FIVE SCHOOL COMMITTEE candidates participated in the Transcript’s Candidate Forum with a panel of three NRHS seniors April 13. Seated are student panelists (l-r): Wesley Fisher, Shivi Srikanth and Lily Joyce. Four unopposed candidates also introduced themselves during the livestream, which is currently being re-broadcast on several Norcam platforms. Standing (from left): Select Board member Rich Wallner, Housing Authority candidate Sherri Greer, School Committee candidates John Barrette, Jeff Friedman, Kristen OMara, Jodi Cloney and Noelle Downing with husband David, an incumbent CPC member along with Warren Pearce, at far right. (Maureen Doherty Photo)
By MAUREEN DOHERTY
NORTH READING — From the intense interest in this year’s School Committee race with five candidates on the ballot for two open seats developed an idea for a unique forum. Several high school seniors and their parents approached both the Transcript and NORCAM to bring the candidates together in a 90-minute forum during which they would be asked questions none had seen previously in random order for each question.
The candidates, listed in alphabetical order, are John Barrette, Jodi Cloney, Jeff Friedman, Kristen OMara and Noelle Rudloff, were given ample time for opening and closing statements, and all of the uncontested candidates for other town boards on the ballot were also invited to introduce themselves; four were able to attend: Rich Wallner for Select Board, Sherri Greer for Housing Authority, and Warren Pearce and David Rudloff for Community Planning Commission.
The forum was live-streamed and shown over both of the town’s cable channels. It is currently available on NORCAM’s social media platforms in its entirety as well and will remain on the cable channels through May 1.
The organizers even convinced the Trancript’s editor emeritus, Bob Turosz, out of retirement for the night to serve as moderator. He covered the town’s politics from 1977 to 2016, so has seen his share of elections.
The three high school seniors who asked the questions of the candidates — Lily Joyce, Shivi Srikanth and Wesley Fisher — displayed poise and maturity throughout the evening.
Questions were submitted from students and the public-at-large over the course of a week and a half through an email address set up just for this purpose and only one person was put in charge of managing the inbox to keep the questions truly anonymous.
Several themes emerged from the many questions received and the in-depth responses by the candidates will require a two-part installment in the Transcript, this week and next, in the run-up to the May 3 Town Election to report on them all
But from the nearly two dozen questions submitted about half focused on the issues of diversity, equity and inclusion, also known as DEI.
It was from these queries that the following question was developed, which Lily Joyce posed to the candidates about half-way through the forum:
“We are aware of the issues under debate across our country, our state, and our town, such as the way we tell our history, and the ways we speak about race and human sexuality. While it is not the role of the School Committee to advise on curriculum, what role does the School Committee have in guiding this?”
Each candidate’s response is below, in the order in which their names were drawn at random.
Noelle Rudloff was the first candidate to respond to this question. She began: “We can start by setting an example of understanding the importance of a diverse community. And also to really examine the ‘big rocks’ that we have and one them is ‘diversity, equity and inclusion.’”
“So what does that mean and how can we achieve it? I do hope as a member of the School Committee, even if not directly involved with curriculum development, I would very much like to have a say on the overall goals of the program. And we want to create a student body that is not going to fear different perspectives; that will understand a common humanity,” Rudloff said.
“Students need to see themselves in the curriculum that they’re studying,” she said, suggesting this could be achieved “through focusing on the experiences and struggles of individuals from different backgrounds.”
“I do think that there is a lot of amazing work being done in this field and it is something I am interested in,” Rudloff said, adding, “This can go one of two ways. It can be divisive and I think it could uniting. And I’m for uniting.”
Jodi Cloney spoke next. “I would say that the School Committee, in as much as it controls the budget, has more control over these things than potentially people think they have.”
She added, “When we talk about curriculum and diversity of human sexuality, that may be the one program that we have that is in the ‘80s! So, are we funding updating that information? Are we sending our health teachers or giving them opportunities to get that training so they understand the nuances?”
“This is an area that is changing rapidly in how kids are defining themselves and feeling about themselves, and I think that it is important that the teachers who are educating our kids around these topics have the most up to date training. We are treating this like it is math and if you don’t do well in math you fix it right away, right? But if you get out of here without a full understanding of human sexuality that is something we are not holding ourselves accountable to.”
Cloney added, “I think that it is important because there are so many kids who are desperately trying to figure out who they are and how they feel about themselves. And we talk about being inclusionary but if we don’t give them a safe space to figure that out — because not everyone has that at their house. And I think it’s important for School Committees to make sure that there is a safe place for every kid.”
Jeff Friedman spoke next. “First, I deeply appreciate the comment that School Committee does not have a direct role in the curriculum, but where School Committee does have a role is we hire the superintendent. It’s a top-down approach,” he said. “We are not designed to be in the classroom nor should we be. But we oversee the superintendent who hires principals who hire teachers. Obviously there is a direct connection. So for me it’s holding top down accountability and providing the resources they need.”
“To some degree, we, as the School Committee, need to rely on the people we hire as experts, as professionals, to do a great job with the education. So hold them responsible for it. It would be silly for me to go into a classroom and say ‘now we are teaching’ fill in the blank or ‘now we are not teaching’ fill in the blank,’” Friedman said.
“But we also need to hold our teachers accountable to make sure they are teaching A) To the curriculum and B) that the curriculum itself, if we are going to look up to DESE, is to make sure that this curriculum is right. We do not have a role in creating curriculum; we do not have a role in telling DESE what to do, but we need to hold ourselves accountable to those standards.”
Friedman added, “Teaching diversity is important. I think having a diverse set of educators, providing a diverse set of experiences is important. But really it has to come top-down and it really has to come from the superintendent and without our heavy hand telling exactly what teachers, administrators what to do, so my approach is a little bit more hands off but still no less accountable.”
John Barrette went next. “This is where I disagree. the School Committee members take an oath of office and I have that oath of office and it said that they will uphold the laws of the commonwealth and the laws of the United States of America. And when DESE pushes down mandates and policies that are not law and that run counter to the laws of the United States of America, then the School Committee members are not upholding their oaths of office. The oath of office is very important. I would take that very seriously,” Barrette said.
“The law 1532H I mentioned guarantees parents the right to transparency, consent and choice, and to opt out of curriculum that they feel is offensive and against their values or counter to the school’s role. So long as the School Committee takes an oath of office and signs it into the town register, which they do do, they have an oath to uphold the laws of the commonwealth of Massachusetts,” he stated.
“On the topic of race, Martin Luther King said that he dreamed of the day when people are judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I grew up in a colorblind home. We didn’t have critical race theory. My dad’s best friend was the Black superintendent of public schools. My brother-in-law is African American and we’re best buddies. I am not a racist, I have never been a racist person. I don’t see color,” Barrett said. “This constant focus on race in school teaches children, who are colorblind, to see color. Teaches children to put each other in bins. Teaches children that white oppressors or white privilege has to mask their identity. There is identity masking training.”
“On the sex ed side, they’re pushing 16+ and 18+ material down to K through 5. There are simply materials that are not age-appropriate for K-5 and I will fight to prevent these materials from being in our libraries and accessible to middle schoolers. Thank you.
Kristen OMara was last to speak on this question. “I am not a licensed a educator. I would suggest that the committee work with the administration and support committees on how to bring awareness through clubs, which I know the high school already does,” she said, suggesting that awareness could be raised by “bringing in guest speakers because it is important to teach our kids that they ought to have these private conversations in a safe environment.” she said.
OMara added, “The other piece is when we are talking about these types of subjects having respect for one another and letting them know that every student should feel valued being a student here, a teacher, an admin. Regardless of our differences we should all have respect for one another, and if respect is not there then there should be accountability there too.”