Due to recent redistricting, three incumbent Northampton School Committee members will be fighting for two at-large seats. The school committee seat is a two-year term and is chaired by Northampton Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra ’96.
Incumbent committee member, public school teacher, and long-time Northampton resident Aline Davis is running for one of the seats, along with fellow incumbent Gwen Agna, former principal of Jackson Street Elementary School. Meg Robbins AC ’82, a former teacher who is a representative of Ward 1 is also running for the at-large seat.
In 2021, the Northampton school committee wards were redistricted before Robbins took office. When it came time to run for re-election, Robbins chose to run for the at-large seat because she would’ve been running in a contested race due to the redistricting, against an incumbent who she felt was doing a good job.
“There was a seat at the table for all of us,” said Robbins.
Davis, a resident of the fifth ward who previously held one of the two at-large seats, decided to re-run for her at-large seat because “it was not required for me to drop everything so [Robbins] could have my seat.”
“Gwen [Agna] and I are in at-large seats, when it was time to decide if we were going to run again […] I pulled papers for my seat. Dina Levi [Current Ward 5 Committee Member] decided not to run again, and so unbeknownst to me, Meg [Robbins] pulled papers for the at-large seat, and she encouraged me to run for Ward 5,” Davis said.
In order to pull papers to run for an at-large seat, candidates would need to gather 100 signatures; only 50 signatures are required for a ward seat.
“I had 70 signatures and I said ‘I’m not starting over,’ and now someone is running for Ward 5 and I would’ve been running against them,” said Davis.
One of the biggest contested issues each candidate mentioned was the need to support teachers and their salaries. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Robbins introduced a plan to raise the salaries of Northampton School District teachers by using the city’s emergency reserve fund. “The money sits there for a disaster and that was a disaster, and we needed to pay our teachers,” said Robbins.
“Teachers were going to walk because they got 0% raises during the pandemic, and there is no job that does that, it doesn’t exist,” Robbins continued. “We don’t pay our paras, our school bus drivers, our crossing guards, we don’t pay them living wages.”
Davis also supported this plan and said, “It felt really great [but] not because it wasn’t for the full amount, we need to be paying our teachers […] My gut inclination was to give them all of the money.”
The plan was struck down by Mayor Sciarra and Agna who said, “I trusted the Mayor was making a good decision for the city, and those funds are for emergencies. I know the teachers would say that’s an emergency, but there are other ways to support salary raises […] It’s probably the toughest vote I ever had to make, but I would do it again if I had the chance.”
Each of the candidates are excited about the relationship between the school committee and Smith College. “As a community member, as a parent of students, I see that it is an inspiring place for what higher education can be, and maybe it helps people aspire to higher education,” said Davis. “Smith is a community member, and whatever resources we have to share back and forth to maintain would be great.”
Robbins said she attended the recent community breakfast and added “[President] Sarah is open and welcoming and wants to make this [the relationship between the schools and Smith] work.” However, Robbins did note that when Mayor Sciarra spoke at the event she noticed that the Northampton schools were not mentioned.
“Smith and the high school have maintained a unique relationship of opening up Smith classes for high-achieving, qualified students and I think that is something people want to maintain,” said Davis.
Agna noted, “It’s important to have representation, and Smith provides a lot of energy and good role models for our students and our teachers; they learn from each other and vice versa.”
Agna also recently received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Smith College and was awarded a Fulbright Memorial Teacher scholarship to study in Japan.
Smith Professor of Government Alice Hearst who is currently on sabbatical and not speaking on behalf of Smith College, serves as the treasurer for Agna, and stated that she is supporting both Agna and Davis. When asked about Davis, she stated, “Aline is a thoughtful, committed teacher who understands the role of the school committee.”
Moreover, regarding her choice to serve as Agna’s treasurer, Hearst added, “Gwen is a consummate professional. Her work on behalf of educational equity and integrity, as a teacher, a principal and now as a member of the School Committee, is unparalleled. Her students from Jackson Street remember her above all their teachers: it is not uncommon to stroll with her on a city street and to meet young people who are delighted to meet ‘Ms. Agna!’”
Each of the candidates have their own priorities for their upcoming term. Both Davis and Agna mentioned they are hopeful to have the Massachusetts state government remove the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment Systems (MCAS) as a graduation requirement.
The Northampton Public School system also recently hired a new superintendent and each candidate expressed that they believed supporting the new superintendent was a large part of their roles as committee members. Agna stated as a former principal, she has “heightened awareness of the professionals who run the school, and as a school committee person, I sort of want to stay out of the way. Our role is to supervise and evaluate the Superintendent and her role is to supervise and evaluate the staff; I take this job very seriously to evaluate her during her first year.”
Davis is currently a second-grade teacher in Longmeadow, MA and has been teaching for 25 years. “As a teacher, I can picture what’s going on in the buildings in a unique way,” Davis said.
Robbins described herself as “a collaborative member of the community. I am a good Smith graduate; I learned all the things I need to know.”
Each of the candidates are hopeful about their potential upcoming terms. “Maybe it’s a pipe dream but it would be great to start things with education instead of reacting,” said Davis.
The election will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 7 and Northampton residents will be able to vote for two at-large candidates.
