Thursday, October 29, 2009

EASTHAMPTON - The School Committee gets a makeover this term, with veteran Chairman Thomas Brown and longtime member Brian Fink stepping down and newcomers Nancy Lee Sykes and Bonnie Katusich poised to step on.

The ballot will have six candidates for six available seats. In addition to Katusich and Sykes, incumbents Peter Gunn, Lori Ingraham, LaDonna Crow and Eric Yates are finishing their first terms on the School Committee and seeking re-election.

Meanwhile, a new superintendent will join the board in July. The School Committee is charged with electing a successor to Superintendent Deborah Carter, who retires in June.

The candidates share a goal of choosing a strong superintendent and supporting the estimated $48 million brand new high school. Katusich, who has more than 20 years of experience in accounting, said she wants to help people understand how the project will affect their taxes while Sykes looks forward to learning "what this community most wants and needs in its schools" through discussions with faculty, parents and School Committee members. Katusich also supports moving the fifth grade from the middle school to elementary school. Incumbents Gunn and Yates push for continued enrichment program offerings, among other academically driven goals. Crow advocates for longer school days, particularly at the middle school level. Ingraham commended the School Committee for its positive energy and said she wants to "keep that momentum going." What follows is a detailed look at the candidates, their decision to run for School Committee and what they hope to achieve as an elected school official in Easthampton.

NANCY LEE SYKES

Age: 68

Address: 32 Mutter St.

Family: Christopher Reese, son, lives in New York City.

Sykes has more than 40 years of experience in education, most recently as a teacher at Kings Academy in the country of Jordan, where she will be on special assignment from March to June. She intends to find out if she can contribute during those months to Easthampton School Committee meetings using Skype, an online video conferencing service. An Easthampton resident for two years, Sykes said she decided to run for School Committee because she wants to contribute to this community.

"I saw in the paper there was an opening on the school board and I thought, ¿That's a very natural place for me to be'," Sykes said. "I have been a lawyer and a minister, but my real heart is in education. Even as a lawyer and a minister I was involved in teaching. Education is where I belong."

Sykes taught in public high school and law school, where she served as dean of students. She said she has developed a keen sense for the role education plays in towns and cities.

When "new faculty would ask where a good place to live was often times they would say ¿what is the school system like?'" Sykes said. "They didn't ask about restaurants, shopping or theater. How we educate our children to me is a mark of our town and the people of our town. The issue to me is to make our schools so well known and so respected that people want to live here."

Sykes said she has "a lot to learn" about school needs. She plans to talk to parents, faculty and teachers about their "wants and needs," and to get an education on school issues from School Committee members.

"I don't think you can say that I go in with an agenda," Sykes said.

Communication, she added, is her priority. Sykes said communication between faculty, students and parents about curriculum, school events and goals is one measure of the School Department's success.

"You have to work together," she said. "You've got to talk to each other. Our children spend more time in schools than they do at home."

BONNIE KATUSICH

Address: 12 Sheffield Drive

Age: 47

Family: husband, John Ewell; sons Joe Katusich, sophomore, Easthampton High School and Sean Ewell, first-grader, Maple Elementary School; daughters Jessica Katusich, sixth-grade student, White Brook Middle School and Lillian Ewell, third-grade student, Maple Elementary School.

With four children in city schools, Katusich said she is running for School Committee because she has a vested interest in the school system. As the current director of operations for the Willie Ross School for Deaf in Longmeadow and someone with more than 20 years of experience as a certified public accountant, Katusich believes her financial background will make her an asset to the School Committee. Although it's too early in the planning stages to be certain, the estimated $48 million new high school could cost roughly $300 per taxpayer, Katusich said, and she intends to educate the public about how the project will affect their taxes and why she believes it's a good move for the city.

"A lot of our neighbors and friends have lost jobs, so it's a tough sell," Katusich said. "But I think it's important to keep the future of our city and our youth in our minds. I don't think when times are tough you have to stop making improvements in what you're doing. In fact that's the worst thing you can do."

Another notion Katusich supports is relocating fifth-grade students from White Brook Middle School to the elementary school buildings, leaving the middle school to serve grades 6 through 8. Katusich said she supports the switch because the current arrangement makes for a difficult social change in fifth grade, when students ages 10 and 11 should "be able to be a kid and have recess."

"It's such a critical age in development," Katusich said. "They want to be liked so if they're in a school with three ages above them and they think in order to be liked they have to wear certain styles of clothing or act a certain way they're a lot more impressionable and don't understand the negativity behind that that some of the older kids might. I've seen my kids struggle with it."

LADONNA CROW

Address: 13 Holyoke St.

Age: 42

Family: Husband, Clay; son, Austin, freshman, Easthampton High School.

As an incumbent on the School Committee and chairwoman of its policy subcommittee, Crow said she interested in contributing to the superintendent search. Experience and creativity in solving problems are strengths Crow will look for in superintendent candidates.

"I want to be sure we're looking at a wide variety of choices, not just in the Pioneer Valley, but really a collection of backgrounds," she said.

Crow said she is also passionate about working on longer school days, particularly at the middle school. She said an additional hour would provide more time for art, music, choir, band and foreign language.

"There needs to be more time for creative learning," she said.

Crow also supports the new high school project.

"I think it's an investment the town needs to take," she said. "I want to stretch the word investment because it's not an expense as much as money going out of pocket for an investment in the community."

PETER GUNN

Address: 8 Brewster Avenue

Age: 46

Family: Wife, Robin, paraprofessional, Maple Elementary School; Couper, fourth-grade student, Center Elementary School; William, second-grade student, Pepin Elementary School

A School Committee incumbent and history, government and economics teacher for the private Williston Northampton School in Easthampton, Gunn said he is running for a second term on the school board because he is excited by the challenge of helping the city provide a good education for its children. Gunn said his priorities include supporting the new high school, electing an "outstanding" new superintendent, organizing elementary education in a way that best suits student learning and continuing enrichment education programs from the elementary to high school levels.

Gunn supports reorganizing the elementary schools by grade so each grade meets in the same building, which he said will challenge people's notions of what it means to be part of a community school or neighborhood school. Moving grades from all three buildings to one joint building would stimulate faculty discussion among each grade and create opportunities for grade-specific activities, Gunn said.

"It's a good way to go," he said.

LORI INGRAHAM

Address: 22 Picard Circle

Age: 42

Family: Husband, David; son, Jacob, sophomore, Easthampton High School; daughter, Jessica, seventh-grade student, White Brook Middle School

After two years on the School Committee and one term as chairwoman of the finance subcommittee, Ingraham said she is running for a second term on the board because one is "not enough time to learn everything." A full-time assistant treasurer at Easthampton Savings Bank, Ingraham said she enjoys giving back to the school system as a committee member because she can't volunteer during the day.

"This is the way I can help out and stay involved," she said.

Representing Easthampton on the board of governors for Hampshire Educational Collaborative, Ingraham said she is excited about the direction the School Committee is headed. She said she wants to see that the new high school project goes through and she looks forward to "finding the right" superintendent.

"Debbie's done a fabulous job and I just want to keep that momentum going," Ingraham said.

ERIC YATES

Address: 27 Garfield Avenue

Age: 38

Family: Wife, Kara McElhone; daughters Ava McElhone Yates, fifth-grade student, White Brook Middle School and Ruby McElhone Yates, first-grade student, Center School

An Easthampton resident for 11 years and incumbent on the School Committee, Yates said he is running again to support the district's efforts to offer the highest-quality academic experience to its students and to work with administrators, staff, and parents to handle the challenges ahead.

His priorities include hiring a new superintendent with the appropriate experience and skills set, raising the bar for academic excellence through creative strategies, programs and a curriculum that supports 21st century skills and planning for a new high school building and developing a long-term plan for all school buildings.

Catherine Baum can be reached at cbaum@gazettenet.com.