'Excellence' group seeks to recruit board candidates

By Mary Carey
Staff Writer

Published on January 04, 2008

The parents' group Amherst Committee for Excellence is trying to recruit candidates to run for School Committee, although there are no surefire takers yet.

Chrystel Romero, who was appointed to the Amherst School Committee by a joint Select Board-Amherst School Committee panel to fill a vacancy last year, will complete the term she is serving in March. She said this week that she hasn't decided yet whether she will run for election.

Nomination papers for the April 1 election are due in the Town Clerk's office on Feb. 12. So far no one has taken papers out for the seat Romero holds now.

ACE formed in recent weeks to advocate for what members call a more "intellectually engaging and challenging curriculum that allows all children to reach their full potential." More than 300 parents and members of the community signed a letter to the superintendent and Regional School Committee outlining ACE's goals, and 60 or more parents attended the Dec. 18 Regional School Committee meeting at which ACE members read a list of their priorities aloud.

Among their priorities are that a rigorous evaluation of the middle school be undertaken, as well as a comprehensive evaluation of the kindergarten through sixth-grade math curriculum.

In an email to parents the day after the Dec. 18 committee meeting, ACE leaders Catherine Sanderson and Steve Rivkin outlined a series of next steps, including recruiting people to run for the Amherst School Committee.

"We would very much like to find two candidates who share a commitment to increasing the focus on academic excellence in the schools to run!" they write.

Sanderson, in an email said, "We have several people who are willing and interested, and we will be running someone. And if it seems like I'm the best candidate for promoting the ACE agenda on academic excellence and equity, I will run."

Although only the seat held by Romero is up for election, Amherst School Committee member Sonia Correa Pope, whose term expires in 2009, has indicated that she might step down early if other candidates come forward. Correa Pope was hired as a school principal in Holyoke after being elected to the committee and has missed some meetings because of her other responsibilities.

Romero said she is pleased that parents have been turning out for committee meetings in recent weeks.

"I'd like to see a greater forum for interaction between the School Committee and parents," she said. "I would like to see a greater period of public discussion at the beginning of meetings."

ACE member Traci Wolfe, who has attended a number of recent meetings with her husband Joel Wolfe, said their family moved to Amherst several years ago, choosing it over other communities like Easthampton or Greenfield, where they could have afforded a larger house, because they had heard the Amherst school system was very good.

She is a member of the Fort River Elementary School Council and is eager to support a candidate for School Committee who shares ACE's goals, but the group hasn't identified someone for sure yet, aside from Sanderson, she said.

Clare Bertrand, a Town Meeting member who has been involved with the schools for the past six years and signed the ACE letter, said she hasn't heard of any solid candidates having stepped forward yet either.

She would not consider running, she said. "It takes a special person who can commit to that kind of time."

Although she is sympathetic to ACE's goals, Bertrand said she believes that years of budget constraints have played a larger role than some members of the group perhaps realize or acknowledge. Programs have been cut, which has led to disenchantment with the schools in some quarters, Bertrand said.

"The energy, the focus and attention need to go back to where we want our school system to be. Are we going to stay in this holding pattern? How are we going to continue to strive and be a school system of excellence while also facing these sort of constraints. We took our eye off the ball. We haven't been able to focus on excellence. We're clawing just to stay where we are."

ACE is right to insist on excellence, and the schools are "already there" in many respects, Bertrand said. "There are many moments when we have excellence."