LETTER: Horowitz Supports Bergen for School Committee

To the Editor,

Recently I nominated Lisa Bergen to be a candidate for School Committee. In the process, I informed the Caucus that Lisa occupies a unique position in Concord. She is the only person to have earned the respect of two very different constituencies through her simultaneous service on two conflicting committees.

You will recall that last year the Town Meeting, reacting to the widely-held sentiment that the School Committee had been less than forthcoming in a little matter regarding buses, created an independent Citizens’ Transportation Committee (CTC) to advise them. In a stunning display of insularity, the School Committee reacted by forming its own Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) to help it make up its mind on the very same issue (which, incidentally, it hasn’t yet done).

In due course, the Moderator appointed Lisa Bergen to chair the CTC. She was also a member of the TAC and served as liaison between the two Committees.

It can’t have been an easy task, akin perhaps to working for John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi simultaneously, but Lisa did it with remarkable aplomb. She was invariably polite but never a pushover, she listened to opposing views without becoming defensive, and she was a voracious data hound. In a few months Lisa and the other members of her Committee learned more about the care and feeding of school buses than the rest of us will ever want to know, and produced a 72-page report that sets a sky-high standard for other committees.

It isn’t easy to disagree without being disagreeable, to work constructively in a committee without submerging one’s own viewpoint, to accept criticism respectfully without caving into it. Lisa’s recent experience demonstrates that she can do all of these things.

Please join me in voting for Lisa Bergen for School Committee on March 19.

Paul Horwitz
Hayward Mill Road