Would work to improve communication

B.J. Pessia. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)

B.J. Pessia is a woman on a mission. One of the most vocal proponents of the motion to censure the School Committee, she believes the board has not done enough to resolve the complaints that led to the censure vote. When asked why she is running for the board, she pulls no punches.

“I am incredibly frustrated with the School Committee, and if you are going to criticize the committee, you have to be willing to step up to the plate,” she said in an interview last week.

Pessia believes that the climate of the schools has worsened in the last three years, changes she lays at the feet of School Superintendent Tom Jefferson.

“The staff is really, really saddened. They are intimidated and won’t speak out. They are not happy working there,” she said.

Pessia, who has lived in Harvard for nine years, has two children at the elementary school and one at Bromfield. She originally was a chef, but is now a realtor, although she still cooks on a volunteer basis for the students’ soccer teams and for the PTO’s Fall Fête fundraiser. Pessia coaches soccer in town, and teaches skiing to the disabled at Waterville Valley in New Hampshire. Being an adaptive ski instructor requires her to know about disabilities and the medical issues that such students face, Pessia noted.

Because the original complaints against Jefferson concerned the way he handled an out-of-district special education placement, Pessia is concerned that criticizing his actions appears to some as tantamount to being against special education per se.

“Some special education parents think I am against special education kids,” she said. She denies that charge, adding, “I am an IEP [individualized education plan] kid, and I was dumped out of [special education] services. I understand where they are coming from.”

If elected to the board, Pessia would push hard to publicly investigate the placement in question.

“On my first day in there, I’m not signing anything. No warrants. I want to know that [Special Education Director] Charles Horn is being respected, and his opinions followed. The superintendent needs to be managed.”

Pessia said she would not try to get Jefferson fired, because she thinks it would be a waste of the town’s money. However, she does want him held to task.

“I want transparency, to know he is doing his job and getting the facts, that he is treating people fairly,” she said firmly.

Pessia is also concerned about allegations that Jefferson broke the Criminal Offenders Records Information [CORI] confidentiality rules.

“He shouldn’t have access to a CORI report until it’s been investigated. It opens the town up to liability,” she said.

She believes the school board needs to mend fences with residents and with other town officials. She would like to see the board allow public comments from the audience throughout its meetings, not just for a brief moment at the beginning. Pessia would also like board members to dig deeper into what is actually happening in the schools, rather than relying on the superintendent to tell them his assessment.

“They should talk to the department heads. They say they can’t talk to teachers, but in the past they have talked to the department heads so they can know what is going on,” Pessia said.

When asked about the schools’ strengths and weaknesses, she cited the excellent teaching staff as a big plus for Harvard’s schools. She also noted that there is a high level of parent participation, with parents putting in a lot of effort raising money for education in town.

For the schools’ weaknesses, Pessia came right back to the school board not properly managing the superintendent. She believes the current board members “are way too friendly” with Jefferson. Pessia also complained that the superintendent just recently hired three new school employees at the high end of the pay scale, rather than putting them on the lowest pay step, a move she sees as unwise in a time of tight budgets.

“We’re asking the elderly, the 50 percent of the town without kids, to pass an override,” she said. “I’m not against spending, I just want to spend it on the right things.”

Pessia doubts the wisdom of the schools’ proposed bid to educate the Devens elementary school students for four years starting in the fall of 2009.

“I warned them [school board members] not to go for more than a three-year contract,” she said. Pessia complained that Jefferson did not properly factor in the possible impact of future developments under 40B regulations when he said the schools had space for the new Devens pupils.

“Charles Horn says we don’t have space. In order to get space, we may need to move the preschool to Devens. Parents are comfortable dropping kids off at HES, but maybe not at Devens,” she pointed out, adding, “I don’t think it was well thought out—[board member] Virginia Justicz did the numbers, and she voted against it.”

Pessia realizes that she is seen as perhaps too outspoken, that some people think she wants to be on the board mainly to stir things up.

“They think I’m not a mender, but I am a mender,” she said. “I want the teachers to be heard, and the best interest of our kids to be put in the forefront.”

  
Note: B.J. Pessia is running against Keith Cheveralls, Virgina Justicz, and Brian Stevens for a three-year term on Harvard's School Committee.