Incumbent At-large Westbrook School Committee member Suzanne Salisbury and challenger Tracey Sardella agree on the need for more transparency on the board and better communications from the school department, but they differ on how to achieve that.

Salisbury, who also serves as the District 35 state representative in the Legislature, was first elected to the School Committee in 2007,  took a break in 2017, and returned the following year. She also runs the nonprofit Westbrook Families Feeding Families and has focused on addressing food insecurity in the city.

Sardella, the parent of two Westbrook students who is involved in youth baseball, is one of four candidates on the Nov. 2 ballot campaigning to bring a “new voice” to the committee.  Jessica Foley, who is married to Mayor Mike Foley, is running for the Ward 2 seat, Brooke Reed is a Ward 5 candidate and Katy Rice is running in Ward 1. Sardella said she and the other three are not running on the same platform but are friends and share some of the same goals for the schools.

The need for more transparency was raised during board meetings on the latest school budget, when some residents and city officials said they felt the school department and the school committee were not forthcoming and working collaboratively.

Salisbury recently proposed that a communications specialist be hired to provide residents with information about Westbrook schools’ COVID-19 response, budgetary issues and updates about the status repairs at the high school, which was damaged in a fire in July and has not yet opened for in-person learning.

“With the communications person, with the pandemic, with the fire, having one person solely responsible for communication can move information to the front and center,” Salisbury said. 

Salisbury also wants to follow through on quarterly joint City Council and School Committee meetings, a proposal that came from city councilors who were frustrated by the budget process in the spring. Sardella said she also supports the joint meetings.

The school department does its best to address issues themselves, Sardella said, but doesn’t do a good job informing parents, who are often left wondering about such things as the intricacies of pool testing for COVID-19 or why students who are exposed to the coronavirus may still attend school but not participate in sports.

Oftentimes, she said, School Committee meetings take place without many people knowing about them because the committee does not widely publicize its schedule or make its agendas as accessible as other city departments do. The city, for example, has a website that is easier to navigate than the school department’s and city meeting agendas are also often shared on social media and in email chains. Simply sharing agendas more publicly would make a difference, she said.

Sardella said would also work to get meeting minutes approved and online faster, which she says now can take months at times.

“I have a freshman, but we didn’t find out high school would be remote until less than two weeks before school started,” she said, adding that she heard the same complaint from other parents.  Even noting there was the potential of the school starting remotely would have helped, she said.

Salisbury maintains that while communication can be improved, there is a perception of poor communication because of the large size of the school district, which has more employees “and moving parts” than all other city departments. That misperception existed when she first was joined the school committee in 2007, she said.

“People expect answers immediately, but that does not translate well for city and school or municipal communications,” she said. “That leaves people frustrated or (thinking) that something is being withheld. That isn’t the case.”

A communications specialist would help change that misperception, she said, “making sure communications are shared quickly and efficiently, and that will help us with our collaboration with the city and school.”

Salisbury also is setting her sites on improvements at the high school, where the need for became apparent when numerous code violations were found after the fire.

“The number one thing we will have to talk about is the high school and how that fits in,” she said.

Sardella said she believes School Committee members are more productive and better understand issues if their own children are going through them.

“I want to be able to find an answer and talk to whoever. That is huge and would go a long way for the trust to grow going forward,” she said. “I grew up here, live here, and I want to make a better district for all of our kids.”

Salisbury said her experience is needed.

“I want to be able to offer my experience and my knowledge to the school committee to help with things like the implementation long term of the free breakfast and lunch for students,” she said. “I want to offer that knowledge as we come off some of the hardest years we’ve ever had in Westbrook.  I want to offer that experience to navigate what is still a difficult time, experience will be helpful.”

Residents will vote at the Community Center gym at 426 Bridge St. on Nov. 2.

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