Pittsfield At Large Candidates Debate
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| Karen Kalinowsky, Kathleen Amuso and Earl Persip, III debated Thursday night. |
PITTSFIELD, Mass.— At-large candidates gave voters a glimpse of their vision for Pittsfield during Thursday's debate sponsored by Pittsfield Community Television and iBerkshires.
When asked if the city should pursue the proposed consolidation of Crosby Elementary School and Conte Community School into a new build on West Street, the answer was "absolutely."
Four incumbents, a former councilor, and an outgoing School Committee member took turns in threes on questions that were chosen blindly from a bulletin board. This includes Kathleen Amuso, Earl Persip, III, Pete White, Alisa Costa, and challengers Karen Kalinowsky and Sara Hathaway.
PCTV's Executive Director Shawn Serre moderated the event in Berkshire Community College's Boland Theater, the second of two debate nights.
There was resounding support for the Crosby/Conte project, which has been accepted into the Massachusetts School Building Authority's funding queue and is nearing a feasibility study vote.
"Absolutely. I think when we talk about saving tax dollars in the long run, we have the same amount of schools we did when we had 60,000 people in the city; those old buildings are costing us a fortune each year. To consolidate some of these old buildings and make them newer, it's the right decision," said Persip, who pulled the question.
"And if we're going to get money now, it's a lot cheaper to build now, and it's going to be 10 years from now, or 15 years from now. If we can get a building out of the state, partially paid from the state, now is the appropriate time, because building costs are going up each year, and at some point, the building will have to be replaced, and it's just going to cost taxpayers more in the long run."
White fully supports the project, "especially with the work that the subcommittees and the School Committee have done to look at how we're going to be restructuring our schools, or hopefully restructuring our schools over the coming years."
"We have an outdated system, and we're losing way too many students to school choice, usually around the middle school level. With that happening, I'm hoping by splitting up the five and six, seven and eight at Herberg and Reid, we can reverse that trend, bring these students back home, where they can save us money and still get a good education," he explained.
"Even if they're staying here now, we have good schools. We definitely have perception issues. There are always going to be some students who need to choice out for special reasons. However, we need to do everything we can to have a modernized school system."
During the time for follow-up statements, Kalinowsky expressed that she agrees with the project. She cited the city's commitment to funding some of Wahconah Park's revitalization and the aging police station, and said the people of Pittsfield can't afford them all in one year.
"I do believe that we need to consolidate our schools. I do believe that some of our schools have outlived their usefulness," she said.
"Conte and Morningside were built in the 70s as a new concept of learning with the open classroom. Well, five years later, they found out it didn't work, and here we are, 50 years later, still with them, seeing some schools, even though they built partial walls."
Costa said every child in the district deserves to be in a suitable learning environment, and pointed to the outdated condition of Conte and Morningside community schools.
"We absolutely should do that. We need to invest in our students and yeah, make sure that we're keeping students here because they're having a good experience, because teachers want to teach there, because we have the resources that they need," she said about the project.
"There's a ton of work that still needs to be done. There will be a lot more community input, so the more we continue that conversation, the better off our outcome will be. But I absolutely support that."
Speaking in the lens of economic development, Amuso emphasized the importance of a strong school system to attract people to the area. Citing her time on the School Building Needs Commission, she recalled conversations about renovating Crosby dating back to around 2008.
"I do see a need to get that done, and I am looking forward to the restructuring, and I think we're going to move forward with our educational system in a very positive, proactive way that will support teaching and our students," she said.
Amuso co-chaired the SBNC while it undertook the new Taconic High School.
"I have deep roots in Pittsfield, and I'm committed to a bright future for all generations, including my two sons, which I'm quite lucky that they've stayed in Pittsfield, which drives me to make Pittsfield a place where families want to stay and grow," she said in her closing statement.
Kalinowsky is a lifelong resident of Pittsfield and a retired police officer. She served as an at-large councilor in the previous term and wishes to return to local government after staying involved over the past couple of years.
Amuso has served a total of four terms as an at-large councilor and touts a record of fiscal responsibility, educational leadership, and a commitment to community engagement. She was also on the School Committee for a decade.
Persip, running for his fifth term, is also a lifelong resident of Pittsfield and touts his community engagement, knowledge of the city, and leadership roles. He vowed to keep working for practical solutions that move Pittsfield forward.
White has served as councilor at large for ten years and previously for a term as Ward 2 councilor. He has been on numerous boards and commissions and said he participates in conversations that share information to make local government more understandable and accessible, and that constituents' feedback influences his vote-taking.
Costa explained that when she ran for office two years ago, she wanted to change the systems that are holding the city back and reconnect residents to government. She highlighted her efforts to bring department heads into the community to answer questions. Costa also warned that the city has a serious housing crisis and said she is the only housing professional on the ballot.
Hathaway is a former Pittsfield mayor, currently serving on the School Committee, and said she brings competence and experience, teamwork, respectful behavior, some humor and good cheer, and compassion and concern for the very real struggles of Pittsfield residents and taxpayers. Hathaway reported interest in expanding the housing supply and making the downtown thrive.
Candidate Lawrence Klein was unable to make the debate but provided a statement explaining that he was absent because he had to take his son, Jacob Klein, who is running for School Committee, to Boston Children's Hospital.
"He feels that service as a father comes first, no matter what, and that is why he could not be here tonight. He thanks you for your attention and for any votes you could catch for the father-son duo," the memo read.
Candidates also weighed in on proposed changes to the City Charter, including changing the terms of Pittsfield councilors and School Committee members from two to four years, designating the mayor as automatic School Committee chair, and changing the charter objection to prevent its use during the budget.
"To me, the issue around the City Council's handling of the charter proposals was not so much that the proposals themselves were meritorious, but the way that those proposals were put forward," Hathaway said, referencing conversations during council meetings.
"There was a committee that had worked for a long time and took testimony and contacted people throughout the community about what kind of charter changes would be appropriate, and then after submitting their proposals to the council, suddenly there were new additions that had not been vetted by that committee, and they felt that their work had been disrespected. Also, this idea that some of the proposals could go forward without going on the ballot. That was, I think, an insult to voters. So I think it's not the proposals per se that were the problem, although I take issue with a number of them, but the way that the council handled those as recommendations for the community."
Last month, the council supported some of the recommendations, but left behind the ordinance that designates the mayor as chair of the School Committee. The item had been continued from the prior meeting, and councilors cited confusion regarding votes from this night and much deliberation.
White doesn't believe that terms should be doubled, except for the city clerk, and thinks the mayor designated as School Committee chair is a "sticky one," which should be decided by the School Committee or a ballot measure.
"I think with two years, we get to be out there talking to voters, and they can choose to keep us or not keep us," he said.
"It is a shame that we don't have higher voter turnout. I think that's something we should focus on, giving them more reasons to come out and vote. If everyone who posted something on social media when they disliked us came out and voted, we'd be doing great. And I also think that that definitely should be something that the residents decide, and that's why we voted to put it on the ballot."
Costa agreed that just the city clerk should have a four-year term.
"There are neighborhoods in our community that nobody goes to unless it's an election year, or very few of us do, and it's important that we are engaging regularly, so if we had to wait every four years, how long would people wait to see some of our faces?" she added.
"But for the clerk, I do support four years, it's a really important role that needs steadiness and experience. As far as the school committee chair, I think the School Committee should choose its chair. The mayor is there already and serves as liaison to the City Council."
Persip reported that he suggested that the mayor be the School Committee chair.
"I think this past year is a perfect example of why I think that should have happened," he said. "I think the city was promised one thing, and didn't get what it was promised, and we saw the fallout from that."
Candidates differed on their measure of transparency around the Pittsfield High School investigation into alleged misconduct, and information that was released to the public.
"I frankly was not satisfied with the summaries, because I believe they released too much information," Hathaway said.
"My goal from the start was to protect students, and I believe that there's information that some people could use to identify witnesses— just students have to be protected. I was sad that some of the information that was released."
She added that the cost went over what was projected, explaining, "It had to be done because we had to make personnel decisions based on solid evidence and really clear information that was objectively obtained."
Kalinowsky did not agree.
"I don't believe it was transparent. I don't think it was handled well, and I believe the reports should have been all given to the public with names redacted, blackened out. It's a public school. It's a public agency, like many other things; even a police report can be given out to somebody asking for it. They may redact the names, but it's public information," she said.
"I think we spent too much money and unfortunately, they said no was related in Pittsfield, and one person did have an affiliation with Pittsfield, so that is a trust issue there and because I haven't been able to see the report, I couldn't tell you how well their investigation was, because I know what things I would have looked for. I just think the people deserve to know what is actually going on in the schools, because we hear lots of rumors, and that's all I heard, were rumors. So I would like to know if some of it was really true."
Persip said the community was promised openness and transparency, and it was not given to them.
"When we first started this process last December, we had said everything in this report that we find we will be open to the community, because what was everybody worried about? Something getting swept under the rug. I don't know if anything got something under the rug, but it sure feels that way to me as a parent who has a child who just went to kindergarten," he added.
"So if we talk about losing kids to other school districts, this is a perfect example of why they're leaving. They don't feel heard. They don't feel like their children are going to be safe, and I can't say what happened one way or the other, but because we weren't transparent about it, no one really knows."
Hathaway said there was no deception on transparency, and the School Committee vowed from the beginning to release what it could
"And even at that moment, I was thinking, ‘This is a personnel investigation. Those are confidential,' so I know a lot of people pay lip service to saying, ‘Well, I support the teachers. The teachers are great,' and then they turn around and say, this private personnel investigation, which did not find misconduct for the most part, should have been released. You can't have it both ways. You either support the teachers or you don't," she said during follow-up time.
"We have negotiated with our unions to redefine the licensing that would be allowed. First, for instance, the dean position, the social media policies have been changed, and the previous superintendent directive changed as well. We revised our harassment policies, and most of all, we have ensured that Pittsfield High School has a fresh start this year, and that was everybody's goal, and there was a lot of work done to ensure that."
Amuso said everyone has a different opinion on the situation, and the bottom line is that students need to be protected.
"I had talked to some of the high school students, and some of them were very unnerved by what happened, and I don't think that we needed to cause more stress on the students," she said.
"We were investigating things, and we had to spend the money, because this community demanded it, and they wanted it, and they deserved it."
White thinks there was no blueprint for how to handle the situation.
"I think that depending on how it's handled, and the way it was handled, future investigations in the schools, people may not want to come forward with information, and I think that a lot of discussion and thought needs to be put into how we can, if something like this were to happen again, still have transparency and have people come forward and talk," he said.
"Because having no one talk because they're afraid their child is going to be included in a report can be very damaging to things moving forward."
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