Video Recording:
Northampton Open Media 3-6-25 City Council
Click here to read more public commentary given throughout the last year.
“Paying now allows us to foster a supportive environment for the kids, the teachers, and the community. Paying later will come at a higher cost: a slow gutting of our kids, our teachers, our community, a distrust of the city’s values, and continued harm to our children.”
Video Time: 20:35 – I’m in second grade at Jackson Street School. I’m here to talk about what it’s like to be in class with 26 kids. It’s very loud, even when people aren’t yelling, sometimes I can’t hear the teacher and miss some instruction. Since there are so many people asking questions, it’s hard to get attention. I think we should have smaller classes, and I know some people disagree with that. I know the city has money, and the city can pay for other things, but please give money to the schools. Thank you.
Video Time: 21:33 – I live in Ward 5 and have two kids, one at JFK and one in an overcrowded second grade classroom at Jackson Street. I’ve talked to you before about the harm my son is shouldering because of your choices to house him in a room with 26 kids with his dyslexia. But today, I want to focus on the budget.
I’m hearing we don’t have the money now, or we have the money now, but we won’t have the money next year. But I’m confident, either way, we will have to pay by not providing reading and math support for our youngest learners. By not having reasonably sized classrooms that allow kids to learn, by not having Paras to keep the room safe, kids will fall farther and farther behind. Eventually, these kids will need evaluations because they will not be able to access this year’s curriculum. Some kids will qualify for IEPs, and we will pay. We’re already not meeting the current IEP service grades. Families will seek out-of-district placements, which are incredibly expensive, and we will pay. Families will sue the district for being out of compliance with their IEPs, and we will pay. Families will fight for contracted tutors because we don’t have in-house supports, and we will pay. Families will leave the public schools for the charter schools at higher rates, and we will pay.
It’s not a matter of how much we will pay, but when we will pay. Paying now allows us to foster a supportive environment for the kids, the teachers, and the community. Paying later will come at a higher cost: a slow gutting of our kids, our teachers, our community, a distrust of the city’s values, and continued harm to our children. And to be clear, especially to our most vulnerable kids: our kids with learning disabilities, our poor kids, our Black kids, our Brown kids, our English-as-a-second-language kids, who already are paying such a high cost. So please, support our kids. Thank you.
“You set the school district on fire, and now you’re arguing about how to use the hose. Fund the schools.”
Video Time 23:46 – My 8-year-old just told you what it was like to be in a classroom with 26 kids. We’ve told you the consequences of the decisions that you made at budget time last year. You set our school system on fire. We’re harming children. It’s a crisis. These children are not okay. These teachers are not okay. You set the school district on fire, and now you’re arguing about how to use the hose. Fund the schools. Begin to repair the damage that you caused. It’s only right.
Video Time 28:18 – I’m extremely frustrated as an educator, as someone who has worked in this district for 10 years, who really feels like she has brought in diversity, equity, and inclusion just being who I am and walking in with my Black, gay self. However, when I speak, it’s not to cause divisiveness, although sometimes that is what happens. But even as I learned more about the Reverend Dr. King, not everybody agreed with him. In fact, he had people like Malcolm X. They had the same goal, but how they got there was different. So, if speaking truth to power is divisive, I can take that. I can own that. I’m not trying to be divisive. I’m trying to make a part of something that you all, many of whom are white, cannot necessarily see, and I am speaking as a person of color, who it affects immensely as I watch kids. So, it might not be your problem, but it is most definitely mine because I work with those students. And so when I am telling you there’s a problem and it’s met with, “Well, it doesn’t affect me,” but it does affect the people who I teach, who I work with, and we really need to look beyond ourselves so that everybody is included.
I finally just want to say this: the educators in this district are A+—every last one of them. I don’t have a negative thing to say about any of them because we work hard. And every day, whatever is going on with us outside, we walk through the doors. And it would be nice if, when we speak, that you listen, not scroll on your computers or roll your eyes. Thank you so much, and have a good evening.
Video Time: 31:24 – I’m here as a parent to express how disappointed I am in the council and your committee meeting last night. Councilor Elkins, you’re a counselor at large, you represent me. What does being a “dedicated progressive” mean to you? What constitutes “Working toward a racially just and equitable Northampton”, as you say on your website? Does it mean undermining children of color like mine in our school system? Does it mean allowing English language learners little to no chance of learning how to read English because we won’t use our revenue to hire enough school staff?
Let me offer my expertise to you. Among other things, I am an academic researcher. My scholarship has focused on institutional racism in education and policing. What I see in our schools right now is 100% clearly absolutely, institutional racism.
What do you think happens to children when we take away their opportunities for a decent education? You all may feel good about the reparations committee, but talking about the past doesn’t make up for perpetrating racist harm in the present.
To Councillors Elkins and Moulton—you all may want collaboration—you say you do, but you refused to meet with the school committee group because you were mad that Mike Stein publicly criticized one of you for saying something flip and callous during an official meeting?
Do you not understand that it’s your job to run this city? Do you think your white feelings are more important than our children’s futures? Than my brown, disabled, son’s future? More important than the 53% of Bridge Street students who are low-income and disproportionately students of color?
Right now, you all have a chance to address deeply harmful institutional racism and ableism. To correct fiscal decisions that are incredibly harmful to poor and to immigrant children. What so-called progressive would vote against providing money for kids to learn how to read? The city paid for Ninja Turtle manhole covers! We approve medium and low priority capital projects. What are your priorities?
It’s not too late to turn the page. If you say you’re a progressive, then please act like one and please vote like one so that our city can function.
Video Time: 43:57 – I’m a resident of the city of Northampton. I’m publicly commenting to reiterate my support that I’ve both written and publicly commented on, to have the city approve the midyear appropriation to the schools. I support all the comments that have already come, I’m just going to repeat the three questions that I asked last night. My questions were:
- Which city counselor has ever run a classroom, hired a teacher, or monitored recess?
- Why can’t you trust our talented principals to make good staffing decisions with the funds that are available?
- Lastly, why is our city dismantling its public schools?
And those are my questions. I really hope that you can approve this midyear appropriation, that’s less than half of what was originally approved by our school board. Thank you.
“I want to let the City Council know that while it may feel like a small group of people making demands, I can assure you that it’s not a small group of people who want Northampton Public Schools to be a functional, safe place for our kids. It’s just that many of us don’t have the bandwidth to keep up with this saga. Kids’ bedtimes are happening right now, and I just pushed a three-year-old and my kindergartener out of the room to make this comment.”
Video Time: 46:54 – I am in Ward 1 here with a three-year-old and a kindergartener at Jackson Street. I’ve been listening to these meetings for about a year, and I wanted to state my support for the appropriation and also thank everyone who’s been coming to every one of these meetings, doing public comment, and keeping track of what’s going on here.
I want to let the City Council know that while it may feel like a small group of people making demands, I can assure you that it’s not a small group of people who want Northampton Public Schools to be a functional, safe place for our kids. It’s just that many of us don’t have the bandwidth to keep up with this saga. Kids’ bedtimes are happening right now, and I just pushed a three-year-old and my kindergartener out of the room to make this comment. So, I just want you to know there are lots of parents who can’t come to these meetings, can’t stay up till midnight listening to you guys debate things. We also are part of this group that wants you to fund our schools. Thanks.
Video Time: 48:08 – Ward 4. I’m coming to talk to you because I’ve been trying to get a hold of you by email and haven’t gotten any responses. I’ve written a couple of times to a few of you who, last year in May, said that you needed more time to learn more about opting into Chapter 329, the 1987 clause that allows you to increase the amount of the budget that the mayor gives you. I’m just going to read you the letter that I sent to you in case you didn’t get a chance to read it when I sent it to you twice.
Dear Counselors,
I’m writing to ask you each to please honor your statements made last May 16th, 2024, in council to review opting into Chapter 44, Section 32, by putting it on the council agenda as soon as possible. This allows you, by a 2/3 vote, to increase the amount given to you in the budget on a budget submitted to you by the school committee. Each of you stated that you needed more time to review this option last May 2024, but months have passed. Many towns and cities in the Commonwealth have voted to opt into this legislation.
One of you told the public last year that opting in would create chaos and bad budgetary behavior for the school committee. One of you read opting in as analogous to not trusting the mayor. You all said you needed more time to study this, and I wonder what that process has been and what you have taken away from those months of inquiry.
I do not believe that the council has any oversight on school committee behavior, as it is a separate branch of our government in our city. The school committee brings the council a budget that they feel is what they need to do the work of running the schools. Then, logically, the council should have the means to address that as part of a functioning democratic system. Democracy is poorly served when one official holds that sole responsibility. You and the school committee serve as an integral part of that check and balance.
Thank you for your attention to this and for bringing this to you for reconsideration. Happy to offer additional information, and I would really appreciate it if you would respond to constituents when they write to you by email. Thank you.
Video Time 50:28 – I have two kids at Jackson Street, one of which is being affected by the excessive size of the second-grade class. So, I would say that tonight, you are lucky to have such an easy decision to make. The indication by the school committee is clear, and the need to increase the funding of our schools is clear. You can count on the support of several volunteers in the community who are spending their free time to suggest solutions, right? With no compensation. But also because they have no other choice, right? They need to spend their own time. We’re not coming here for fun. We’re taking time away from our families, right, with no compensation. So, pretty much, I would like to ask you to please vote in favor of a $600,000 appropriation and work collaboratively to properly fund the schools and other essential services. Because it’s not an us versus them, right? It takes a village to raise children. It takes a village. So, we have a village so let’s work together to figure out how we can budget all the essential services together.
“It is an issue of respect when decisions on budgetary matters are made in deference to the mayor’s appointed group of technocrats, without once consulting teachers, staff, and paraeducators in our public schools. It is an issue of respect when the primary representative of the schools in these decisions is a superintendent in whom 96% of NASE members voted no confidence—who advocates against their adequate funding and dares to lecture our teachers on their work attendance.”
Video Time: 53:38 – I’ll start with the matter of decorum raised by Councilor Klemer at the February 20th city council meeting. It is interesting, Councilor, to be chastised for perceived disrespectful behavior in council chambers, considering your support for a mayor who sends emails and browses the internet during public comment. Are you sure this is the moment you want to start setting ground rules for conduct? Why don’t we start right there?
But I think the question of respect is an important one, so let’s stick with it for a second. It is, after all, a matter of public dignity that our schools have come under attack in this way—in failing to fulfill IEPs, in stranding our ELL students, in defunding essential programs, and the consequent expansion of local charter schools. We are indeed facing a profound crisis of respect here in Northampton.
This crisis has many facets. It is an issue of respect when decisions on budgetary matters are made in deference to the mayor’s appointed group of technocrats, without once consulting teachers, staff, and paraeducators in our public schools. It is an issue of respect when the primary representative of the schools in these decisions is a superintendent in whom 96% of NASE members voted no confidence—who advocates against their adequate funding and dares to lecture our teachers on their work attendance.
When working people are excluded from municipal process and our public officials think their emails are more important than our lives, that is an issue of respect. And you better believe you’re going to feel it come November.
While I have the floor, I would also like to address the issue of methodology. And I should note that questions of process were never once raised about the $18 million Capital Improvements program that was developed behind closed doors, as Councilor Elkins and Mayor Sciarra can certainly attest.
Recall that SOS originally saw an appropriation of roughly $2 million per level of services, and while some elected representatives seem to believe we should apologize for it, I am proud of our community. We’ve been clear in presenting the urgency of the situation in human terms—as a crisis of democracy, racial justice, women’s rights, and disability justice. We’ve also told the truth about how our sky-high budget surplus has come from systematic underfunding of public services.
Tonight is yet another chance for our council to take a preliminary step in correcting its course. I urge you to vote yes on the midyear appropriation. As we all know, the struggle for respect did not start here, and it’s not stopping here either.
“We are feeling increasingly anxious about both the near- and long-term impacts of remaining in a district whose leaders’ actions don’t reflect a commitment to meeting the needs of its special education students, who are more likely to have other marginalized identities as well, making this an equity issue, compounded.”
Video Time: 56:38 – I’ll share part of a letter I recently sent to the council: Hello, we’re joining many others to ask that you please use your voice and authority to send the full midyear appropriation to NPS. The need is all the more urgent given the recent failure of the DESE to block their charter school expansion and PVPA reduction in funding districts—a staggering blow to our district and to several other districts in Western Mass.
As we’ve all been made aware during public comment meeting after meeting, NPS educators are so stressed. We know that many are struggling hard to support our students in the ways they need and deserve, and in the case of some of our most vulnerable students, who are legally entitled to. Our educators need help. They need more co-workers, and not just for the sake of our town’s kids, but because they, our hardworking teachers and staff, also deserve to be treated with care and compassion.
After too long of not getting the relief they need, our educators are starting to quit our district altogether, as we recently saw with the resignation of three special education staff members at BSS and special education teacher Jessica Terry’s announced departure from JFK. All of them provided invaluable support to our students and families, but again, they needed more help—help that city leadership continues to consciously withhold.
As parents of an autistic sixth grader at JFK, we are feeling increasingly anxious about both the near- and long-term impacts of remaining in a district whose leaders’ actions don’t reflect a commitment to meeting the needs of its special education students, who are more likely to have other marginalized identities as well, making this an equity issue, compounded.
We dearly want to keep our kid in our public schools, but the unwillingness to properly fund them when we have the option to do so is making this an increasingly fraught decision. We are deeply grateful to our local elected officials who have continued to advocate for the adequate resourcing of our public schools.
To those of you who have been reluctant—not because of anxiety or fear of things getting even worse than they are now—please shift gears and choose to make the compassionate and equitable decision to more fully fund our deeply hurting public schools. We know that $600,000 is certainly not the low amount needed to get us where we need to be, but it will help us work toward sustainable, full funding for the only type of school system our country has known, one that has the power to serve all students adequately.
Video Time: 59:43 – At the Curriculum Subcommittee meeting the other night, it was acknowledged that there’s a massive literacy crisis for the kids at JFK. You’ve heard educators and many public comments say that they are rationing reading intervention at the younger grades, and many kids aren’t getting the help they desperately need. Hundreds of these kids who experienced this rationing of resources from the start of the failed WINs model and got no intervention or identification in the early grades are now sitting at the middle school functionally illiterate.
There are no resources being allocated to them, no care, concern, or plan to address these kids. They need your help. They need your action. And as I sit here, I want to thank the city council members who have actively been listening to the public comment. While I heard a prior public comment regarding villainizing the mayor, it’s really disheartening to have kids—my own kids—who have been harmed by these budget cuts and staffing cuts, to have personally experienced the rationing of services and to be sitting behind the mayor and watching her scroll through websites and documents and not listening to any of us. Thank you.
Video Time: 1:01 – Hi, I have a baby, and I’m talking about dystopia at the same time. I’m a Northampton High School English teacher. How many times have you heard lately that things feel dystopian or maybe Orwellian? Speculative fiction and science fiction are hugely popular for a reason. As Neil Gaiman wrote in his 2013 introduction to Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, people think that speculative fiction is about predicting the future, but it isn’t. What speculative fiction is really good at is the present. It’s cautionary. He argues that three simple phrases guide authors who write in this genre.
The first is “What if?”—what if change gives us a departure from our lives? What if aliens land tomorrow and give us everything we want, but at a price? For our purposes, what if schools were treated like capital projects? Or, what if we all practiced the values we claim?
The next phrase is “If only.” “If only” lets us explore the glories and dangers of tomorrow. If only dogs could talk, or if only I were invisible. For our purposes, if only our city saw human capital as equally important as capital gains, or, if only all our children could have an education worthy of their breathtaking potential.
The last phrase is “If this goes on.” This type of fiction takes a troubling element of life and asks what would happen if that thing became all pervasive. “If this goes on,” all communication will be through text, and face-to-face will be outlawed. Or, for our purposes, if this goes on, we will graduate multiple generations of students who are not equipped with the skills to untangle the increasingly dystopian world we live in. This can’t go on.
The next time you say or hear something about this time being dystopian, I hope you remember to move beyond passive observation. You are being issued a warning, an invitation to use your power to help avert calamity. Not invite it.
“The thing about human development is that you cannot rewind the clock. Later intervention is much more difficult, costly, and sometimes impossible.”
Video Time: 1:03:57 – I’m here to speak about this from a different angle, actually as a researcher who does research on learning motivation and persistence, especially in the context of STEM, science, math, and STEM education. So, childhood and adolescence is a critical period in human brain development, in learning, and in acquiring social-emotional skills. Children who get enough time and attention from teachers at younger ages need less support later on, but if their teachers are stretched thin because of large class sizes or disruption in class, both academic learning and social-emotional learning is greatly undermined.
For kids who have special needs—whatever kinds of special needs, learning disabilities, English language learners, mental health needs—they’re particularly vulnerable. The thing about human development is that you cannot rewind the clock. Later intervention is much more difficult, costly, and sometimes impossible.
And that’s why the midyear appropriation for the 600,000K is far better than waiting till next September. A six-month deficit in learning in an adolescent or early childhood life is a really long gap in brain development. And I’ve heard teachers and principals advocate for the 600,000, but last night I heard the school superintendent advocate for less than 300,000, and that gap just doesn’t make sense to me.
So, I want to tell you what I believe to be true based on the data I collected at schools nationwide. When I’ve looked at measured student learning motivation and persistence in middle schools across the country, coast to coast, the best data on student success came from students themselves and from teachers and parents. Because teachers and parents have direct, authentic relationships with students, their insights were significant predictors of how students were actually doing—not higher-level administrators.
So, my advice to you is: listen to your teachers. If they say they need 600,000, that’s a sufficient number of teaching staff to support their kids, give them the money. Remember, you cannot rewind the clock. You may be able to repair a street or a bridge or a roof, but you cannot repair a human brain. Give them the money. Thank you.
Video Time: 1:06 – A previous speaker tonight said a couple of really surprising things. She was talking about, she said she wanted to talk about context, and she told us that many, many communities in the state are having severe school problems.
Totally agree with that, that is right on, and I think the point of it was, hey, this is a general problem, it’s not that we are unusual, but I wonder about that. How many of the towns—and I know that the towns in Massachusetts, many of them, have been having a good couple of years, investments-wise and in other ways—and I wonder how many of them are making a choice to underfund the schools like Northampton is?
And then I wonder when that person then… I guess that, to me, is like a fancy way of saying, hey everybody, shush, shush, don’t talk about it. “See, everyone in the state is having it, right? There’s nothing we can do.” And that doesn’t feel like a very empowering message for citizens.
Next, the speaker said that one group in the town—and I guess it must rhyme with SOS—and that we’re harassing one person. Now we have a mayor who creates policy. That mayor, in our strong mayor system, is the person who creates policy. That is the person. We’re not a gang of toughs, kind of like abusing an old woman trying to cross the street. I’m the old woman. I’m not in the gang of toughs. I would love to be, but I’m not. So, we’re just a bunch of nerds, basically, who are willing to work a lot and, you know, look at everything, every budget in the state, everything—such boring stuff—to find a way to educate the kids in this town.
And finally, I want to say, many of you are going to the Resist rally, and Debbie and Rachel and I did rallies in resistance. But aren’t we resisting? Isn’t it okay to resist if it’s in your own town?
“Now we have a mayor who creates policy. That mayor, in our strong mayor system, is the person who creates policy. That is the person. We’re not a gang of toughs, kind of like abusing an old woman trying to cross the street. I’m the old woman. I’m not in the gang of toughs.”
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