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Six candidates are vying for three at large seats on the Haverhill School Committee in the city’s general election tomorrow, Tuesday, Nov. 4.
They are, in ballot order, Penelope Guerrero, Josiah E. Morrow, Davis V. Nguyen, Toni A. Sapienza-Donais, Fred A. Simmons and Daniel P. Spheekas. All except Nguyen were raised in Haverhill and attended its public schools. Nguyen moved to Haverhill five years ago.
Guerrero is a freelance shoe designer while Morrow is a staffing and recruiting manager; Nguyen, an accountant; Sapienza-Donais, a retired Haverhill school teacher; Simmons, retired custodian and vice commander of American Legion Post 4; and Spheekas, a science teacher in Lynn Public Schools.
The top three vote getters will replace the three current at-large members, Vice Chair Richard J. Rosa, Paul A. Magliocchetti and Maura L. Ryan-Ciardiello. Ryan-Ciardiello is running to represent Ward 3 on the School Committee.
Each candidate appeared on WHAV’s morning program and answered five questions. Here are their answers in the order the candidates will appear on the ballot.
Why do you want to serve on Haverhill’s School Committee?
“I had a great experience growing up in Haverhill. Through the school system I was very involved, just kind of like how I am now. I belong on many boards and that goes all the way back to being in high school and growing up and participating in after school programs and having great teachers and mentors. I want to make sure everybody has the same experience I did,” Guerrero said.
“Well my desire to serve on the School Committee is driven both by my commitment to Haverhill as is demonstrated through my years of community organization involvement and the professional skill sets I bring to the table which I feel will be very important dealing with budgetary and other challenges in the next two years.” Morrow said.
“I want to serve on the school board because I want to help students achieve in life. Basically, I want them to be able to be academically ready for college or if they want to choose the technical path, I want them to be technically ready for that path,” Nguyen said.
“I am really dedicated to the Haverhill Public Schools. I feel that there’s a lot that I can offer with my experience and I feel I can make a difference. I care very deeply about having all children in Haverhill be successful,” Sapienza-Donais said.
“I want to serve on the school board because I feel like it’s been a long time during negotiations for certain staff members of the school system. I feel they weren’t really treated fairly at some points. A lot of it is I believe when they bring in attorneys it seems like it just drags out and spends a lot of the taxpayer money that we really don’t need,” Simmons said.
“My goal is just to try to improve schools, however I can, to facilitate some teamwork and make things better,” Spheekas said.
Would you vote to ban cellphones in the classroom and what’s driving your answer?
“In my family some high school-age students that are afraid of not having their phone available in case something happens we’ve talked about some solutions there. Maybe phones sit somewhere behind where the teachers are in a cellphone cubby of some sort where they are out of the hands of students but assessable in case they need them,” Guerrero said.
“Yes, I support a bell-to-bell ban of cellphones that allows student to leave them in backpacks and lockers so they are accessible in the event of an emergency as parents have expressed that concern. But clearly, as the question alludes, student mental health and learning have been distracted by cell phones,” Morrow said.
“I would like to ban cellphones actually in the school. That’s because students should be listening to their teachers to learn every thing they can to get higher SAT scores and, if they are in high school, to pass the MCAS exam. Just basically be academically ready and not be on their cellphones all day,” Nguyen said.
“I would be leaning definitely to yes as I would be looking at the data that’s out there from other school districts that have already put this into place, the bell-to-bell system,” Sapienza-Donais said.
“We need to gather the phones the minute they come into every classroom into a locked situation where the phones can’t go off or anything like that,” Simmons said.
“When it comes to students having cellphones in the school, I think it is hurting engagement. Kids are distracted and it actually is one of the big reasons why you see an increase in bullying as well,” Spheekas said.
School administrators say attendance is a major problem. Briefly, where do you think the problem lies?
“If we could figure out what the root cause is what’s causing kids to be late, we can teach them what they need to prepare beforehand to get there on time,” Guerrero said.
“So that’s something if I were to be elected, I would work on with the superintendent and try to figure out ways to excite students to come to school, whether it’s extracurricular activities after school or it’s more how they want to learn in school, giving them freedom in school, just exciting them to come to school every day,” Nguyen said.
“Well, I think the problem lies with making sure that we have the appropriate policies and communication in place. Part of it is communication from our School Committee as well having relationships with parents and families to understand the important of attendance,” Morrow said.
“I think that we have to revamp some of the ways we’re presenting our curriculum. If you look at other districts throughout the state of Massachusetts, they have a very strong STEM program which puts the academics on the child’s hands-on activity where they create and solve real world problems,” Donais-Sapienza said.
“A lot of them are actually trying to work to sustain their families and they need to make money to help their families out. Bottom line is that we need to have outlet programs to actually help students to make up that time,” Simmons said.
“I think that a team in the School Committee, no matter who’s there, needs to develop a plan and try to address what the root cause is, causes not cause because there are going to be many, are and then react,” Spheekas said.
What steps would you support to get the kids back in the classroom?
“I’d try to see and start with the students who are chronically late. Is it a parent dropping them off that’s rushing to work? Are they not getting to the bus on time? What are the scenarios? How can we help? And how can we teach them how to manage their time?” Guerrero said.
“I would echo what the principal at Haverhill High School has done making sure folks are in their seats at that time, having a lower tolerance policy and then really opening a communication flow with folks where there is a chronic problem to see what’s going on and how our support staff can assist them,” Morrow said.
Nguyen referred back to his previous answer.
“We need to hire more STEM teachers. We have to get a strong STEM program and I believe that will help students get excited about learning,” Sapienza-Donais said.
“I believe we need to put our heads together like a task force and actually get the parents that are involved if these students are actually seem to be the same ones all the time. We need to really sit down with them and be there to help them from day one,” Simmons said.
“I think that’s going to be highly situational depending on what the issues are. I don’t think there’s going to be one overarching thing that you can do to get all the kids who are chronically tardy and chronically absent back into the school,” Spheekas said.
Would you support going to the mayor for more money, supporting a Proposition 2 ½ override or cutting staff to avoid another teachers strike?
“So I propose doing an audit first, see what spending looks like, what funding looks like, see if there’s any overlapping, any redundancies we can cut off and start there before affecting the classroom and taking teachers out of the classroom,” Guerrero said.
“The first step to any solution is going through line by line in the budget and making sure that all our moneys are being spent 100% effectively and efficiently towards student-focused outcomes and how we can handle that first and foremost,” Morrow said.
“I would have to take a look at the budget with the city and see where we can cut expenses and, from there, we can give the teachers raises like they deserve to be on par with other cities,” Nguyen said.
“We need to look at the amount of administrators that have been added in the last seven to 10 years is astronomical. We need to get more teachers into the classroom. We have to watch where our spending is happening,” Sapienza-Donais said.
“The short term one is actually to go to the mayor and ask if we can take some more of the slush fund money that we have. And it is still above the percentages that we can borrow from,” Simmons said.
“So there’s several different things that could possibly act as a solution. One big thing right now that’s a talking point is Chapter 70 at the state and trying to realign the weighing and how they provide funds to Haverhill, Lawrence, Lynn that are a little bit more marginalized,” Spheekas said.
Tomorrow is Haverhill’s general election is Tuesday, Nov. 4. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. To check on a poll location, go online to the Massachusetts Secretary of State’s office.