The following letter to the editor was submitted by Andover resident Joel Blumstein, a former Andover School Committee member and the current chair of the West Elementary School Building Committee. The views expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Andover News. You can learn more about our policy on opinion and commentary on our Mission and Policies page.
I wholeheartedly support Emily DiCesaro and Sandis Wright for re-election to the Andover School Committee. There are many reasons but, given current challenges facing the Committee, I’d like to highlight what I consider the two most important – their experience and their independence.
Experience. Simply put, there is a huge base of knowledge which a Committee member needs to master to function effectively. This includes school and town budgets, open meeting law, collective bargaining, grievance procedures, Superintendent evaluations, policy, curriculum, and special education. It takes several years to learn this material. While it is healthy to have fresh perspective on any committee, we currently have two members who joined the School Committee only a year ago and who bring that fresh perspective. Were two new members to join this year, that would mean four out of five members with a year or less of experience. Through hard work, Sandis and Emily have acquired the necessary knowledge, and their re-election is needed to ensure a fully functioning committee.
Independence. It is critical that Committee members make their decisions based solely on facts and data, and not out of loyalty to any group or interest. When necessary, they must be willing to take positions, sometimes unpopular ones, that clash with others, be it school or town administrators, labor unions, other Committee members, or members of the public. Unfortunately, the challengers in this election do not appear to have that independence given their close alignment with the state-wide teachers’ union which has supported actions, including illegal ones, that have had a significant negative impact on the education of tens of thousands of students. Fortunately, Emily and Sandis possess the courage to act independently, to face the heat when necessary, and to always act in the best interests of our students.
Joel Blumstein
Andover
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