iBerkshires.com released its candidate profile for all of the candidates running for Pittsfield School Committee, go check it out here.
One of the questions they asked was “What political party are you affiliated with?” The candidates responded as follows:
Batory: “Independent, but I don’t believe political affiliation should play a role in public education. School Committee members are elected to serve all students, families, and staff — regardless of political party. My focus is on transparency, accountability, and making decisions that benefit our children, not partisan interests.”
Muil: “Democrat”
Elias: “Registered independent.”
Yon: “N/A”
Klein: “Unenrolled.”
Beurger: “None.”
McNeice: “I am registered as Independent, but most often lean toward the Democratic party”
Smith: “This is a nonpartisan position.”
Barry: No response to iBerkshires.
While the School Committee, and all elected offices in the City of Pittsfield, are in fact non-partisan, that does not mean our work is non-partisan.
The job of the School Committee is to serve our students, to support them and protect them. While we may disagree on how this School Committee has done that, I think we can all agree that this is the purpose of the Committee. Unfortunately, in this day and age, protecting students and even people now falls into partisan categories.
When you have a federal government who is attacking public education, defunding offices in the Department of Education meant to protect special education students and other minority groups, when you have a federal government that is going after LGBTQ+ students, primarily our trans and non-binary students, when you have a federal government who is forcefully going after immigrant families, making them live in fear of being removed from this country, our work to protect students becomes partisan.
When you have conservative groups, such as Moms for Liberty, who support conservative school board candidates to run for office who run on banning LGBTQ+ books, rights for LGBTQ+ students, and teaching of subjects around diversity, equity, and inclusion, our work and our advocacy becomes partisan.
The School Committee got involved in partisan politics when we voted unanimously to adopt my resolution affirming our support for our LGBTQ+ students and declare “that the Pittsfield School Committee declares the Pittsfield Public Schools to be a safe space for all students, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation, and a safe space for students to explore their gender identity and/or sexual orientation”, because one party has decided that stripping rights away from these students is their stance and what they will continue to push. We took a stand because we believe we have a duty to support and protect our students.
It’s not enough for us education leaders to bury our heads in the sand and say “we are staying out of partisan politics” when our student’s rights and their wellbeing are on the line. I hope that all candidates start to understand this, and voters understand it when they go to the polls next week. I also hope the new School Committee will understand this, and continue to support our students even if that means getting involved in partisan politics.
