News & Events
Melrose School Committee candidates lock horns in second debate
October 27, 2009boston.com, By Travis Andersen, Town Correspondent
Two challengers for seats on the School Committee and one incumbent sparred on questions of budget items and meeting priorities - among other issues - at a debate on Monday sponsored by the citizens group Melrose Cares and the North Shore Tab, a local news blog.
Committee chair Christine Casatelli participated in the forum at Melrose Middle School, along with challengers Carrie Kourkoumelis and Jean-Daniel LaRock.
Asked by former City Solicitor John Cinella what items the candidates would preserve in the face of likely budget cuts next spring, Kourkoumelis and LaRock took aim at what they called an unnecessary expenditure - a roughly $15,000 consulting fee to an outside firm advising the committee on a new strategic plan for the school district.
“The best ideas won’t come from any consultant,” LaRock said, adding that the committee should rely mainly on input from teachers and families in crafting the plan.
Kourkoumelis added that the consultant’s responsibilities should go to Superintendent Joseph Casey, who’s slated to earn $143,932 in fiscal year 2010.
“In dire financial times, this is certainly a task that the superintendent should be able to encompass,” she said.
Casatelli defended the consulting fee during her rebuttal, calling it a “wise expenditure,” since the firm will cull valuable data from several sources.
“We need a strategic plan that is data driven,” she said.
Asked by Globe reporter and debate moderator Sean Murphy what the candidates would change in terms of committee protocol, Kourkoumelis called for strict adherence to public records law.
“It seems that we’ve often slipped into a mode where the public is often viewed as adversarial,” she said.
LaRock lamented what he called the committee’s reluctance to discuss issues surrounding instruction and student achievement, instead delegating those areas to Casey.
“The School Committee shouldn’t be a dispassionate overseer,” he said.
Casatelli took exception, insisting that she cared deeply about the schools along with the other incumbents.
“I don’t think that means that I have to take off my shoe and hammer on the desk at the meetings,” she said, adding that the committee has to spend time writing the budget, relying the educators and Casey to provide feedback on the most effective teaching strategies.
As for public records law, Casatelli said the committee upholds it, pointing repeatedly during the evening to the panel’s efforts at putting meeting minutes online and recruiting parents to serve on focus groups to offer feedback during the early stages of the strategic plan.
“You’ve spoken, we’ve heard, and we’re making changes,” she said in response to a similar question on public engagement.
Voters will select three members to the School Committee on Nov. 3. Incumbents Don Lehman and Joe Spinale, as well as challenger Scott Conway, round out the field. They declined to participate in Monday’s forum, citing what they called the sponsors’ divisiveness.
Monday’s debate - as well as an earlier forum sponsored by the local chapter of the League of Women Voters - will air repeatedly on MMTV, the city’s local access channel.