The tense Wellesley election season didn’t really end on Tuesday, when voters went to the polls.

Yes, the results are final, including Craig Mack‘s victory over Neal Glick for a three-year seat on the School Committee by 500-plus votes.

But an email distributed a few days before the election by the Wellesley Democratic Town Committee to its mailing list (but that inevitably spread beyond that target audience as online things tend to do) angered Glick’s team. The letter, which urged residents to vote for Mack, cited Glick’s affiliation with the “right wing astroturf group” called Wellesley Concerned Parents, and described Glick’s “well-run, well-funded campaign” as having “capitalized on parental discontent over COVID restrictions and disruptions in learning.”

References to smearing and cyberbullying have been exchanged.

The Glick for School Committee Facebook page shared a message on Feb. 27 from Glick in which he criticized “a political group in Town” for circulating emails badmouthing him. “I have learned that the best way to deal with bullies—cyber or otherwise—is to stand up to them,” he wrote, vowing to fight bullying if he were to win the School Committee seat.

His letter also read in part: “I want you all to know that the group’s desperate attempt to smear me is a sign that our campaign is succeeding. I see that every day on the trail. After all, smear tactics are most often used when substance cannot be.” Glick emphasized that he is not politically affiliated, nor did his campaign receive “a penny from any organization, political or otherwise.”

Wellesley Democratic Town Committee co-chairs Susan Ryan and Katie Griffith issued a statement in which they said the group stays out of town elections as a general rule, and that the group’s email was consistent with this approach in that it was sent to those on its mailing list, not posted more widely in a newsletter or on its website.

“In this case, we decided to alert our members of our legitimate and deep concerns about the views espoused by Mr. Glick regarding Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Black Lives Matter, and the views expressed on the website of the group that he founded, ‘Wellesley Concerned Parents,” that among other things, calls for the ‘elimination’ of the (non-existent) CRT teaching at the Wellesley Public Schools. Mr. Glick himself stated in his letter of candidacy that he was the founder of this group. We also expressed concerns over his prior government service in the Town of Wellesley. These are the kinds of issues that are important for our members to consider when they go to the polls.

“The election is over, and we can understand the disappointment of Mr. Glick and his supporters. Certainly we have all had our share of electoral losses. But to engage now in this effort to smear our Town Committee and its members, rather than graciously congratulating the winner and moving on, is deeply unfortunate.”

Following the election, Glick in email to his supporters looked at positives to take away from the results.

“About that election… it seems that we lost, and the numbers clearly bear that out. But did we? The forces for positive change got 44% of the vote. We lost by a mere 500 votes, and about half of that came from one precinct. We took Precinct C and came within a handful of votes in a few others. In short, in a compressed campaign put together in less than two months, we demonstrated that there is a growing and powerful constituency in Wellesley for CHANGE IN WPS….”

Meanwhile, Mack joined the School Committee for his first meeting as a member on March 2, the day after the election. He shared a few initial thoughts about 90 seconds into the Wellesley Media recording of the meeting. “I’m hopeful about our future as we work together to make a more positive and equitable environment for our students and our community at large. I know there’s a lot to do, and I’m ready to get to work…,” he said.

We did reach out to Wellesley Town Clerk KC Kato, curious if her office, like our inbox and post comments, had been receiving complaints in the wake of the election.

“We do receive complaints about many different things,” she said.

Wellesley’s local election will take place on Tuesday, March 1, 2022.

The polls will be open for in-person voting 7am-8pm. Polling locations here.

Don’t know which precinct you’re in? Here’s how to find out where to vote in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

If you have any election/voting questions, please call the Town Clerk’s Office at (781) 431-1019 x 2252.

Town-wide candidates, in ballot order

Candidates’ Q & A posts

There are six contested races—Select Board; Library Trustees (3-year term); Library Trustees (1-year term); Natural Resources Commission; Planning Board; and School Committee.

All of the candidates running in contested races took the time to answer questions from The Swellesley Report. For your convenience, below is a round-up to the candidates’ Q&A posts.

Meet the 2022 candidates for Select Board—Odessa Sanchez and Lise Olney

Meet the 2022 candidates for Library Trustees (3-year term)—Ann Howley, Marla Robinson, Stephen Maire

Meet the 2022 candidates for Library Trustees (1-year term)—Linshi Li, Sharon Mintz

Meet the 2022 candidates for Natural Resources Commission—Lisa Collins, Raina McManus

Meet the 2022 candidates for Planning Board—Marc Charney, Catherine Johnson

Meet the 2022 candidates for School Committee—Neal Glick, Craig Mack

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Town meeting candidates

Town Meeting is the legislative body for the Town of Wellesley. 240 voting town meeting members are elected by eight precincts in the Annual Town Election. Each precinct has 30 members elected to three-year staggered terms.

In the 2022 election, five of the eight precincts are contested races.

Here is a list of all Town Meeting candidates.

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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 2022 election will be held on Tuesday, March 1.

There are two candidates running for one open 3-year term 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 Neal Glick and Craig Mack.

The Swellesley Report invited the candidates to answer a few questions about their priorities for the Town of Wellesley.

Both candidate interviews appear in this post in the order in which their names appear on the ballot.

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Neal Glick, candidate for School Committee

The Swellesley Report: Please introduce yourself to readers.

Neal Glick: My family moved to Wellesley over 16 years ago, in part for the terrific public schools. I am a father of four, with three kids who have attended Wellesley Public Schools (WPS). As the product of an excellent public school education which led me to a degree from Princeton, and a former teacher, I am a strong proponent of public education. My oldest son went through the entire system and graduated from the High School. My youngest is in elementary school at Sprague. I served as a member of the Planning Board and the Wetlands Committee. I am pro bono counsel to the Wellesley Land Conservation Trust. I coached Little League, love being a “Hockey Dad” and I participate in the PTO. My service as a Trustee of the Boston Architectural College taught me a great deal about what is in store for our kids after high school. I practice law in Town.

TSR: If elected, what do you hope to accomplish on the School Committee?

Neal Glick: Simply put, positive change. WPS needs a course correction. The metrics are clear. Enrollment has declined more than 18%. Parents are voting with their feet. Rankings are falling drastically, from a High School ranked #4 in the State in 2014 to 26 today, with the Middle School ranked even lower, indicating further decline ahead. MCAS scores are down, especially in the “Exceeds Expectations” category. The number of AP course offerings at the HS is constantly decreasing. Our peer communities are cleaning our clock. Our extraordinarily excellent teaching corps is being depleted and replaced with substitutes. Tutoring businesses are growing on Washington Street. This is not a hidden agenda. When asked recently about academic decline, the Principal of the Middle School stated that it was “unfair” to judge school quality on “academic performance.” We need to change that attitude to make academic performance Job 1.

Meanwhile, per the Advisory Committee, per pupil spending has gone up since 2016 over $5,000 to a proposed $21,250. But is this money going to our kids? No. While enrollment has declined by 18.3%, the number of WPS employees has increased by 51. And parents are being ignored. There is no transparency. When questions about curriculum are asked, the School Committee and Administration ignore the requests. Questions about politics in the schools or other legitimate topics are not responded to. As a Select Board Member recently told me, “talking to the School Committee is like talking to a brick wall.” Finally, the School Committee has recently garnered a great deal of negative publicity. The Committee and WPS officials recently had to admit violations of student civil rights and settle a lawsuit in federal court. The mishandling of a horrible assault on a student received regional press—all bad.

We can stick our heads in the sand and pretend that the status quo is great and these issues don’t exist. We can pretend that the priorities of ideology and academic theory are more important than academic rigor and critical thinking. Or, we can start to bring change. If elected, I will push for: a change in emphasis to achievement of academic excellence for all students, giving every kid in the system equal opportunity to reach their full potential; replacement of “Russian Math” with “Wellesley Math” in the public schools; academic freedom for all students and teachers, full diversity of thought and keeping our public schools free from political bias; ensuring that students are not divided into groups, but are unified in their mission to learn; transparency, respect and responsiveness for parents, opening up Committee meetings to the public, in person; eliminating the administrative bloat in WPS through vigorous oversight and work with Advisory; reigning in budget excesses so that funding is available for excellence in teaching and academic performance; creating a safe environment, physically and emotionally, for all students; and insisting on a full and frank assessment of the reasons for enrollment decline and outreach to parents to keep their families in the system.

TSR: As we go into our third calendar year of the pandemic, mental health issues are at the forefront of educators’ minds. How best can the system support students’ mental health?

Neal Glick: Like it or not, the reality is that we are entering onto the off-ramp of COVID restrictions in schools. One can argue about how the last two years have been handled, but what’s done is done. Looking to the future, we need to recognize that our kids have been through a lot. They have been exposed to fear. They have missed time in school. Learning has been interrupted. They have missed athletic competitions, rights of passage and many of the rituals or events that give memories for a lifetime in normal times. They have not been allowed to be just kids. Again, we need to change. We cannot just assume that kids will go back to normal and return to February, 2020. They will need support.

That support starts with parents. The School Committee has to reach out to parents to ensure that there is proper, scientific information available as well as encouragement for handling the effects of COVID restrictions at home. It also entails listening to the kids. Discussions need to occur, in schools and in the home. The input of our children is key.

We need to marshal our existing resources. We have extraordinary teachers. We have school psychologists and, as noted, we have engaged parents. We have a strong Board of Health. With proper planning, we can work together to help our kids through the transition back to the “old normal.” We can learn from other systems in other states and parts of the world who may have already taken the COVID off-ramp, and the published studies on those efforts. Much of this can be done in-house. If outside advice is necessary (and it may well be) then it needs to be viewed as a supplement and not a “go-to” response.

Finally, we need to make the COVID off-ramp a learning experience. We teach science in our schools. All of us, kids included, have lived over the past few years in one of the most significant scientific endeavors in our lifetime. Our kids can study this. They can think about options for handling the effects of the pandemic on them and others. This can be a healing effort as well as a terrific “teachable moment.” We might end up with some future virologists, epidemiologists and public health experts.

TSR: Is there anything else you’d like to say that the above questions did not cover?

Neal Glick: In a word, community. Public schools are the backbone of our community. They are a source of community pride. The kids in the schools are best friends, teammates, bandmates and lifelong acquaintances. Out teams and athletic competitions bring us together. By virtue of the steep and continuing enrollment decline we are losing that sense of community, as neighbor kids drift off to private schools. Wellesley will lose a great deal if we allow this to continue. We need change and we need it quickly.

Similarly, if we allow the schools to decline academically, we will cease to be a magnet for young families looking for a wonderful town with excellent public schools. Academic excellence, ratings and metrics matter. If we do not change course, eventually our community will suffer. Our property values will suffer as well. Thus, everyone in Town has “skin in this game,” whether you have kids in the system or not. The change that we need will impact us all.

TSR: How should they reach you if they want more information?

Neal Glick: Simple. NealforSC.com is our website and has a great deal of information. Nealforsc@gmail.com also allows for easy and direct email communication. You can find us on Facebook as well.

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Craig Mack, candidate for School Committee

TSR: Please introduce yourself to The Swellesley Report‘s readers.

Craig Mack: My name is Craig Mack and I am honored to be a candidate for Wellesley’s School Committee. I am running because I have a desire to contribute to the town’s education system in a constructive and positive manner. For me, this work is both deeply important and deeply personal. I am the proud father of four strong, independent women. My oldest daughter graduated from Wellesley High School in 2020. My other daughters are in grades 12, 9, and 8 in the Wellesley Public Schools. This is the basis for my pride in the school system and my desire to be involved. Between my children’s education and my 28-year career in higher education, I have a unique perspective to contribute to the School Committee.

My family and I have lived in Wellesley for ten years and my wife is a lifelong Wellesley resident. I am originally from the great state of Ohio but I relocated to New England 28 years ago to work at Boston University. Since that time, I have worked at two other higher education institutions while advancing my professional career. I have worked in both student services and academic affairs where my focus is always about academic success and student well-being. My professional roles have always centered on the well-being and success of students.  I currently serve as the Associate Provost for Student Achievement & Success at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences.

I have committed my life and my life’s work to education and student success. We can all agree we want the best for our schools and our children. My career has been focused on bringing people together. For the many issues that face the School Committee in the years to come, I am committed to carefully considering all perspectives of our community members to inform my recommendations and decisions. I would be proud to represent the interests of all members of our community. I am energized by this exciting opportunity and I would be honored to bring my passions, experiences, and commitments to this role.

TSR: If elected, what do you hope to accomplish during your tenure on the School Committee?

Craig Mack: I would like to recognize that this is a collaborative role, one that requires discussion, active listening, and partnership. While a candidate cannot make promises regarding policy outcomes, I can share my values and beliefs that will guide me in the role. First and foremost, I intend to keep the focus on academic excellence while developing the whole student. As we continue on the path to recovery from the pandemic, it is critically important to support students’ mental, emotional, and physical well-being. These are not mutually exclusive.

Other issues that will be a part of my work include:

• Creating a more effective line of communication between School Committee members, school administrators, parents, and students. The schools remain a top reason why people choose to live in Wellesley. Your voices and contributions are important to the growth and success of the schools.
• Creating more room for student input so that we can better understand their day-to-day experiences.
• Ensuring our students and graduates develop empathy and understanding for others by strengthening our passion for celebrating different backgrounds, experiences, and cultures.

TSR: As we go into our third calendar year of the pandemic, mental health issues are at the forefront of educators’ minds. How best can the school system support students’ mental health?

Craig Mack: Academic success and socio-emotional well-being go hand in hand. Our students cannot succeed academically if their social, emotional, and developmental needs are not being met. As we discuss every issue and consider all perspectives (community members, teachers and staff, parents, taxpayers, etc.), these discussions must always prioritize the needs of the students, whose education and well-being are entrusted to us.

We have yet to understand the full effect of the pandemic on our students and schools. Our school system needs to remain nimble and well equipped with the resources necessary to support the areas that most benefit students’ developmental needs and academic success. This is why student input is so crucial. We can only best support our students if we are actively engaged in listening to their experiences and needs. Let us tap into current resources such as school counselors, psychologists, social workers, and other experts who do this work with our students every day. Let us deploy Adjustment Counselors in all of the school buildings as part of our Pandemic Recovery Plan, and let us commit to keeping these roles as long as their support is needed by our students. While making use of the full potential of current resources and programs, we should expand upon these initiatives and make them core to our pandemic recovery. Let us collaborate with and listen to the students to find out what more we can be doing to best support them.

TSR: Is there anything else you’d like to say that the above questions did not cover?

Craig Mack: The Wellesley Public Schools are a major contributor to our robust community where we have all chosen to live and raise our families. As we look to the future, the School Committee and School Administration will need to foster flexibility and creativity in the schools’ use of constrained resources among competing priorities including:

• Financial resources;
• Personnel, especially teachers and administrative staff;
• Physical resources, including buildings, capital equipment, electronic communications equipment, etc.; and,
• The inevitable variation in the size, composition, and needs of the student population.

The Wellesley Public Schools need someone to galvanize the resources to preserve and improve our schools. I am that candidate. I look forward to the opportunity to serve on the School Committee and contribute to Wellesley’s future and its success.

TSR: How should voters reach you if they want more information?

Craig Mack: I truly appreciate your time and the opportunity for you to get to know me better! Please visit my campaign website at www.craigmackforwps.com or contact us at craigmackforwps@gmail.com.

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