School Committee members debate wellness program merits

SAUGUS – In deciding how best to implement a wellness program in Saugus schools, School Committee members clashed over what role public education should play in teaching students about issues like substance abuse.The discussion was a continuation from the committee?s last meeting when Vice Chairman Jeannie Meredith was shocked to discover there was no line item for a wellness teacher, and therefore no program at Belmonte Middle School. At an organizational meeting Thursday, where the committee discussed how best to restore the program, committee member Arthur Grabowski disagreed with Meredith that it was the school?s job, rather than that of the parents?, to teach students lessons on life skills. He argued that a school shouldn?t be run like “a social service agency.”?My concern on wellness is, wellness starts in the education in the home,” said Grabowski. “I?m tired of the school department taking over the role of the parents. We should do outreach to the parents, that?s where it starts.”Meredith agreed outreach was important, but she added that some students don?t have the stability at home that others do. “Some parents have a needle in their arm and are passed out on the couch,” she said to Grabowski. “Some parents are single moms working two jobs. She doesn?t have a needle in her arm, but she doesn?t have time to sit down and talk.”Meredith said if a student was in class distracted and worried over issues outside the classroom, “they?re not going to be able to learn.”With the philosophical discussion settled, Meredith reported that the superintendent?s Wellness Advisory Committee would be developing a subcommittee to research how other districts were being creative to combine physical education with a wellness program.According to Chairman Wendy Reed, Saugus had no point person to direct a wellness curriculum, but she thought Geoff Bruno, executive director of curriculum and instruction, was the last person tasked with the job.Meredith said if that was true, the “whole town is in trouble” because Bruno did not think wellness was a priority as the last budget meeting. “Wellness in this town has been a joke,” she said.