Incumbent Lynn School Committee member Jared Nicholson is running for a third term in this year's municipal election. Below are Nicholson's responses to some pressing education-related questions.
You’re currently running for your
third term on the Lynn School Committee. What is motivating you to run again
this year?
I am motivated to run for
reelection because I am passionate about public education and its importance to
my family and to our community.
First, I’m excited to share that my
wife and I are expecting our first child any day now. Especially as public
school graduates ourselves, we want to send our kids to great public schools.
Second, as a law professor at
Northeastern University I work with and study small businesses, in support of
community growth. I know how important having great schools is to our
community’s hopes for growth. For Lynn to reach our sky-high potential, we have
to help our kids reach theirs. We do that in the public schools.
Finally, this year particularly,
the District faces challenges from shifting external circumstances, particularly on funding. I believe
I can continue to help the District navigate those challenges as a member of the
Committee and as an attorney with a business background.
The Lynn Public School District has
faced a number of challenges in recent years, most notably funding issues. What
is your assessment of where the district is at this point? What is one major
challenge that LPS will need to confront in the next year?
Overall, the district is
doing well. That’s a testament to the hard work and dedication our wonderful
teachers and other education professionals and the great students and families
we have in our schools. But there is a lot of work to do.
Last year, for the first
time in several years, the Lynn Public Schools was fully funded by the
city in the eyes of the state. It’s so important that the city meets
its commitment under state law to do that. This is something that my colleagues
and I on the School Committee have advocated for and something we will continue
to expect.
One major challenge that LPS
needs to confront is overcrowding and the physical state of our schools. This continues
to be our most pressing issue. We have amazing teachers, but rising class sizes
make it harder for teachers to teach and students to learn. On the School
Committee, we rely on the state, the city and outside organizations for
funding. While we can’t allocate funds, we can advocate and innovate.
We are advocating that the state overhaul
its school funding formula and for help from the Massachusetts School
Building Authority. We are innovating by adding a new 8th grade option at
Lynn Tech and looking to outside partners to find more pre-K classrooms. We need
to build on this advocacy and innovation to meet our pressing space needs.
Last year, the Department of
Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) introduced a new accountability and
assistance system that no longer classified schools in Levels 1 - 5. What is
your opinion of the additional metrics which are now being considered along
with MCAS scores (high school completion rates, chronic absenteeism, advanced
coursework completion, etc.)?
I am definitely glad that DESE has
expanded its thinking and its methodology for how to measure good schools. I
still have concerns about the focus on test scores though, and the damage that
focus has done over time even after the changes. When people like magazine editors use MCAS
scores to “rank” schools, they fail to capture the amazing learning that
happens in the Lynn Public Schools.
One encouraging sign from the
additional metrics is that LPS has made progress on some of these new
indicators. We have had a successful new attendance initiative, called Every Student Every Day. We are
also offering more advanced courses.
How much do you as a School
Committee member interact with parents, students and community members? Do you think
that the School Committee in general could do more to engage and involve
residents in the LPS decision making process?
I interact with parents,
students and community members a lot, both when people reach out to me directly
and when I’m out spending time in the community. It has been a privilege to
listen many parents, students and community members about problems they had and
work to help find solutions and connect them with resources. I feel like I have
been able to be a resource particularly for our community members who speak
Spanish because of my Spanish language skills.
One of the solutions I’ve worked on
was helping organize a college fair for Spanish-speaking parents with the MARIAs Center. The
MARIAs volunteers invited colleges to bring and share materials in Spanish
about the college application process and financial aid.
I have also loved getting student
input and feedback, both informally when I meet them and formally from our
student representative on the Committee. A few years ago, I pushed for us to add
a student representative to our meetings and have been thrilled to
experience these wonderful students doing a great job with us.
Yes, I think we could do more to
engage and involve residents. We can work on giving parents, students and
community members the tools and confidence they need to help them get involved
and above all to make them feel welcome and included in our city’s public education.
One example of progress on this
issue can be found in our approach to grant funding. We get a lot of interest
in the district's pursuit of grants. Outside grants are an important way to
bring much needed resources into the district. To support our effort and offer
more opportunities to collaborate on grants, I suggested that we try a new tool.
LPS will now be creating a page on its website that will track all the grants
that we apply for and receive.
Why should Lynn residents cast
their vote for you on Tuesday, November 5th?
First, I believe that people
should vote for me because I have established a record of leadership and
achieving results. For example, I am
working with my colleagues on an overhaul of the entire suite of policies of
the Lynn Public Schools after discovering that we
were still governed by a set of policies that were outdated, some by several decades.
Second, I continue to bring
a fresh perspective and new ideas to the committee. For example, one of the
issues I have been most focused on is building more pathways for students to
college and jobs. A couple of years ago we started the Technical Afterschool
Program, a program for students around the district to learn job skills at Lynn
Tech. I had read a report by Commonwealth
Magazine on the gap between seats at vocational-technical schools and the
number of interested students. I asked the team at Lynn Tech if we could offer
any programs to students at the other high schools who might be interested in
vocational training. Lynn Tech Guidance Counselor Brian O’Connell designed and
launched a program that exceeded my expectations
Finally, as a Spanish-speaker who is
accessible and responsive, I believe that I have a lot to offer all members of
our community in listening to their concerns and helping to find solutions.
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For more information:
- Website (jarednicholson.org)
- @JaredCNicholson (Twitter)
