The Belmont School Committee is an unpaid six-member board. Members are elected to overlapping, three-year terms with two members elected each year. By state law (chap 71, State Law Chapter 71, the School Committee is the policy setting entity for the public schools. It also appoints the Superintendent, approves several other key positions, approves the budget, and negotiates with school unions.
The Warrant Committee recommends and, ultimately, Town Meeting appropriates, a yearly budget for the school system as a single line item. The School Committee has full control over how that money is spent.
Three year position (vote for two)
Just two candidates’ names will appear on this year’s ballot. Click on the link to view the candidate’s survey response.
Amy Checkoway | Jeffrey Liberty
Amy Checkoway (candidate for re-election)
| Name | Amy Checkoway |
|---|---|
| I’m a candidate for: | School Committee |
| I am running as a: | Candidate for re-election |
| I am seeking my ___ term in office: | 2nd |
| Volunteer & community activities? (optional) | Feel free to list any volunteer or community activities you have engaged in. This could be serving on a committee, coaching/assistant coaching a youth team, volunteering for a civic/religious organization, etc. etc. |
| Serve on School Committee (currently Chair), and as part of this role, currently represent Belmont on EDCO (regional education collaborative) board, equity and curriculum & instruction subcommittees, and ex officio member of the Foundation for Belmont Education board. Also volunteer for Christmas in the Village, an annual holiday event for families who live in Belmont Village. | |
| Candidate’s Statement | Please provide a short statement (100-200 words) about why you are running. (You may re-use or expand upon your LWV statement.) |
| I plan to use my experience, capabilities, and effectiveness in working to address challenges collaboratively – and the lessons I have learned along the way – to provide important continuity and value to the Committee and the Belmont Public Schools over the next few years. My priorities looking forward include: 1) supporting stronger district-family-community partnerships; 2) strategically managing the district’s financial resources, including one-time federal funds, to ensure that our schools can provide a learning environment that fosters engagement, excitement, and joy for our students; 3) working toward a more equitable and inclusive educational community for all students and staff; 4) advocating for data-driven decision making to structure supports that address students’ academic and social-emotional and mental health needs; and 5) working together to develop a dynamic vision for the future of public education in Belmont as we reconfigure the grades across our school buildings. Ensuring that we have sufficient financial resources to support excellent education and related supports for all of our students is an overarching priority. | |
| Accomplishments | Briefly: describe your main accomplishments in your most recent term in office. |
| An important focus of my time as Chair over the past year has been beginning to rebuild trust and confidence in the School Committee, improving communications with all stakeholders, and increasing the level of transparency in decision-making. I have prioritized ensuring as much normalcy as possible for our students this school year after an extremely difficult and disruptive year and a half of the pandemic. I have focused extensively on developing strong working relationships with all members of the School Committee, town leaders, and school district leadership, as this enables me to be a more informed and effective leader. I dedicate many hours each week to considering the different issues facing the School Committee, meeting with different stakeholders, and listening to concerns and feedback about a wide variety of issues. I have ensured that topics of importance to the community are included on School Committee agendas. I led the effort to set more measurable goals for the Superintendent’s evaluation this school year and planned the School Committee retreat to discuss goals and priorities, and how to organize ourselves to effectively govern. Over the past three years, I have led or participated in multiple subcommittees and working groups that focus on school finance, district-wide policy, curriculum and instruction, educational equity, capital needs, and town-wide structural change to improve efficiency and reduce costs. I advocated for the hiring of the district’s first Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, special education team chairs, and additional social workers. I helped to oversee our first districtwide equity audit. I also represent Belmont on the board of EDCO, a regional educational collaborative that provides high-quality professional development for teaching staff and special education services at a reduced cost to the district. Unfortunately this organization is dissolving after the school year, and I have worked intensively with neighboring district Superintendents and School Committee members to carry out a complex set of responsibilities and tasks that will enable to organization to close, with the goal of minimizing the impact on special education students who participated in EDCO services and minimizing Belmont’s financial liability. | |
| Supporting Belmont Public Schools | Belmont’s public schools are in the bottom 6% of Massachusetts towns in spending per-pupil. We spend $3,200 less per student than the average Massachusetts town. The School Department indicates that the result of this is lower levels of staffing, larger class sizes, reduced course offerings, higher student activity fees and bare bones budgets for books, class supplies and other necessities. What is your message to parents of BPS students who feel like the Town and its government are walking away from their long commitment to top quality public education? If (re) elected, what would you do to expand funding for our public schools? |
| I believe that the the town of Belmont overwhelmingly supports our public schools and has very high expectations for educational quality. Although our per-pupil costs are relatively low, on average our students continue to do well and we employ top-notch educators who are responsible for many positive things that are happening throughout our public school system. Assuming that the School Committee can continue to rebuild trust, operate transparently, improve communications (including about the district’s budgetary needs), and hold district leadership accountable for excellence (including a clear and inspiring vision for teaching and learning), I believe that the community will vote to invest in our school system. It will be very important for the School Committee to inform and engage the community in a variety of ways in order to make the case for sustained and expanded funding, and I am committed to helping to lead the way and advocating for the investments needed to support the highly-functioning and top notch quality school system that our students deserve. |
Jeffrey Liberty (candidate for re-election)
| Name | Jeff Liberty |
|---|---|
| Campaign Website (optional) | https://www.liberty4schools.com/ |
| I’m a candidate for: | School Committee |
| I am running as a: | First-time candidate |
| Volunteer & community activities? (optional) | Feel free to list any volunteer or community activities you have engaged in. This could be serving on a committee, coaching/assistant coaching a youth team, volunteering for a civic/religious organization, etc. etc. |
| Youth Sports Coaching: basketball and soccer Chenery Hybrid Improvement Committee 7-12 School Community Visioning Process Yes! for Belmont Campaigns (Debt Exclusion and 2021 Override) | |
| Candidate’s Statement | Please provide a short statement (100-200 words) about why you are running. (You may re-use or expand upon your LWV statement.) |
| I’m running for the open seat on the Belmont School Committee because our community faces complex issues that will require strategic planning, disciplined leadership, and relevant expertise over the next several years. I believe that I have the vision, the values, and the skills to help us address our most pressing challenges. As a father of two BPS students and an educator with three decades of educational experience, I want to put my deep educational and management skills to work for the Belmont Public Schools. I would be honored to represent you and help the Belmont Public Schools restore its reputation and realize the enormous potential of our schools for all of our students and families. | |
| Supporting Belmont Public Schools | Belmont’s public schools are in the bottom 6% of Massachusetts towns in spending per-pupil. We spend $3,200 less per student than the average Massachusetts town. The School Department indicates that the result of this is lower levels of staffing, larger class sizes, reduced course offerings, higher student activity fees and bare bones budgets for books, class supplies and other necessities. What is your message to parents of BPS students who feel like the Town and its government are walking away from their long commitment to top quality public education? If (re) elected, what would you do to expand funding for our public schools? |
| I do not believe that the Town and its government are walking away from their long commitment to top quality public education. On the contrary, everyone I know and have met in the course of the campaign cares deeply about kids and educators. Unfortunately, our school system has not been managed very effectively in the last few years–both with respect to pandemic-related decisions and communication and more generally. This has eroded public confidence in our schools, resulting in many families and educators leaving our system. The failed override vote recently was not a reflection of the value this community puts in education. In my view, it was more an expression of widespread dissatisfaction with the substance and tone of decisions regarding students and families during remote and hybrid learning–and even before the pandemic began–as well as a belief that federal relief funds and resurgent Free Cash in the Town would be sufficient to mitigate budget reductions for our schools. This was, for the most part, true in the 2021-22 school year but will not be a sustainable way to fund our schools long term. The overall budget of the Belmont Public Schools, as reflected by per pupil spending and other lenses, is not what it should be in order to create an environment where all students can be engaged, challenged, and supported academically and from a social-emotional perspective. In order to secure adequate funding for our schools ahead of the financial cliff we face in 2025 as a result of the structural deficit, we will need to restore the public’s confidence in the leadership and direction of the Belmont Public Schools. We have taken some very positive steps in that direction under the leadership of Amy Checkoway. We need to do more in the months ahead to hold district leadership accountable for improved communication, data-based decision making, fiscal transparency, school leadership hiring, support, and supervision, and long-term vision. We can and we must do this. The stakes for our children and our community are enormous. |