LYNN — School Committee and mayoral candidates were tasked with sharing their stances on key issues in city education during a candidates forum held Tuesday night at Breed Middle School.
During the forum — which was hosted by the Lynn Teachers Union — educators asked each candidate three questions centered around improving existing school buildings, ensuring transparency during the city’s push to build a new Pickering Middle School, and the union’s efforts around securing a new three-year contract with the school district.
Mayoral candidates Darren Cyr and Jared Nicholson were also asked what they would do, if elected, about improving health insurance for teachers.
First up on Tuesday evening was a forum featuring eight candidates for School Committee: incumbents Brian Castellanos, Donna Coppola, and Lorraine Gately, and challengers Eric Dugan, Sandra Lopez, Tiffany Magnolia, Lennin Peña, and Daniel Richard.
The forum was not a contentious one, with all candidates largely agreeing with each other on each of the issues they were questioned about.
“It’s unacceptable to see paint peeling or ceiling tiles falling off,” said Dugan about the state of the district’s existing schools.
Coppola touted her past work, which she said led to a new Lynn Classical High School being built; she said she would work with the teachers union to update the remaining schools in the district.
“We are long overdue for Pickering and many other schools,” Coppola said. “They’re in dire need of repair.”
Magnolia said that she would like to see the schools start to use solar panels and renewable-energy sources, and then reinvest the money saved from those resources back into the school system.
“We need to invest into energy efficiency,” said Magnolia. “There’s no reason to not use the government rebate.”
The candidates agreed that it is imperative to take advantage of the opportunity the city has been given to build a new Pickering Middle School — Lynn has been accepted into the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) program for a new school — and to communicate with the public throughout the process.
Gately said that she would take a hard look at what happened the last time the School Committee attempted to build a new Pickering, which included a past failed citywide vote and a prior application to the MSBA being rejected due to the city’s poor financial state.
“Last time was a disaster,” said Gately. “This time, I want to be on a committee and let the people know that this is what we need.”
Peña stressed the importance of speaking to teachers, parents, and students, and listening to what they want from committee members.
“We have to do this together,” Peña said.
Richard agreed with Peña, adding that the School Committee needs to “do anything and everything to get the community out and involved” with the city’s public schools.
Candidates agreed with the union that three-year contracts would be better, not only for teachers, but for the students as well, as opposed to the single-year contract that the union says is currently being offered by the School Committee.
“I want to fight for you and your contracts,” said Castellanos. “Compensation and retention of teachers is a priority for me.”
“I wouldn’t be in this seat except for Lynn public school teachers,” said Richard. “I have a ton of respect for teachers. We need to keep that talent here.”
Lopez added that she wanted to see more respect for teachers across the board, not just in their pay but from everyone.
“We need to make sure we do the best we can,” Lopez said. “We need to take care of (teachers). I want to work hard at getting them that respect.”
The evening concluded with a forum between the two candidates seeking to become the city’s next mayor. Much like the School Committee candidates, both Cyr, president of the City Council, and Nicholson, a current member of the School Committee, expressed support for improving the existing school buildings in the district, ensuring transparency during the effort to build a new middle school, and the union’s efforts to secure a three-year contract.
A fourth question was posed to the two mayoral candidates; Cyr and Nicholson were asked what they planned to do about teachers’ health insurance, which is part of the collective bargaining process. Both said that, if elected, they would make it a priority to find the best options, or plans, for teachers and other union members.
Cyr advocated for staying with the current health insurance system, saying that he believes insurance is a right.
“I will do everything I can to help the teachers in our city,” Cyr said.
Nicholson said that the current health insurance system is significantly better than what teachers have had before, but if new insurance options are made available, he would look into them.
“It’s our responsibility as leaders to create safe conditions for people to teach,” Nicholson said in his closing remarks.
The city election is Nov. 2.
