Video: Candidates for Worcester School Committee district seats debate in Mechanics Hall

WORCESTER — Candidates running for School Committee seats in District C and District E gathered at Mechanics Hall Wednesday to discuss school safety and cellphone policies, family involvement in school curriculum and the admission policy at Worcester Technical High School, among other topics.

The candidates included incumbent Jermoh Kamara and former committee member Dianna Biancheria, who are running in District C; and newcomers Nelly Medina and Kathleen Roy, who are running in District E.

The debate was co-sponsored by the T&G, the Worcester Regional Research Bureau, the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce and Mechanics Hall.

Previously, all School Committee candidates were elected to at-large seats, but following a lawsuit by a coalition of groups alleged that system was discriminatory, a new election map and districts were created.

Now there are only two at-large seats and six individual district seats labeled “A” through “F.” The mayor is the chair of the School Committee. Not all seats have contested races.

School safety

Early on, candidates were asked about what they want to see from the school safety audit — a topic that came up last week at the at-large candidate debate.

Roy said student mental health needs to be considered when discussing school safety.

She wants the district to continue having a memorandum of agreement between the Worcester Police Department, the superintendent, the mayor and the city manager, and that the memorandum includes “an understanding to provide continued safety measures in our schools.” She would like a school liaison officer assigned to each high school, with other liaison officers traveling during the day between the lower grades.

Medina said school safety should be “transformative” rather than “punitive.”

“I think the ball was dropped when … the resource officers were removed. I think some of that money that we were saving we should have invested in our students,” Medina said.

Medina said she supported a program in schools in Holyoke known as Pa’Lante, which she said has shown success in addressing student mental health and social identity.

Biancheria said it is important to make sure that schools are maintaining lights, locks and cameras. She also said she wants to ensure the mayor and the city manager are included in the memorandum of agreement process between the district and police department since funding for policy and security comes from the city.

Kamara said she would like to see things that already exist in school buildings included in the safety plans, such as wellness spaces and culture and climate teams, which could build rapport with students and help curtail behavior issues. She also said that the memorandum between the district and police was a priority for the superintendent and that “we all value relationships with our police using our SLO (school liaison officer) model.”

Worcester Tech admissions

Biancheria and Kamara were asked about the admissions policy at Worcester Technical High School.

While there are many “benefits and advantages” at Worcester Tech, Biancheria said, there are other vocational programs at schools like North High and South High Community schools that have the same certification. She said she would like to see a revision of the admissions policy and would like to be involved in that process.

Kamara said that while there are pathways available in “some areas'' of the city, they are not available in every area. While South High has a diesel program and North High has an emergency medical service program, there should be more pathways available to students throughout the district, she said.

Parent involvement

Roy and Medina were asked about how involved and engaged families should be in things like making curriculum decisions in schools.

“Parents need to be heard and we need to have an open-door policy to address their child’s needs,” Roy said. “I also believe parents should be able to help stay in the curriculum.”

The district should have systems in place to support parents, such as single mothers, and making sure their students’ needs are being met, Roy said. She said she also wants programs to encourage parent volunteerism at schools.

Medina said there need to be more opportunities for parent engagement, as not all are friendly or sustainable to people with busy schedules

“Surveying parents and asking them how they would like to be engaged in what will be the best mode for communication so that they can show up for their children,” she said. “Then again, there’s not only just parents. There’s foster children, grandparents and caretakers, who we have to be cognizant of as well.”

MCAS graduation requirement; cellphone policies

Biancheria and Kamara were also asked for their views on whether the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System test should be a graduation requirement and their views on a cellphone usage policy in schools.

Biancheria said she thinks there should be a statewide review of how the MCAS has impacted the workforce and that the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education needs “a major overhaul” of graduation requirements for students. She said some students are not good test takers and that test will not make them successful.

She pointed to a community college connection program she developed when she worked as the district school to career coordinator, in which students would take a math or English course while also working an internship while receiving a small stipend and working on retaking the MCAS. She said there are other ways to measure student success and to receive a diploma.

Kamara said she does not see MCAS as a “determining factor in success.” She said she would like to see more project-based learning opportunities for students to “bring out their creativity in schools.”

Biancheria said she has concerns about cellphones being a distraction for students and how they impact social and emotional behavior, but that a conversation needs to happen with teachers first.

“They’re the ones that have to make a determination on what that policy is going to be and how it’s going to work in our system,” she said. “It cannot be a quick response. It cannot be a board that is sitting there making a determination on technology.”

She said the policy needs to also consider the impact on student behavior and privacy. There must also be a consideration that not every family can afford a cellphone for their student, Biancheria said.

Kamara pointed to a previous course she took in college in which a tablet was used that she enjoyed and said that if the district wants to pursue a cellphone policy, it needs to look at initiating funding for devices to be in classrooms.

She said she also wants to examine the policy at Worcester Tech as a model, as it has been a success with students.

Medina and Roy were asked for their views on how the district should respond to student needs.

Medina wants more wraparound coordinators hired to help students, especially those who are most at-risk, such as the large population of foster children in the district. She said there was a program in Shrewsbury High School in which a wraparound coordinator was brought in just to deal with foster children and they were able to assist with social and emotional needs, she said.

The district is also overcrowded and needs to expand capacity in schools, she said.

Roy said it is important to provide students counselors and psychologists to meet their daily needs, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The shutdown of schools had a vast impact on students academically, socially, emotionally, and our schools are still playing catch-up,” she said.

At the end, when candidates were giving their closing remarks, Medina and Roy took a jab at each other.

“I’ve been on the streets for a while, on the ground, working with parents and I’ve never heard of Kathi Roy,” Medina said. “We need people who have been there, who have connections to the community to work with this administration moving forward, and I’m the one to do it.”

Roy responded after, saying that “people in her community, and who I engage with, have never heard of Nelly Medina.”

Candidates discussed other topics as well, such as prioritizing facilities and repairs, funding and integrating technology in classrooms, and how Student Opportunity Act funds should be utilized.

Footage of the entire debate can be viewed on YouTube and on telegram.com.

For other School Committee district seats, Molly McCullough (District A), Vanessa Zuleyma Alvarez (District B), Alejandro Guardiola (District D) and Jermaine Lamont Johnson (District F) are unopposed.

On Oct. 11, at-large City Council candidates will debate at 7 p.m. at Mechanics Hall.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Video: Worcester School Committee District C and E candidates debate