BELCHERTOWN — It is rare for Belchertown to have competition in local elections, but voters may be pleasantly surprised to see three contested seats on the ballot.
Most public discussion has been around the bid for Select Board between current Select Board Chair Lesa Lessard Pearson and Finance Committee Vice Chair Mike McMorrow. However, another race for two seats on the School Committee has brewed in the background between incumbent Heidi Gutekenst and newcomers Joshua Wallace and Hope Guardenier.
Despite their different approaches and goals to education, all three candidates are enthused that qualified individuals want to support Belchertown’s strong school system.
“I think that that’s good for democracy for there to be contested races rather than writing in the only name that’s on the ballot,” Guardenier said.
Voting begins at 8 a.m. on Monday at Belchertown High School.
Hope Guardenier
Guardenier moved to Belchertown 23 years ago for its strong school district, and education has remained a bright spot in her family. Her two children, one of which will receive his high school diploma next month, have taken advantage of the skilled educators, thriving music and arts programs and competitive sports teams. As a School Committee member, Guardenier hopes to not only maintain these opportunities, but expand on them.
“We have the opportunity to keep the district as a shining star of the town, I want to be a part of that,” she said.
In addition to her involvement as a former Board of Health Member and clerk for the Belchertown Education Foundation, Guardenier has 30 years of education experience under her belt. She runs School Spouts Educational Gardens and the Farm and Garden Camp at Hampshire College. Both small businesses provide a hands-on, interdisciplinary approach to science, culture and health. She also brings some of these programs to the Belchertown Schools during the winter.
“Kids can be very disconnected from where their food comes from, and I think that’s a loss for everyone in society because food is a basic need and what you eat matters,” Guardenier said.
This emphasis on connection and communication in her day job is the center of her school committee candidacy. Guardenier aims to widen the conversations about the school’s future from administrative leadership and a small selection of involved residents to the community at large.
“I think we as a town are our own best resource, so I’d like to create more communications with the community,” she said.
Schools across the state continue to grapple with high student needs and limited resources, but rural schools in particular are disregarded by the state school funding formula, Guardenier said. This needs to change if Belchertown Schools want to remain vibrant and strong, she said.
“If we can team up with the neighboring towns struggling with this same broken funding model, we can give a more united front and move the needle,” she said.
Heidi Gutekenst
Soon after moving to Belchertown, Gutekenst ran for her first term as a School Committee member. Nine years later, she remains a strong advocate for Belchertown’s students, and she hopes to continue supporting the schools for another term.
“I’ve been finding it a very meaningful experience,” Gutekenst said. “It’s certainly not easy, but when I’m able to bridge the gap between the things educators want, things our town officials want and the things our students need, it’s really rewarding.”
Gutekenst pulls from her expertise in youth development. She has managed youth camps for the YMCA and Northampton Recreation Department. She also served as the School Age Director of Belchertown Day School.
The most memorable moment of her tenure has been the closure of Cold Spring School this past year. There were a lot of details to shutting down the school, rearranging the school grades among the remaining buildings and transitioning families and staff to their new home-away-from-home. But the end result was worth the work.
“It was such a larger undertaking than we expected, and the school committee put a lot of care into the process,” Gutekenst said. “It’s a really logical step to go.”
Gutekenst expresses gratitude to the voters for allowing the School Committee to shut the building’s doors thoughtfully by passing the Propostion 2½ override last year. It was an example of the town and schools working together to provide the best for students.
Budgeting challenges, however, will persist. Gutekenst said the number of English language learners and special education students grows each year, as does the demand for specific services. While she served as chair, the School Committee pursued creative solutions with fees and school closures. Now, Gutekenst is ready to invest more in the community.
“Putting more resources there through staffing and programming is how we are managing to get through the future,” she said.
Joshua Wallace
When Wallace went from school to school across the state, he noticed few other schools had as many lifelong residents teaching the next generation of townies as Belchertown. That small community feel is what attracted him to the town years ago, and now he wants to help maintain this connection as a member of the School Committee.
“That value drives this love of learning in Belchertown,” Wallace said.
Wallace served one term on the committee before the COVID-19 pandemic, but unfortunately stepped away due to complications at work.
“I got to know the interworkings of schools and learned that our schools aren’t doing the best we can for kids, so I wanted to make some changes,” Wallace said.
As a Northampton police officer, Wallace specializes in mental health and crisis response. He is a crisis negotiator for the regional Special Emergency Response Team, and worked as the school resource officer before Northampton cut the position in 2020.
Leveraging his expertise in this field, Wallace aims to bring mental health policy at Belchertown Public School into the modern age. He wants to create mechanisms for students to see their therapists, either in person or over video call, during or after school. Policies around teacher enforcement of 504 plans, which provide medical accommodations for students with disabilities, should also be strengthened.
“These policies are really archatic for the growing needs of students,” Wallace said.
The divisions within and between committees are a major concern Wallace aims to address. He thinks political opinions of each committee member are hindering the main goal, which is to provide the best services for students.
“I think people are getting too tied up in the politics of things, and really we should be focusing ourselves on what the path is ahead,” Wallace said.
