The Town of Wellesley depends on the active participation of its citizens in governance of the Town. Wellesley has 11 Boards and Committees on the ballot at the Annual Town election each year in March. The 2023 election will be held on Tuesday, March 7.
There are three candidates running for two open 3-year terms on the School Committee. The five-member Committee is made up of local residents. The Committee’s responsibilities are to develop and manage school policies; support the allocation of resources by overseeing budget and facilities; hire and review the superintendent of schools; and advocate for the school district.
The School Committee candidates are:
The Swellesley Report invited the candidates to answer a few questions about their priorities for the Town of Wellesley.
Candidate interviews appear in this post in the order in which their names appear on the ballot.
Christina Horner, candidate for School Committee
The Swellesley Report: Please introduce yourself to The Swellesley Report‘s readers.
Christina Horner: Our public school system was one of the main reasons my husband and I selected the town of Wellesley. We have three children. Our twin boys graduated WHS in 2022, and our daughter will graduate in 2024. My own education started in Boston, with the Massachusetts Experimental School System (M.E.S.S). It was through M.E.S.S. that I benefited from what were then considered innovative methods in education. Some of these same methods are being implemented today on a more widespread basis. In 5th grade I started attending Weston Public Schools as a participant in the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity program, better known as METCO. The curriculum was challenging, the extracurricular activities were endless, and the out-of-school learning opportunities were supported by academic and social growth. After graduating Weston High School I attended Boston College, where I majored in business administration with a concentration in marketing. I continued on to Lesley University, where I earned a Master’s Degree in Education in 1996. I have since dedicated my 30-year career to the pursuit of excellence in education—both as a teacher and administrator.
While teaching in Weston:
● My students were regional winners of Continental Math League two years in a row
● I was recognized as an outstanding METCO Alum by the METCO Directors Association
● I was selected by the National Social Studies Assessment Project, funded by the Council of Chief State School Officers, to develop national assessment questions for social studies
● I was selected as the first cohort of teachers to score the Massachusetts Comprehensive
Assessment System (MCAS) test
For about a decade, I was the director of the Lincoln-METCO program. As a district administrator, I recognized and challenged inequitable policies and practices. In fact, I have been recognized locally and nationally for the success of my efforts.
Currently I am a Town Meeting Member for precinct B, co-president of World of Wellesley, where I focus on family and community anti-bias awareness and education, and director of the Great Schools Partnership. I work collaboratively with a team of dedicated community volunteers and other community-based organizations that are committed to creating a more inclusive Wellesley.
TSR: If elected, what do you hope to accomplish in your 3-year tenure as a School Committee member?
Christina Horner:
Excellence
Goal 1: Create an annual community satisfaction survey where all stakeholders can provide feedback to the superintendent on what matters the most to them.
One of the main functions of the School Committee is to hire and evaluate the district superintendent. In 2019, I was one of the Massachusetts educators who worked with leadership at the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and contributed to the creation of DESE’s Superintendent and District Administrator Rubric. Although I am proud to see that the Wellesley School Committee has embraced the use of this effective evaluation tool as part of the evaluation process, I think it can be improved by including community feedback on the four standards which are: instructional leadership; management and operations; family and community engagement; and professional culture.
Equity
Goal 2: Support policies that will provide access to alternative learning options and graduation pathways (at no cost or low cost) to meet the goals and interests of our students while also preparing them for college, careers and life. These opportunities include, but are not limited to, encouraging students to take classes at MassBay Community College and participating in the dual enrollment program at MassBay, whereupon graduation students may receive both a high school diploma and an associate’s degree. This would mean a vibrant internship program where students receive credit for working with local businesses while exploring different career paths. This would also enable WPS to forge stronger connections with the broader community.
Empathy
Goal 3: Continue to fund the additional personnel and added support services required to address the rise in social-emotional and mental health challenges that our students are experiencing at an unprecedented level. As a community, we should all be deeply concerned with the issues recently identified by the MetroWest Adolescent Health Survey of WHS and WMS—including substance use, cyberbullying, mental health, online behavior, and protective factors. I can’t emphasize enough that the wellbeing of our students and our educators must always come first. We cannot underestimate the tremendous negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the resiliency we like to ascribe to children, and the tireless dedication of our teachers, staff and administrators, the reality is that they have suffered real consequences. Continued focus and support on the mental wellbeing of students and all educators is essential to ensure they have the tools to cope with the demands of school as well as the challenges of life outside of the classroom.
TSR: With enrollment at Wellesley Public Schools dropping, more questions are being raised about why expenses keep rising. What can WPS do to rein in expenses while still providing a great education and supporting social and emotional learning?
Christina Horner: Many factors have influenced enrollment over the years. They include birth rate, housing costs, private school options and a pandemic—all of which are difficult to predict. Nevertheless, there are steps we can take that prepare us for enrollment fluctuations. These include:
● Understanding the reasons for declining enrollment (curriculum or student services, unmet needs, private school preference, moving etc.), with a focus on identifying why the percentage of children attending private schools has increased by 20-25 percent in the past three years
● Engaging our WPS educators in the conversation and possible solution, by soliciting their ideas on how best to expand/contract with enrollment changes and where they see meaningful opportunities for flexibility
● Having a plan in place for expansion and contraction of class sizes
● Building two new green schools that will reduce energy costs over time, resulting in town savings
● Proposing other revenue sources to offset transportation costs
Wellesley has always prided itself on the quality of our public schools. This should never be compromised based on enrollment.
TSR: How should voters reach you if they want more information?
Christina Horner: My email address is electchristinahorner@gmail.com. I can also be reached through my website at electchristinahorner.com.
Catherine Mirick, candidate for re-election, School Committee
The Swellesley Report: Please introduce yourself to The Swellesley Report‘s readers.
Catherine Mirick: Thank you Swellesley Report for helping get out the word on local elections. I’m Catherine Mirick, and I am running for re-election to the School Committee. I’ve lived in Wellesley for 23 years with my family. My two kids are recent graduates of Wellesley Public Schools and both are now in college. I’ve volunteered in many capacities over the years, three times as a PTO co-president, 14 years as a Town Meeting member, and many years as a scout leader. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve the Town of Wellesley the last three years as one of your School Committee members, including serving a year as chair.
TSR: If elected, what do you hope to accomplish in your 3-year tenure as a School Committee member?
Catherine Mirick: I’m focusing my campaign around three themes: my collaborative approach to problem solving, building schools for the next generation, and excellence for everyone.
In the spring of 2020 Wellesley had been talking about building elementary schools for more than a decade. I put my hat in the ring for School Committee because it was time for action. I helped push through decisions on where to build and worked across town boards to get the projects approved with overwhelming town-wide support in a debt exclusion vote in December 2021. Both schools are now under construction—but the work is not done. As the School Committee liaison, I want to see these projects through to the ribbon cutting. No other School Committee members or candidates have Wellesley school building experience. We can’t leave these projects in the lurch.
I served as chair of the Committee last school year and led it through challenging community discussions around bullying, Hunnewell swing space, communications, and academic excellence. I facilitated School Committee Conversations, talked with parents from across the district and presented multiple times at Town Meeting. These types of conversations will continue as our community grapples with the right definition of academic excellence and finalizes our strategic plan. My collaborative approach is essential to help lead these conversations in a productive way that keeps our community moving forward together.
Sustainability and greenhouse gas reduction are increasingly important issues in Wellesley and across the globe. I am on both the town-wide Mobility Committee and the Climate Action Committee. I am working on school transportation, ways to get more students walking, biking, or riding the bus. The district is also concentrating on buildings. Our two new schools are all-electric, energy-efficient models of the town’s Sustainable Building Guidelines. At buildings across town we are switching to LED lights, using green cleaning methods and encouraging composting, among other things. I plan to help the schools do their part so that the town can reach its greenhouse gas reduction goals.
TSR: With enrollment at Wellesley Public Schools dropping, more questions are being raised about why expenses keep rising. What can WPS do to rein in expenses while still providing a great education and supporting social and emotional learning?
Catherine Mirick: The population of Wellesley is changing, as it has in cycles over the last 50 years. There are 600 fewer school-aged children living in Wellesley now than there were just five years ago, one major reason for the drop in school enrollment. While this enrollment drop gives us ways to realize savings, it’s not a linear relationship.
The school budget has multiple cost drivers. Two of the biggest are personnel and state-mandated special education. Educators are both the biggest asset and the biggest expense in the school budget, and they’re worth it. Every year the vast majority of the school’s budget increase is based on contractual salary increases for teachers. As enrollment drops, there are reductions in the number of teachers at each level, informed by the School Committee’s class-size guidelines. There are 21 fewer elementary sections than in 2015, and sections have also been reduced at the middle school and high school. Art, music and PE teachers are shared across schools so that they are fully utilized.
The biggest change on the horizon is that the district is closing an elementary school. In 2024 we will consolidate into only six elementary schools—saving the costs of an additional nurse, librarian, principal, etc.
Even as these enrollment-related reductions are made, expenses continue to increase. Mandated out-of-district special education costs, which are set by the state, went up by 14% this year. Transportation contracts also increased significantly. In addition, the mental health needs of our students and families are growing. Additional social workers, adjustment counselors, and psychologists are needed to provide essential services to students.
As part of its strategic plan, the district has also been working over the last decade to reduce the number of fees paid by families and to reduce the dependence on donations. When I was the Sprague PTO president, there was a major line item in our budget to fund library books—because the school budget had no funds to update libraries. PTOs also gifted large amounts of money for classroom technology. These costs have been incorporated into the school budget. In addition, many fees have been reduced so that families don’t have to pay thousands of dollars for students to fully participate in their “free” public education. These included fees paid to take art and technology classes, activity fees at the middle and high school, reductions in sports fees, reductions in bus fees, and Hale reservation. While these are important reductions, they do add to the bottom line.
The budget is one of School Committee’s biggest responsibilities, and I don’t take that lightly. We must continue to look for ways to streamline and reduce costs without negatively affecting the education of Wellesley students.
TSR: How should voters reach you if they want more information?
Catherine Mirick: Please visit my website at www.mirickforschoolcommittee.com for more information, or email me
at catherine.mirick@gmail.com.
Neal Glick, candidate for School Committee
The Swellesley Report: Please introduce yourself to The Swellesley Report‘s readers.
Neal Glick: I am an 18-year resident of Wellesley, a former member of the Planning Board and the Wetlands Committee, winner of an award for Community Service, a Little League coach, a hockey dad and a lawyer practicing in town. I am a public school product and I believe in public K-12 education. But most importantly, if you are reading this I am probably like you—a parent and a taxpayer. I have a son in 5th grade at Sprague and an older child who graduated from the high school in 2013. I have seen, and continue to see, great things happen at Wellesley Public Schools. We have everything that we need for truly great public schools—from terrific students, educated and involved parents, excellent teachers and good facilities. Like many of you, though, I want to make sure that WPS reclaims its position as a top system producing tomorrow’s leaders and solid citizens.
TSR: If elected, what do you hope to accomplish in your 3-year tenure as a School Committee member?
Neal Glick: For our kids I want to ensure that every child has the opportunity to achieve the very best that they can. This entails equality of opportunity, not ensuring outcomes. From elementary school literacy and math, to special needs education, to AP classes in the high school, we must offer the very best in robust education for those at all levels of ability. While teaching the “whole child” is very important, the importance of providing a strong academic foundation for our students, to the best of their individual abilities, should be job 1. In so doing, we must embrace the new, but when necessary reject confusing and stressful experiments like Standards Based Grading.
For our parents I want transparency and respect. Parents are stakeholders and should be treated like the necessary partners in their children’s education that they are. I want the Committee to be open to parental concerns, at open meetings. While respecting the views of educational experts, parents must be given the timely information that they seek and their perspectives must also be respected. This important public input should not just be a “check the box” exercise, but rather an important component of decision-making.
For our taxpayers I seek proper stewardship of the fiscal resources that we provide to our schools. Excellent public education is expensive. That means that taxpayer dollars must be watched carefully. Priority must go to personnel and programs that directly impact the delivery of education to our kids, over high-priced consultants and bureaucracy.
TSR: With enrollment at Wellesley Public Schools dropping, more questions are being raised about why expenses keep rising. What can WPS do to rein in expenses while still providing a great education and supporting social and emotional learning?
Neal Glick: There are many factors influencing the steep and persistent decline in WPS enrollment. Some are beyond our control, but there is no doubt that a growing number of discouraged parents are voting with their feet and pulling their children out of WPS. We need to learn why, address the reasons in order to stem the tide and do everything that we can to get those parents back. Increasing enrollment will itself add fiscal resources to our system.
As for rising costs in the face of enrollment decline, the hard questions must be asked. Are tax dollars being spent on “kid-facing” personnel and resources, or on consultants and unnecessary experiments like Standards Based Grading? Is our WPS bureaucracy sized correctly? Is it appropriate to justify every aspect of our budget on comparisons to so-called “peer communities?” We live in Wellesley. We should set the standard for the Commonwealth on delivery of strong educational achievement coupled with fiscal responsibility. This approach need not sacrifice social and emotional learning. That is particularly important in the aftermath of COVID. We must pay attention to educating the whole child, but like all aspects of education we should do so as efficiently as possible.
TSR: How should voters reach you if they want more information?
Neal Glick: Please check our website at NealforSC.com. I can also be reached at NealforSC@gmail.com. I am happy to discuss any of the foregoing. You will also see me at the dump, at Roche Brothers and in the neighborhoods as election day nears. Thanks.
