NORTHAMPTON — The Nov. 4 general election is right around the corner and Reminder Publishing has sent questionnaires to at large School Committee candidates on the ballot.
This year’s at-large School Committee race includes three candidates for one open spot as current at large Councilor Aline Davis is running for a City Council position.
The race includes Tiffany Jewell, current Ward 3 committee member Emily Serafy-Cox, and Roberta “Robbie” Sullivan.
Reminder Publishing asked each candidate the same three questions so readers can get a look at who they are and what they hope to accomplish if elected. The candidates are listed in alphabetical order.
This is the last edition of election preview coverage. If interested in reading the responses from candidates in City Council and other School Committee races, visit thereminder.com.
Reminder Publishing: What qualities or experience make you qualified to serve as an at-large School Committee member?
Jewell: I’m an educator, an author, and a caregiver. Thanks to the Northampton Education Foundation, I’ve worked alongside our teachers, giving lessons about identity, justice and activism. I know the buildings, the staff, and the learners. I served on the Jackson Street School council working on School Improvement Plans and reviewing and strategizing the budget. I’ve served on hiring committees at the Montessori School, advocated at the national level for anti-bias antiracist work in teacher training programs, and served on local and national boards centered around education and literacy. I know our schools and I’m not new to this work!
Serafy-Cox: As a parent of a ninth grader (graduated from BSS and JFK), and a School Committee member for six years, I am committed to the success of our public schools. It hasn’t always been easy—late nights, high stakes, hard decisions. But, talking to students who find joy and meaning in their classrooms inspired me to deepen my commitment. I have been a community organizer for 20+ years, alongside women of color, realizing justice together. This experience with both the dynamics of power and the hard work of solidarity has been instrumental in helping me accomplish things as a School Committee member.
Sullivan: I have a deep love for and commitment to my hometown, and a belief that public schools are critical to a community’s health. I’m a product of Northampton’s schools, and I volunteered at every level of my own children’s public school experience. I’ve spent the bulk of my adult life caring for others, as a nurse, as an elder advocate, and now an end-of-life doula. I know how to hold space in challenging situations, and how to take action. In 2019, I was a member of the city’s Charter Review Committee. In 2021, I was appointed to the Redistricting Committee.
RP: In your eyes, what are the top two most important issues facing the School Committee over the next year?
Jewell: Our schools are understaffed and under-resourced because they are underfunded. I don’t think we should have to fight so hard for our current and future students to get the education they are owed. I want the residents in our city to choose our public schools over other options. A city’s values should be reflected in its budget. We need to repair and rebuild trust with the community. And we need to do everything we can to ensure that the students in our schools, especially our students with disabilities, receive the services that are our responsibility and their legal right.
Serafy-Cox: Students are still experiencing pandemic-related learning loss, and our special education system is under strain. Now is not the time to be penny wise and pound foolish — especially for our children. We cannot close Bridge Street School. We need to make real plans to stop the cuts, keep quality educators, and make critical investments in our district’s success into the future. We can’t just wring our hands and say the state needs to step up. Any future override must fund long-term growth for our district, things like dual-immersion programs, which embrace diversity as a strength and will attract families to Northampton.
Sullivan: Northampton needs to foster a culture in which the School Committee can operate as a forward-thinking body based on respect and collaboration, from which to hire and retain a superintendent who is dynamic, and who leads and responds to the committee. While always advocating for more funding at all levels, we must also focus our attention on how the funds we do have are being used: are we being as effective as we can be? There is much to be learned from other school districts in Massachusetts about best practices in the face of shared challenges.
RP: What is your overall message to voters ahead of the election?
Jewell: I am running because I love our schools. Here, in Northampton, we are raising resistors during a time of challenge and controversy in our country. We are showing the young people in our city that they are the powerful changemakers we’ve always taught them about and who we’ve always encouraged them to be. I will represent the interests of the students and the folks who care for them, and I will always center the learners in every decision I make. I will work to usher our schools into the future instead of holding them back in the past.
Serafy-Cox: Six years ago, I said I would bring a fresh vision to Northampton schools — of inclusion, equity and respect. With these as my core priorities, I have actually seen progress. We increased wages to retain our excellent educators and added equity to our core district goals. But, the work is absolutely not done. Really, I’m just getting started. Some wise and powerful women once said: It will be a great day when schools get all the money they need and the Air Force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber. Let’s imagine that future and take action together.
Sullivan: We don’t have time to waste; a keen focus on public education is critical, and I have the leadership skills to do so. As a community, we have shared goals for our students, and while funding issues have been a priority for decades, there is so much more we can be looking at, learning from, and taking action on to better our schools today. A committee that has the objective of engaged multi-tasking around accurate information, despite differences of opinion, will be a committee that succeeds on behalf of its students, and the entire community.
