had an impact on cultural change or in diverse teacher and staff retention. This is the time to assess whether we have made a cultural difference, while at the same time revisiting and reinforcing the skills and knowledge needed to continually impact ongoing cultural and school climate change. We have good community partners in this work, but we need to make stronger efforts to make it known and accountable to the community in this, our third and final year of our ambitious District Improvement Plan.
We have done very little to retrofit or plan for our schools for climate change other than solar panels and hepa filters. “Green new schools” is us now — and we need to hit the ground running about applying for state and federal funding for what might need to be dramatic changes in how we house school.
We need to recognize that while we have added over 100 special education positions, we have underfunded middle and secondary academics, shop, music and art across the district. There is a reason students choice out to other districts or charters, taking precious district monies with them. Education has to provide for the whole child.
I have asked our School Committee for nearly two years to put goals and strategic planning on the agenda without success. Fortunately, Dr. [Portia] Bonner, our new superintendent is on it, and our community will have the opportunity to work together over the next year to envision our future in educating city students and plan how we will get there. This is a tremendous next step for us but we also need to, as a committee with community input, identify annual goals as well, and ensure we honor them. We can’t get there if we don’t know what there is.
Reminder Publishing did not hear back from Gwen Agna as of press time.