LYNN — The need for new schools here was one of the things they could all agree on as nine of the 10 candidates looking to fill six seats on the Lynn School Committee gathered for the 2017 Candidate Forum at Lynn Community Television Thursday night.
The discussion, which aired live on LCTV, was attended by incumbents Donna Coppola, John Ford, Lorraine Gately, and Jared Nicholson and candidates Brian Castellanos, Elizabeth Gervacio, Natasha Megie-Maddrey, Jessica Murphy, and Michael Satterwhite.
Candidate Cherish Casey was unable to attend because of a commitment to another non-campaign event involving the Lynn Police and their relationship with the community.
The candidates answered questions drawn from social media and the community as a whole, including discussions about strategies for new school buildings, parent or guardian involvement in education, and the Lynn Public Schools budget.
In acknowledging the need for new schools, some noted the average age for a school in Lynn is 80 years old.
“We need to get everyone on board,” said Coppola, addressing the failed vote on the new schools.
She also pointed to the timing and access to meetings for the schools as a potential point of failure.
“We had many meetings but they were not televised and were not during evenings or on weekends,” she said.
Several members also stressed the importance of continuing to work with the Massachusetts School Building Authority, so as not to waste money that has already been spent on assessments of current schools’ status.
All the members also agreed on the importance of parent and guardian involvement in a child’s education.
“We need to empower parents to work around their schedules and break other barriers,” said Gervacio, mentioning the diversity of language and ethnicity needed in the schools.
The budget discussion sparked some differing views.
While all agreed that the budget must be looked over thoroughly and annually, Satterwhite and Castellanos voiced similar opinions on getting the community more involved and heard out during the budgeting process.
Coppola also criticized the state formula.
“The state formula just does not work for our urban school district,” she said.
The forum ended with a message to voters from moderator Al DiVirgilio.
“I’ve had an opportunity to talk to each of these candidates tonight,” he said. “You can’t go wrong voting for any one of them.”
