Democracy For All Dedham Candidate Spotlight Rebecca Gates

Please tell our towns voters a little about yourself and why you decided to run for one of the two seats on the School Committee this year.

"My Name is Rebecca Gates, My Husband Richard and I currently have one son in the school system, he is a 5th grader at the Greenlodge School and two adult sons, one is a US Marine, the other a Postal Worker.

Like most parents, I trusted the elected committee members who stepped up to serve our town, did so in the best interest of the entire community. I trusted them to represent us without political agendas or any bias. Recent history, however, has proved my trust misguided.

Parents' voices are being silenced and their concerns and being dismissed, marginalized, and devalued. The core curriculums are no longer front and center of our public-school systems goals. School budgets and our tax dollars are being redirected away from their core mission to teach our children basic subjects, in favor of social agendas, which alienate parents and divide our community. Worse, our students' basic education, as measured by recent MCAS test scores, have deteriorated."

1. The School Committee started an initiative of holding office hours to listen to the concerns of taxpayers and parents. If you are elected to the School Committee, what commitment would you make to have these sessions become a permanent part of your business and would you expand on further outreach outside of normal committee meetings?

"One of the very tenets of my candidacy is listening – truly listening – to the concerns of the parents, guardians, and taxpayers. While I am encouraged by the office hour availability of our School Committee, I believe that unless these concerns are acted upon, these sessions may fall short of their intentions. In addition to scheduled availability, our School Committee members must be flexible and meet our constituents at their convenience, not ours. I also want to initiate a mechanism of creating a record of constituency concerns and the response of our School Committee. There needs to be accountability, while honoring the privacy of some when the issue may warrant privacy. "

2. In 2013 Dedham High School ranked 42nd in the state according to the U.S. News and World Report rankings of the best high schools in the nation. We are currently ranked 139th in the state. What factors do you believe attributed to such a dip in our ranking in less than a decade and what steps do you feel our school system should take to remedy this to try and improve our ranking going forward?

"While there is a lot to proud of within the Dedham Public Schools, this report is certainly alarming. The US News and World Report utilizes three measurement standards: Advance Placement Exams, Math and Reading Proficiency, and Graduation Rates. I am a strong advocate for foundation core curriculums, i.e., reading, writing and mathematics, from which to build upon. Dedham scored 58% reading proficiency and 78% on math proficiency. Once we return to teaching and re-enforcing our core proficiencies for all students, our AP exam participation, ability to then pass an AP exam, as well as our graduation rates will also improve. This sounds simple, but it is not. Some will point to the changes of Covid as one of major influences on our decline; however, all communities had the same obstacles. I suggest we look to those school districts which rose in their rankings, for best practices. I also suggest we look to our classroom teachers who championed our 42nd ranking. Our classroom teachers are truly the subject matter experts in returning excellence in education to Dedham."

3. Bullying can be a traumatic situation not only for the students who are victims of this treatment, but also the parents that must try to be there for their children and be supportive. There have been times that allegations were not taken very seriously by the middle school administration. If elected, what steps will you take to see that all bullying accusations are given proper credence and investigation at all school levels to ensure improper behavior is dealt with in a fair manner?

"Dedham Public Schools has a very well written policy addressing Anti-Bullying, both physical and cyber. The policy is comprehensive in the prevention, reporting, investigation, and consequences of these acts. Sadly, bullying continues to be a threat to so many children, that I believe we need to take a deeper dive into how to better enforce these policies so that prevention happens, and when it fails, we have effective means to not only discipline the offenders, but we take every precaution to protect those who have been victimized. It is one of the worst feelings for a parent to send their children to school knowing that a bully may be lying in wait to terrorize their child. I am not suggesting that our schools are unsafe, as there are degrees of unfortunate incidents. Some situations can be quickly resolved. Other situations are not so quickly corrected. The Bullying Prevention & Intervention plan states, “Consequences for bullying or retaliation should be immediately and consistently applied and must be delivered in a non-hostile manner.” The reality for so many of our families is not swift or consequential enough. Too many families are experiencing a lag between being bullied and being safe. Dedham needs to revisit these policies, plans, and consequences."

4. At one time basic life skills such as home economics and auto shop were regular staples of a student's education. Some of this was taught at the middle school level, but much of it was taught at the high school level. While curriculum study should always be first in a child's education, what commitment if any would you consider to bringing back programs like those mentioned and others to help students become self-sufficient in basic life skills after leaving our school system?

"Basic life skills include, but are not limited to, cooking, cleaning, managing money, basic first aid, and auto maintenance. I affirm that Dedham must first address the return to solid, core foundational learning; however, I also believe Dedham can satisfy the need to teach basic life skills without major curriculum changes. Some of these life skills could easily be integrated into existing courses of study such as health class or mathematics. Others may be better addressed in after-school student clubs. While other skills could be incorporated into the mandatory community service-learning program. Part of the goal of the community service-learning program is for students to learn about themselves, give back and possibly use these opportunities to broaden their future career aspirations. Volunteering in social enterprises which rely on volunteers also provides many opportunities to enhance, or sometimes, introduce basic life lesson opportunities."

5. As an elected member of our school committee, you will be tasked with taking part in the search and eventual hire of our next Superintendent of Schools. What qualities will you be looking for in potential candidates and how do you feel those qualities will lend themselves to moving our school system forward?

"The process of hiring the next Superintendent of Schools is a lengthy one. The first step in this process is assembling a search committee from various segments of our greater community. It is this steering committee who will be tasked with the preliminary review of a hopefully diverse pool of qualified candidates. I will take the required care and attention in assembling these teams, as I will in the ultimate candidate selection. The recommended candidates, from this steering committee, must possess strong leadership and communication skills. They must also be able to articulate a clear vision for the Dedham school district. They should also be strategic thinkers. These candidates, and ultimately the best person for this position, must be flexible, humble and be able to collaborate with the administration, classroom teachers, school committee, and the entire community of Dedham. The person who ultimately secures my vote for their candidacy will not simply be the best among their pool of candidates; he or she will be the best fit for our Dedham School system. Period."

I thank Rebecca for taking the time to answer my questions. Election Day is this Saturday, April 9th. Polls will be open from 7am to 8pm.