We reflect on the challenges to date with the elections, the website, and compiling a candidate guide.
At-Large: Arthur Sargent
Education: Salem High School 1974, Salem State University 1981.
Professional: Presently employed by The Massachusetts Water Resource Authority, as an Instrumentation Technician, since 2015. Formerly employed for 33 years at The Salem Harbor Station Power Plant, as a Computer Control Technician until it was closed in 2014.
Public Service: Councillor at Large 2000 to present.
Community Service: Salem K-9 Police Dog fundraising volunteer
Personal: Homeowner at 8 Maple Avenue, Married to Kathleen (DeFranco) Sargent. We have three adult children, Patrick and his wife Sarah Sargent, Amy and her husband Eric Sclafani, and Eric Sargent.
Why are you running for Councillor and what particular skills can you bring to the position?
I'm running to help give the people of Salem the best possible quality of life. Every decision a Councillor makes should have this as the end result. I like to research the history of issues that come before the City Council and City Boards. If you understand past zoning changes, planning board decisions, board of appeal agreements and City Council Votes, you can make a more informed decision as we plan Salem's future. I will also continue to listen to the people of Salem, hear their input, learn from their experiences and incorporate this information to the best of my ability, into the planning process of our city.
What are some of your proposed solutions to resolving the housing crisis in Salem?
We currently have 12.4 percent affordable housing in Salem. That makes us the 15th best city, out of 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts, at providing affordable housing for our residents. New housing development should have between ten and twenty percent affordable housing so we remain at or improve upon our impressive 15th place ranking.
How do you see Salem impacted by the climate crisis and what new initiatives would you take to lead Salem's resiliency efforts?
Salem's biggest concern is the impact of storms on our waterfront neighborhoods and the sea walls that protect them. A scheduled inspection and preventive maintenance program must be used to be sure our sea walls are ready for future weather events.
Please outline some ideas you have that can enhance civic engagement at the city level.
Civic engagement begins with involving the people of Salem in the planning and decision making process of our city as early as possible. This includes public and private development projects. Let them know about a meeting, listen to their input, combine it with the expertise of the professional planners and architects and move forward with a better project.
School Committee: Beth Anne Cornell
I am the mother of three children, including a fourth grader at the Carlton Elementary School, and I am entering my eleventh straight year as a Salem Public School parent. At Carlton, I have served as PTO Secretary, as a member of the School Council, and on principal and teacher hiring committees. Additionally, I participated as a parent representative on the initial Innovation School proposal.
Professionally, I am a full professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at Wentworth Institute of Technology, where I have taught writing, literature, and humanities courses for almost twenty years. I have been a member of the American Federation of Teachers since 2001.
During my tenure at Wentworth, I have written program curricula, participated in strategic planning, hired university leadership, and managed budgets, in addition to teaching thousands of undergraduate learners, the vast majority of whom have been the products of the Massachusetts Public School system. In addition, in 2014 I was elected by my colleagues to Chair the Faculty Senate. As Chair I led an initiative to build a university-wide shared governance structure that now includes representation from Wentworth’s Board of Trustees, administration, faculty, and students.
In 2018, I received the university’s President’s Award for Distinguished Service to the Institute.
Why are you running for School Committee and what particular skills can you bring to the position?
I am running for school committee because I believe the hard work and enthusiasm that Salem residents bring to everything we do in this city can be channeled into improving our schools. If we work to establish consistent structures for engaging stakeholders, communicating with the community, and sharing and assessing data, we can create an exceptional school district that challenges and inspires all of our students.
This means building structures that will outlast individual school committee members and superintendents. It means moving away from reactive decisions-making and toward proactive and informed strategic thinking.
This is where my academic leadership experience can benefit our district. I learned a great deal serving as the Chair of my university’s Faculty Senate. I learned that I had to do a lot of listening if I was going to understand the experiences of students, faculty, and staff, and that I had to facilitate ground-up communication and communication policies if we were going to hold ourselves accountable to one another. More concretely, I learned how to initiate and assess a strategic plan; how to identify shortcomings and celebrate successes; how to balance data-analysis and best-practices with the lived experiences of community members; and how to build systems of engagement and communication where none existed.
This is the kind of leadership experience that I will bring to the Salem School Committee.
If you could make any change in the school budget that was recently passed, what would you change?
What I am most focused on going forward is clarity and transparency in the budgeting process. This past year was the first time principals were offered an opportunity to discuss their school’s proposed budget in a public setting. This effort at transparency should be celebrated and built upon going forward. In addition, School Committee members must develop consistent mechanisms for assessing the needs of teachers, principals, and the Superintendent. Again, as with all of our planning and investment opportunities, the budget should be proactive, thoughtful, and rooted in data.
The district is beginning a search for the next Superintendent. What are three key characteristics you are looking for in the next Superintendent in Salem?
A drive to create a consistent structure for engaging community members, including teachers, parents, students, support personnel, and district partners (the Salem YMCA and Boys and Girls Club, for example). In order for the district to improve, we must put in place a consistent structure for collecting information and assessing data.
A sense of urgency with regard to establishing clear and consistent communication throughout the district. This includes guiding school leaders on effective communication techniques, leveraging existing technologies to improve communication with students and families, and advocating for the resources necessary to improve communication district-wide.
A focus on teacher retention and morale. Teachers throughout the district need to be supported, engaged, and celebrated. It is the Superintendent’s responsibility to develop a culture in which teachers are encouraged to communicate with district leaders about their challenges and successes, and in which teacher expertise are respected by principals and district leaders.
What will you do to advance the goals of a more equitable education for all students in Salem?
In education, equity means giving every student the support they need to succeed. In my twenty years as an educator, I’ve learned through professional development and personal experience that when it comes to the classroom, equity is about inclusion. It’s about celebrating the unique identities of the students in the room and creating a safe place in which to learn. Equity is also about fairness and access, providing each student with the tools they need to succeed, with special attention to students with social, economic, physical, cognitive, or language challenges.
It is the role of the School Committee to fund and assess the structures, curricula, and personnel that support equity. Where I can be most effective is in calling for consistent community engagement and continuous assessment of district strategies for achieving equity.
We must be strategic and research- and data-driven in how we approach equity. But we must also be personal and inclusive. As a School Committee member, I will advocate to establish clear mechanisms for researching best practices and for the continuous assessment of student data and district strategies. For these mechanisms to work, they must continuously engage diverse stakeholders including teachers, parents, students, and community partners. The School Committee and Superintendent—regardless of who holds those offices— need continuous community engagement in order to effectively fund and support equity initiatives.
Ward 3: Robert Camire
Robert Camire sent a palm card and provided hand-written answers to our questions.
Why are you running for Councillor and what particular skills can you bring to the position?
I am running for councilor because I love this city. I was born and brought up in this city. I am the youngest of seven children. This skills I bring are real life. I was a landlord for 40 years. My family provided affordable housing for families growing up in Salem. I worked for the Department of Developmental Services for the State of Mass. I ran group homes for handicapped individuals for 27 years. I became a very good listener and problem solver. I coached youth basketball for 15 years. That allowed me to meet some outstanding kids and families. I think I’m very involved in the community. That will help me if I’m elected to the council.
What are some of your proposed solutions to resolving the housing crisis in Salem?
We don’t have a housing crisis in Salem. We have an affordability crisis in Salem. Being a landlord in Salem for over 40 years I have seen where we used to be to where we are now. We have to get the taxes under control. They keep going up every year. That effects everything. The landlords have to go up on rents and it becomes unaffordable to live here.
How do you see Salem impacted by the climate crisis and what new initiatives would you take to lead Salem's resiliency efforts?
Salem is a small city. I think we have wedged as much development as we can in the city. With development comes congestion that brings cars coming and going. I like the idea of satalite parking and shuttles like they use during Haunted Happenings. I would encourage that idea. If we can take more cars out of the downtown that would help a lot. We have too many traffic lights that do not work together which creates bottlenecks.
Please outline some ideas you have that can enhance civic engagement at the city level.
I believe the only way to get things done is to work together. There is too much divide in Salem. It starts with our leaders on down. We all want the same thing. We want to raise our families in a safe cheap city. Support our schools. Help our people. Our people that are less fortunate than ourselves. I believe it all starts at home. Family is it. We want to help each other. It takes a village.
Ward 5: Josh Turiel
I grew up in Connecticut and moved to Salem after leaving college at the end of 1989. With my wife Jane, we’ve been homeowners since 1993 and raised a child here while working in Salem and environs. I’m passionate about this city and its funky charm, and keeping Salem weird and modern is as important to me as taking care of the people who’ve been here all along. I try to look past rhetoric and support what seems thought-out and reasonable while listening to all perspectives.
Why are you running for Councilor and what particular skills can you bring to the position?
I’m running for reelection because I see a lot of progress Salem’s made over the last decade or so and I also see backlash trying to stop and reverse things. I want to keep us moving ahead.
What are some of your proposed solutions towards resolving the housing crisis in Salem?
Passing the reuse zoning without the poison pill of forcing extra affordable housing in private development is a small piece of it. The accessory unit zoning would also help. As would a inclusionary zoning ordinance. But those are only small pieces, though important ones. We also need to think about other methods like possible condo conversion annual limits, tax credit policies to encourage more affordable rentals, and more transit-oriented development. There’s probably things I haven’t thought of here as well.
How do you see Salem impacted by the climate crisis and what new initiatives would you take to lead Salem's resiliency efforts?
Salem is threatened as a coastal city. We need to shore up some areas that can ride out tide level changes and be ready to move away from the rest. Take advantage of natural features like restored shorelines to buffer waters. Sea level is rising, and it’s doing so nowhere faster than in the Gulf of Maine in which we are located. I’ve been supporting our efforts where I can, but I’m not a engineer or climatologist. I believe the experts and the science that supports them.
Please outline some ideas you have that can enhance civic engagement at the city level.
Well, I’m noted for using electronic communication to keep people informed and to engage with them. I work hard to get voters to turn out. There’s no magic solution to this problem - local leadership matters so much to daily life, yet local elections always have the lowest turnout. The year I first won my seat, only 8% of voters turned out for the preliminary election. We should always do far better.