School Committee Candidates to Answer Voter Questions at Forum

Haverhill City Hall. (WHAV News file photograph.)

The Haverhill Education Coalition and Haverhill Education Foundation are sponsoring a forum on Wednesday, Oct. 11 at 7 p.m. for voters to learn more about the five candidates for School Committee.

The event takes place in the local access TV studio at Harbor Place. HC Media will televise the event and WHAV will air the forum live on WHAV-FM 97.9.

George Moriarty, executive director of Workforce Development and Corporate Relations at Northern Essex Community College, will moderate a 45-minute question-and-answer session, with questions focusing on the Education Coalition’s key issues of early literacy, the Haverhill High School dropout rate and professional development for teachers

Panelists Joanna Dix, a member of the coalition, and Dr. Thomas Grannemann, an economist and statistician who created the BenchmarkHaverhillSchools.com website, will ask questions of the candidates

Of the five candidates, two are incumbents:

Maura Ryan-Ciardiello, of 75 Hamilton Ave., is a former teacher in the Haverhill school system. She is completing her first four-year term on the School Committee. A lifelong city resident, Ryan-Ciardiello received her degree in Education from Salem State College and attended University College in Ireland during summer breaks in high school and college.

Paul A. Magliocchetti, of 15 Kimball Hill Drive, is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross and Suffolk Law School. He is a partner in the law firm of Sheehan, Schiavoni, Jutras and Magliocchetti. Magliocchetti is completing his second four-year term on the School Committee. He is one of two candidates in the Oct. 10 Democratic primary for the 3rd Essex District House seat recently vacated by Rep. Brian S. Dempsey.

Challengers are:

Richard J. Rosa, of 139 Kenoza St., an attorney practicing in Haverhill for 20 years. He and a partner operate a buyer agent real estate business. He graduated from Northeastern University with a journalism degree in 1991, and attended New England Law Boston at night while working full-time, receiving a law degree in 1995.

Richard E. Smyth, of 2 S. New St., is a public school teacher in Stoneham with experience teaching at the college level. He attended the University of Florida where he earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees and a PhD, all in English.

Katrina E.J. Hobbs Everett, of 41 S. Central St., is a member of the Haverhill High School Class of 1999. She graduated from Northern Essex Community College and University of Masschusetts Boston. She has spent the past 20 years working with various service agencies, specializing in youth advocacy.

The candidates will remain after the Q&A session for a reception, giving those who attend the forum the chance to meet each candidate and discuss issues.

Admission is free, but seating is limited.

The city’s municipal election for mayor, City Council and School Committee is Tuesday, Nov. 7.

 

 

 

 

 

5 thoughts on “School Committee Candidates to Answer Voter Questions at Forum

  1. There is an estimated 1,100 students attending Haverhill public schools who are children of parents in this country illegally. This is costing Haverhill taxpayers $13.2MILLION EVERY year.

    Each of these candidates needs to be asked if this is fair to Haverhill citizens and if they have a plan to stop it.

    • Hi Jack

      Those are interesting numbers – and, if factual, devastating to the tax payer. Is there a way for you to verify those numbers for me? Not being a wise-guy as I’m sure you know my concerns – but would love to see those figures in black and white somewhere. Thanks Jack!

      • COB, I first learned of that figure reading WHAV. A spokesperson for the ultra liberal. pro-illegal immigration advocacy group The Merrimack Valley Project stated that 15% of all students in Haverhill public schools were children of parents illegally in the country. Haverhill has a total of 7,452 students. 15% = 1,118 students. If MVP wants to use that figure to advocate for their positions I’m going to use it too.

        Is this number accurate? I have no idea. Asking my kids and talking to teachers the number could actually be double this figure. Whatever it is, it’s too much. It only takes 83 kids to cost taxpayers $1MILLION dollars. Is it safe to say there are easily 83 kids in each grade? Let’s face it, all the liberals running HPS are never going to reveal the actual number.

        • According to MCAS, 2016 per-pupil costs in Haverhill was just under $13K per student. That comes to over $14.5 million for education costs for invader children (which they have to do).

          That’s just education costs, everyone knows the cost of supporting invaders continues to rise YoY. Of course, the amusing side of all this is when classrooms have 30 kids in them and supporters of invaders wonder why their child isn’t receiving the attention they need. Or teachers, who are at the mercy of political policy, have such crap starting pay for what can sometimes be teaching in some of the worst teaching environments. Not sure why teachers unions continue to support those who make their jobs evermore harder.

          Supporters of invaders either don’t pay anything extra themselves, or want everyone else to pay simply because they have no skin in. City “leaders” created this by opening the welcoming mat, and then wonder why Haverhill, already challenged academically, performs so badly. Now they can choke on their ideology and failure, even though Mayor Jimmy et al will never accept responsibility for causing such failures in our education system.

          • Duncan, thanks for the update on per pupil cost. I was using the figure of $12K per student.

            Teachers haven’t quite figured out that their union leadership has thrown them under the bus. Why they aren’t controlling their own work environment based on the number of students per classroom, in the same way nurses unions control their workload based on patients numbers, is confusing.