SAUGUS — It’s been a challenging year for School Committee Chair Thomas Whittredge on both a personal and professional level and it appears all that has taken its toll.
Whittredge, who has been dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic’s continued impact on the town’s public schools and was recently dealt a personal blow with the reemergence of his wife’s breast cancer, is considering not running for reelection this fall.
“That’s the toughest part, is trying to balance my home life with the School Committee, and it’s always in the back of my head,” Whittredge said. “It’s tough.”
His wife, Theresa, is going through her second bout with cancer. Four years after her first diagnosis, she currently has metastatic breast cancer.
“She’s triple-negative, which there’s no set treatment for, so she’s going on her fourth different type of chemotherapy; it’s just really wearing her down,” Whittredge said. “It (has) been really, really tough to watch. It’s hard to put into words unless someone goes through it, but she is so tough. It’s amazing to me that a person can have that much strength and resilience inside their body. It’s really inspiring, it inspires me and I know it inspires my kids too.”
Throughout his first term on the School Committee, Whittredge has had to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and the massive impact that it had on the town’s public education.
The pandemic also had an impact on Theresa. While on chemotherapy, her immune system was compromised even more. To make matters worse, during the first five months of her treatment, Whittredge was unable to join his wife for her treatments inside the hospital.
His wife has been dealing with this current round of breast cancer since October; Whittredge said that whenever they go see her doctors, the news continues to get worse. On top of taking care of his wife, Whittredge also has a 6-year-old daughter, who has a rare syndrome and is also autistic and non-verbal.
“She needs the extra care from the both of us so that’s the other piece of the puzzle here,” he said. “We have to also not just stay healthy for my wife, but stay healthy for my daughter.”
Whittredge has to make a decision on whether to run for reelection by Sept. 10 and he anticipates taking the entire time to decide.
“It’s definitely going to be a Sept. 10 decision for me,” he said.
Despite the challenges the pandemic has placed on education, and in turn his role on the School Committee, over the past two school years, Whittredge said the committee was able to get a lot done during that time.
For example, seven school buildings have been consolidated into three buildings, which all have brand new equipment. The school district was also able to purchase new vehicles and snow-removal equipment.
“I really think that we’re set up to really succeed for a long, long time in this district,” said Whittredge. “I get to see that we changed all of the air-filtration systems; they are all state of the art now and I saw the precautions that we put in place inside the schools so I felt a little more at ease bringing people back and I think that was the big difference between myself and some of the other School Committee members.
“They really couldn’t see what goes on inside the school and I was able to see it, so I knew that we could bring kids back and keep them safe. Believe me, I totally understand everybody’s position. It’s just my perspective was different being inside the schools.”
During these challenging times, Whittredge said he continues to be inspired by his wife and daughter.
“Everything’s brand new to her,” Whittredge said of his daughter. “I can’t say how much I love spending time with both my kids. I just love spending time with the kids.”
Whittredge said he is truly amazed by what his wife has been able to do while going through her cancer treatment.
“It’s been a real battle and I can’t say enough how amazing she is and how much strength she has shown my family and especially my kids,” he said.
