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Candidates Dr. Catherine Keating and Joseph Johnson.
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Candidate Tom Loughman and moderator Margo Bowden of the League of Women Voters.

Williamstown Elementary School Candidates Make Their Case

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
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Three candidates for a seat on the Williamstown School Committee stated their positions at a candidates forum held by the League of Women Voters and moderated by Margo Bowden, second from left.
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The three candidates for two open seats on the School Committee had a chance to introduce themselves to the community on Tuesday in a public forum hosted by the League of Women Voters.
 
Joseph Johnson, Dr. Catherine Keating and Tom Loughman each talked about their own experiences as parents of children at Williamstown Elementary School and what they saw as potential challenges to the single school district.
 
"One of the biggest reasons we chose Williamstown was because of the impression made by the elementary school," said Keating, who moved here with her family about three years ago. "We were immediately impressed with the staff, the building the philosophy. It's a big reason we chose to live here.
 
"And we've been impressed with all the teachers our kids have had. We thought we hit the lottery with [first grade teacher] Corrin Benn, and every year has been great."
 
Keating, a family practitioner, said she is a native of nearby Upstate New York who moved back to the area with her family looking for the right situation in which to raise their children.
 
Loughman was in a similar situation when he took a job at the Clark Art Insitute, where he currently is the associate director.
 
"The school is much more than a handsome facility," Loughman said. "Williamstown Elementary is a vibrant community focused on instruction of our children."
 
Loughman has children in Grades 2 and 3 at WES.
 
Johnson, a teacher at Lenox Memorial Middle and High School, has lived in Williamstown for 14 years. He has one child who is a freshman at Mount Greylock Regional School  and another who is a fifth-grader at Williamstown.
 
"My family has benefited in ways we can never repay from this little school," Johnson said. "I'm running because I believe that the way we support public schools is a measure of our support for one another."
 
As an educator, Johnson arguably brings the most direct education experience to the race, and he cited his work as a negotiator for Lenox's teachers' union when moderator Margo Bowden asked the candidates to talk about their experience.
 
Johnson said he believes Williamstown — like Lenox — is a community that will support its elementary school financially.
 
"Negotiations don't have to be contentious when people on both sides of the table have the same goal in mind," Johnson said. "I have every confidence that the community's goals and the staff's goals are the same."
 
Loughman and Keating each were able to point to experience in budgetary matters in their chosen profession. Loughman serves on the budget review committee at the Clark. Keating is a partner in her medical practice.
 
"We spend a lot of time talking about the budget," she said. "In medicine, like in education, the money's short. We spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to run a tight ship and also provide excellent health care.
 
"I think a lot of those principles apply."
 
Bowden asked the candidates to comment on a specific issues the School Committee faces annually: the number of incoming school-choice pupils.
 
All three agreed that school-choice students bring diversity to the K-6 elementary school.
 
"I think it's a testament to the quality of the school that people in the surrounding communities want to make an effort to get into the school," Loughman said.
 
But he noted that it is a concern for the district that school-choice funding — set by the commonwealth — comes to about half of the per-child cost of a Williamstown education.
 
"It's a great question and one the School Committee will have more of a voice on," Loughman said. "The wise answer will come from more discussion in our community."
 
Keating said she thought the current school choice system is working.
 
"It allows us to get a little extra money and round out classes so classroom sizes stay small," she said. "I wouldn't want to bring in too many kids from outside the town just to get more money, but I think it's a good program."
 
Johnson said he believes that school choice is a way to bring economic diversity to the school community.
 
When asked to name a challenge faced by the school, Loughman talked about the coming new PARCC, or Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, standardized tests, which likely will replace the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, and how the School Committee can support teachers' efforts to adjust to that and the new Common Core standardized curriculum.
 
Keating noted the possibility of an expanded Mount Greylock Regional School District and whether a more formal relationship with the junior-senior high school and Lanesborough Elementary School is in the best interest of Williamstown.
 
"I think it will be a challenge to come up with the best decision for WES," Keating said. "We have an excellent school. We need to protect what we have and improve what we have. We need to be realistic about the financial impact not being regionalized has for the school but also protect the resources at the school."
 
Johnson said that even if it costs money to keep Williamstown as a single school district, it might be the right choice for the town's elementary school.
 
"If you look at the issues at [Mount Greylock] with the various cuts they've made, a lot of that has to do with an unwillingness that I don't understand to come to the community and say, 'This is what we need, and are we willing to make that sacrifice?'
 
"I think the community is willing to do what it has to do to make these schools excellent. If it means we don't regionalize and it costs a little more, I'd be in favor of that."
 
Voters will choose from among the three candidates when they go to the polls on Tuesday, May 12. On Thursday, April 16, the League of Women Voters will host a forum for the four candidates vying for a single open seat on the Board of Selectmen. That 7 p.m. forum will be telecast on the town's community access channel, WilliNet; replays of Tuesday's elementary school forum can be viewed on WilliNet or its website.

Tags: candidate forum,   election 2015,   school committee,   WES,   


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Letter: Vote for Someone Other Than Trump

Letter to the Editor

To the Editor:

I urge my Republican friends to vote for someone other than Donald Trump in November. His rallies are getting embarrassingly sparse and his speeches more hostile and confused. He's looking desperately for money, now selling poor-quality gold sneakers for $399. While Trump's online fans embrace him more tightly, more and more of the people who actually worked with Trump have broken with him, often issuing statements denouncing his motives, intellect, and patriotism.

Mike Pence is the most recent, but the list now includes William Barr, former attorney general (who compared him to a 9-year-old); former NSC Chairs Bolton and McMaster; former Defense Secretaries Mattis and Esper; former Chiefs of Staff Kelly and Mulvaney; former Secretary of State Tillerson; former Homeland Security chief Bossert; and former Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, who referred to Trump as a "wannabe dictator." This level of rejection by former colleagues is unprecedented in American politics.

Are these people just cozying up to the Establishment "Uniparty," as his fans would have it? No. Most of them are retired from politics. It's just that they see the danger most clearly. General Milley is right. Trump's most constant refrain is his desire to hurt his critics, including traditional conservatives. Although Liz Cheney lost her Wyoming seat in Congress, he now wants her jailed for investigating him.

This man should not be president of the USA.

Jim Mahon
Williamstown, Mass.

 

 

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