The City Council and School Committee interview candidates for the vacant School Committee seat.
Reminder Publishing screen capture by Tyler Garnet
CHICOPEE — On Nov. 18, members of the City Council and School Committee selected Mark McCarthy to fill a vacant at-large School Committee seat at a joint meeting.
During the School Committee meeting on Oct. 16, it was announced that At-Large School Committee member Chester Szetela would be stepping down after serving on the committee since 2002.
Thirteen people applied for the vacant position with 11 of them being interviewed on Nov. 18 after two applicants dropped out before the meeting.
Each candidate was given a maximum of five minutes for an opening statement followed by the same two questions asked by Mayor John Vieau.
After the joint committee heard from Christopher Acevedo, Jessica Avery, Felicita Cintron, Jason Fay, Omar Irizarry, Joel McAuliffe, Mark McCarthy, Rafael Nazario, James Tanhauser Jr., Theresa Thibault and Yvette Tootle, the committee nominated applicants to move on to the next round where eight of those who applied could be voted for by the group.
After multiple rounds of voting and narrowing down the eight canidates, McCarthy was able to obtain the majority, 14, votes to become the next at-large member of the School Committee. He beat out Fay who had eight votes in the final round.
McCarthy is a resident of Chicopee who has a son currently in the Chicopee school system where McCarthy said he served as vice president of the PTO.
When talking about his hopes if elected he said, “I hope that we can contribute to better outcomes for students including those often identified as underserved like those from low income families, multilingual learners and students with disabilities. Dr. [Marcus] Ware has called the goal of his vision building, equity and excellence for all, a theme I embrace.”
McCarthy also talked about the importance of supporting the teachers and staff at Chicopee Public Schools.
“I’m committed to putting students learning first while acknowledging the teacher wellbeing is essential to supporting their learning. I hope that teachers and administrators in Chicopee feel appreciated and supported so that we are a district known in the region for high teacher retention and job satisfaction. I hope that the recent removal of the MCAS graduation requirement will recalibrate educational power dynamics toward the local level,” McCarthy said.
Although he said he is not a licensed teacher in Massachusetts, McCarthy is a literacy teacher educator who said his professional skills can offer a lot on the School Committee.
“I teach teachers how to teach kids to read. I spend times in public schools as a supervisor of student teachers, partnering with principal and mentor teachers to develop those student teachers into great teachers,” he explained.
McCarthy has also been a part of recent DESE grant-funded literacy initiatives that he hopes to bring to Chicopee.
McCarthy also talked about the critical priorities he views for improving student outcomes in the district and how he will work to advance them within School Committee.
He said, “I think I’m coming from a position where I would usually see literacy first and literacy is tied to accountability quite a bit and it leads to other successes across content areas and so I would probably want to focus on identifying the obstacles to success at the early literacy stage as a main priority given my ability to contribute to those conversations.”
Another important role of the School Committee is the effective collaboration between the School Committee and superintendent.
McCarthy talked about how essential the relationship is to address the challenges facing both the schools and society.
He said, “I think it starts with some communication. I don’t know the superintendent very well but from what I’ve read about the work that he’s doing, I think that he and I share an ideological vison for what schools should be and I think that when the School Committee can be on board with that vision, it’s really easy to start setting goals that we can share together.”
McCarthy will serve the remainder of the term ending Dec. 31, 2025. If McCarthy wishes to continue, he must run for reelection in the November 2025 election.
Ward 6 City Councilor Sam Shumsky talked about McCarthy and said, “Something I really admired and liked about what Mr. McCarthy said and that was about how politics shape education and his concerns with that. I too share a lot of concerns about how government and politics shape how our educational system works. I believe that in some ways, it has failed millions of students every year and it’s nothing against staff and teachers, they are incredible.”
School Committee member Sandra Peret also talked about McCarthy and said, “After listening to Mr. McCarthy as well as seeing his resume he brings to us a more global approach to education having been an instructor in China, probably can see different aspects of education and compare it to what we’re doing here in our society as well. I think it important to have that larger, global perspective because our students are going out into the world once graduating and this could be a key component to them.”
Vieau expressed how excited he was to see 13 people apply and 11 members interviewed for the position.
He said, “I personally am excited that we had 13 people who were interested in serving and filling the shoes of a legacy of Chet Szetela. I can get a sense of passion and commitment to not just our students’ success but also to our school district.”
