This evening, the Lynn Teachers Union hosted an education forum at Breed Middle School featuring seven of the eight candidates on the ballot for Lynn School Committee this fall. Incumbents Brian Castellanos, Donna Coppola, John Ford, Lorraine Gately, Jared Nicholson and Michael Satterwhite along with challenger Tiffany Magnolia were in attendance for tonight's forum; Sandra Lopez is on the November ballot, but was not present tonight.
After a brief introduction by LTU President, Sheila O'Neill, the moderator started the forum with the first question regarding what each candidate saw as their responsibility as a potential School Committee member. Castellanos referenced his background as a low income, first generation student in answering the question saying that this was his "passion" and that he saw his responsibility as advocating for resources and "sticking up for educators." Coppola talked about both educating students and parents as to what is being asked them while also communicating to community members without children in the school system why good public schools are beneficial while Ford focused more the policy-making aspects of being a Committee Member along with supporting the superintendent and administration. Gately said that being a SC member involved "a lot of listening" and bringing issues of importance to the district administration. Challenger Magnolia saw being on the SC as an opportunity to bridge the gap between policy and real life application, amplify parent voices and provide a bigger voice for unions.
Next, the candidates were asked what fully funding education means to them. Ford mentioned his background working on this issue since 2010 when he worked for former State Senator Steve Walsh and said that ultimately the city is aiming to provide between 100% and 105% of net school spending, "the best the city will do." Nicholson, however, noted that the current Chapter 70 funding formula (developed in 1993) has been identified as "broken," therefore funding allocations based on that formula are also broken. He went on to say that the current formula is undervaluing the cost of educating certain populations (English Language Learners and special education for example) and that the funding formula needs to be reformed. Satterwhite stated that he saw fully funding education as "providing all necessary services so all students receive the best education." Magnolia was of the mind that the city should start with what the students need resource-wise and work backward to advocate for certain funding allocations; specifically, she believes that Lynn's per pupil spending should be closer $15,000 per students similar to communities like Peabody (up from ~$13,000 per student). Gately was in favor of advocating for additional funding for teachers and previously attended an event in Malden earlier this year to advocate for increased state funding.
The candidates were then asked about a particular situation that occurred this summer in which the city received an additional $18 million in state funding for education with $7.3 million going to the city budget side in terms of how that money was spent. There was mostly consensus among the current members of the School Committee on this topic with the members noting that the money was largely spent on school building maintenance and utilities, health care costs and funding the teachers' contract. Coppola did say during this portion of the forum that there have been several major emergencies that have resulted in necessary major repairs which has been a drain on resources and that she would like to see the funds spent on these major repairs being allocated toward educationally beneficial after-school programs run by teachers.
The topic of building maintenance segued into a question regarding the state of Lynn's learning environments and its effect on student learning. Gately said she would be a strong advocate for new schools as she has been concerned about Pickering Middle School's classroom space since she was a teacher there before her retirement. Castellanos was similarly concerned saying that he was "appalled" by the state of the schools and thought it was important to mobilize members of the community around this issue now even if Lynn is currently not in the pipeline for a new school. Satterwhite, however, noted some of the difficulties on this saying that some residents without children in LPS might not see the value in new schools, so the challenge was getting buy-in from the larger community; Nicholson agreed saying that communicating the need for new schools was a "top priority." Gately noted that in the last campaign for a new school in 2017 there was "misinformation" that was hard to fight against, but that, if given the opportunity, she would hold neighborhood meetings and meet with senior citizens and other constituents around this issue. Overall, Magnolia thought there was lack of uniformity in communication during that campaign for a new Pickering Middle School and that a communication structure needs to be in place with information potentially flowing out from school councils and parent-teacher organizations out to the community. While Ford was in agreement that Lynn needs new schools, he also said that the city currently cannot build them fast enough to accommodate the city's growing school population given that Lynn English as one example is on track to enroll 2,000 students next year; last week, the idea of portable classrooms was introduced at a School Committee meeting as an at least temporary solution to the city's overcrowding issue. Ford mentioned that there were ~460 new high school students in Lynn this year alone.
Finally, the candidates were asked about the disrespect some educators may feel in today's educational climate. Magnolia did not feel comfortable saying how educators felt but did say there should be some sort of the 'State of the Teachers/Staff' type update at School Committee meetings to get a better sense of how teachers are feeling and that educators should be included more in the decision-making process. Satterwhite said that educators probably feel overworked and underappreciated, noting that respect has to come from and start at the top (meaning school leadership). Castellanos agreed saying that recognition is nice but that teachers are underpaid and that has implications for equity for Lynn students. Gately thought it was important to listen more to teachers in the form of surveys and other mechanisms as a way of showing respect; Coppola said she hoped that Lynn teachers "feel the love" in Lynn but recognized it can be difficult when they are being asked to provide a 21st century education with 30 - 40 students in a classroom.
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The Lynn General Election will be held on Tuesday, November 5th. For sample ballots or to check your voter registration status, see here.
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For Lynn Community Television 2019 School Candidate profiles (YouTube), here.
