SWAMPSCOTT — Candidates for the Board of Health and School Committee discussed their visions for the town in a virtual forum Monday night ahead of the April 27 town election.
The event, organized by the Swampscott Democratic and Republican Town Committees, offered candidates an opportunity to address the biggest issues facing the town, much of which was related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
In a contentious exchange during the Board of Health portion of the forum, incumbent board member and nurse Marianne Hartmann questioned candidate and Planning Board member George Potts on his past statements — specifically his references to the coronavirus as the “Chinese virus” or the “Wuhan flu.”
Hartmann noted the rise in violence and discrimination against Asian people in the past year and the recent declaration by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that racism is a “public health crisis.” Potts did not back down from the statements, saying that he does not believe those words have led to violence.
“I think we should remember that we had a pandemic that was possibly caused by a viral lab in Wuhan, China,” he said. “I don’t think we should forget where this virus came from, and we shouldn’t do anything to whitewash the origins of the virus and who we should blame for it.”
Potts also said that he believed the town should be working harder to reopen businesses, schools and other services. He noted that many private schools reopened for in-person learning in the fall, unlike public schools in Swampscott and other neighboring towns.
“The fact is that anybody who wants a vaccine can get a vaccine,” Potts said. “There will be some people unable to get vaccinated because of physical health and those people are free to not associate with the outside world. Having everybody not associate with the outside world is problematic, and we should do as much as possible to be aggressive on reopening.”
Hartmann disagreed with this statement, saying that she was proud of the town’s actions over the past year, which often included more thorough or earlier restrictions than the state required, such as implementing a mask mandate before it was put in place statewide.
“People are still struggling to get appointments. They’re up in the middle of the night trying to sign up. Hopefully by summer that won’t be true,” Hartmann said. “We’re hopeful for the future, but we’re being cautious as surges are being predicted.”
School Committee candidates Colin Codner and Glenn Paster had less to disagree on, with forum moderator Jim Peterson joking that “I agree” was the most common phrase he had heard between the two men that night.
Asked what he would like to see change in schools after the pandemic, Paster said that he would like to see the removal of MCAS. He noted that many people have argued the standardized test will help identify where learning loss has occurred during the past year.
“I don’t think we need a massive test to show us what we know,” said Paster, who served on the School Committee from 2008 to 2011 and the School Building Committee from 2011 to 2014. “I’d rather see our educators have a little more free time to work with out-of-the-box technologies, thought processes, and best practices to do the best they can to make up what was missed this year.”
Codner, who said he has worked with many private schools and universities as an administrator, remarked that he believes the most important quality for a good school committee member was passion.
“This job is a voluntary role. There’s many hours that are going to be spent doing independent work and research,” he said. “Without that level of passion for students and for the public school system in general, you’re just not going to put in the time.”
A second forum for Select Board and town moderator candidates will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday and can be accessed on Zoom, Facebook, and government access television.
