Tracy Novick: Why I'm Running For Worcester School Committee

Worcester MA

11 October, 2021

7:00 PM

Description

WORCESTER, MA — The Worcester School Committee race may be one of the most pivotal in Worcester this year. Four incumbents — Tracy Novick, Laura Clancey, Dianna Biancheria and Molly McCullogh — are all seeking another term in 2021. Meanwhile, committee members John Monfredo and John Foley are not seeking reelection, and four challengers — Sue Mailman, Jermoh Kamara, Jermaine Johnson and Shanel Soucy — have stepped into the race. Any combination of candidates could emerge after the Nov. 2. election. But there's no question the new School Committee will have a lot of work to do. Worcester has begun the process of searching for a new superintendent after the committee voted in September not to renew Maureen Binienda's contract when it ends in June. The committee will also have a role in spending the district's American Rescue Plan Act, and could see a transition from at-large representation to a district system. Worcester Patch asked each of the eight candidates to answer a questionnaire to tell voters why they're running, and what they plan to do as a School Committee member. Here's what incumbent Tracy Novick said. Why did you choose to run again in 2021? I chose to run for another term because there is so much to do, and this is really an exciting time for the Worcester Public Schools. We'll be appointing a new superintendent before the end of the school year; we are working on the appropriate spending of federal pandemic funding and the new Student Opportunity Act funding (finally!); we're moving to in-house transportation; and we're continuing to work on the facilities needs of the district. All this comes as the city, as we know from the census, continues to grow and diversify, and as our school system changes with it. Can you tell voters a little about your personal background? Where did you go to school? I'm a former Massachusetts public high school teacher, who stayed home when our daughters were young. Two of the three of them are now Worcester Public Schools graduates, attending college; the youngest is now a sophomore at Burncoat. What drew me into running for school committee initially was working on this system my daughters were attending. That has gotten me involved further in school finance issues, which led to my current position as a Field Director with the Massachusetts Association of School Committees. I hold a B.A. in English Language and Literature from Smith College, and M.A.T. in Secondary English from Boston University, and a license in school business administration through coursework at Worcester State University. The school committee approved a new sex-ed curriculum last spring, but a small movement that has come out against it. Can you tell voters your view of this curriculum and what it does for students? I am an enthusiastic supporter of this curriculum, which is well overdue; Worcester has been well behind much of the rest of the state in adopting a comprehensive, scientifically founded, inclusive, age appropriate curriculum on sexual health. The experience of our students has varied widely across the district on this matter. Decades of research on this all is very clear: comprehensive sexual health education brings down teen pregnancy and STD rates. It is also necessary in order to create the inclusive supportive community that we know our LGBTQIA students deserve. We owe our students no less. Like many districts, Worcester had to put a remote learning system in place during the pandemic. How do you think the district succeeded and failed at that, and what improvements still need to be made? As I said at the time, we failed early on in not getting technology to students as quickly as we could have; this was a district-level failing. I think once we committed to remote learning last year, there were many successes for many of our students, due to the ongoing hard work of so many of our teachers and staff. It is a challenging model for some; in particular some of our students with special needs find it challenging, and it doesn't in the main work as well for younger students. I am hopeful that it opened our eyes to new means and measures of student engagement. I also continue to hope that it loosened some of the seat-boundedness of student learning. Snacks and bathroom breaks are part of being human, not disruptions. The school committee will search for a new superintendent in the next term. How should that search be conducted, and what are you looking for a candidate? I'm pleased to be part of the search committee Mayor Joseph Petty appointed. It's the intent of the committee to have a comprehensive national search, and we're currently seeking an executive search firm to staff it. We'll be particularly focusing next on community input in district leadership needs, which is scheduled to take place with the search firm before the end of the year It is crucial that this really bring in all of various groups of our community members, in multiple languages, in different locations in the city, with childcare and transportation as needed. I'm particularly seeking a superintendent who has strategic vision in managing a district of Worcester's size, someone who thinks in terms of systems to solve problems, rather than putting out brush fires. I'm looking for solid, substantial experience in managing thousands of district employees — WPS has over 5,000 now — and a multi-hundred million dollar budget: the WPS budget is nearly half a billion dollars annually now. I want to be certain this person is grounded already in those experiences, so those do not need to be learned here. The Worcester Public Schools and its students and staff are far too valuable to be where one learns such skills. I also really want to see someone who embraces the district as it is. Our district is majority families who speak a language other than English at home, is a plurality Latinx, and is majority children who live in poverty. What are our dreams for our students? Embodying some of who our children can be is also part of what I want in a new superintendent.