Candidates for selectboard, school board meet in forum

The candidates for the Springfield Selectboard and School Board answered questions during a forum sponsored by the Springfield Regional Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday at Springfield High School. The event was moderated by Ethan McNaughton.

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Candidates for selectboard, school board meet in forum NANCY A. CAVANAUGH ncavanaugh@eagletimes.com SPRINGFIELD — The candidates for the Springfield Selectboard and School Board answered questions during a forum sponsored by the Springfield Regional Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday at Springfield High School. The event was moderated by Ethan McNaughton. Voting for the candidates takes place on Tuesday, March 1. Enlarge Map Selectboard The candidates for Selectboard are Chuck Gregory and incumbent Stephanie Thompson. Thompson sees the strategic plan being biggest task before the Selectboard, commenting that the board has “made positive strides.” She also sees economic development and neighborhoods as important focuses for the board as well as the JNL property, which, she says, “is at a critical point.” She is in favor of collaboration between the Selectboard and School Board. “There’s a lot of differences in governance,” Thompson said. “I’m really focused on getting a school resource officer. With the problems we’ve had in town. It is something other districts are doing. The past conversations about it have not gone well. Thompson would be in favor of a meth clinic in Springfield. “The conversation has changed over the last few years. People are seeking help and there are few open spaces. Many are driving 45 minutes to an hour every day. It is prohibitive,” she said. “The most important thing is to not be afraid of addicts but to embrace and support them. It isn’t just going to disappear.” She would also be in favor of allowing a marijuana dispensary in Springfield. “I had the only dissenting vote [on banning dispensaries in any zone]. There are a lot of caveats to that,” said Thompson. “Its an accessibility thing. If they don’t get it from a dispensary then they’re going to the black market. “I would want to get a greater sense from the community,” she continued. “But I’m not opposed to repealing it.” As for bringing more families to town, Thompson believes there need to be more businesses coming to town. “In order for the tax burden to go down, we need to attract new business. There’s an uphill trend,” she said. “The machine tool days aren’t coming back. We need to be recruiting people to move here for the jobs and have better training for the workforce.” Thompson wants people to think about her passion when they go to the voting booth next week. “I’m passionate. There have been improvements over the last six years. I encourage more people to step up,” she said. “I appreciate the support you’ve given me.” Gregory agrees with Thompson on the strategic plan. “The strategic plan is the most important thing. It is the first original plan, did it rather than waiting for someone to step in,” he said. “It is a great thing setting goals and objectives.” When it comes to collaboration between the boards, Gregory commented about resources and development as well asMark Zuckerberg. “Zuckerberg dumped money on some town in the south, we should convince him to do that here,” he said. Gregory was supportive of a meth clinic in Springfield. “We have to support them [drug addicts]. Either we make the change or it is made for us,” he said. “We can get rid of the crime problem we have. We need to take charge of it.” As for the marijuana dispensary zoning by-law, he was only in favor of it under certain conditions. “There need to be licenses for the commercial growers, no advertising and inspections,” Gregory said. “It they don’t pass a good marijuana bill, I’m not in favor of it.” His plan for bringing more middle class families is investing in missionaries. “We have no missionaries. We need to go to Silicon Valley and set up a missionary with products from Vermont. They’ll see that Vermont is better than San Jose,” Gregory said. “If we spent $100,000 going into cities like San Jose, it would be better than more cellar holes.” Gregory wants people to think about potential when they go to the voting booth next week. “People have a lot more potential,” he said. “We need to look in ourselves and we’ll find it.” School board The candidates for School Board are Samantha Snyder, Michael Griffen, Pamela Young, and incumbent Jeanice Garfield. Young was unable to make it to the forum. Snyder wants to see more accountability and accessibility to the board. “There’s a lot of change right now. Parents don’t feel like they have the ability to speak out,” she said. “I was to make sure there’s more accountability with the school board.” In order for parents and families to be more engaged, Snyder believes there need to be more accessibility. “We need to make parents feel welcome,” she said. “We need to make teachers more accessible. Have nights at school where parents can come in and learn things like the new math.” Snyder does not support the current school budget. “I can’t support the budget. I’d rather pay the extra six cents,” she said. “Kids are going to miss out.” When it comes to Park Street School, Snyder isn’t sure the town is getting the best use from the building. “We voted as a town to do something. Is it money being spent wisely?” she said. “If it is not serving us well, is it in our best interest to maintain ownership.” Griffin wants to work to build pride in the school district. “We need to be working closer with the administration to change police to make it better. We need to have pride school,” he said. To get more engagement, Griffin believes everyone needs to give more of themselves. “We need parents to get more involved. I know they can only find physical energy to do so much,” he said. “People can give a little more — parents and teachers. We need to pull together and make real change.” Griffin supports the current budget. “I intend to vote yes. There’s some fine tuning that can be done and we can spend more wisely,” he said. Griffin would like to see the building used but until there’s a decision he thinks it should be closed up. “We can’t continue the way it is now,” he said. “We should empty it out and shut it down.” Garfield wants to see changes with policies. “We have picked up momentum in the district. We have three sets of policies we have to have,” she said. “We have 82 policies tacked on in response to an event. I hope we don’t continue with that mindset.” Garfield agrees more parents and families need to be engaged with the schools. “Parents need to be engaged with the learning process. There are events that take place. It is difficult if you didn’t have a good experience in school to come back,” she said. “All schools make a worthy effort.” Garfield supports the budget, as well. “I support the budget,” she said. “It is like balancing a tightrope of being frugal and providing services.” Garfield doesn’t know what to do with Park Street School. “People are tired of hearing about it. You need money to do it,” she said.