School Committee Hopefuls in the Spotlight at Debate

Prior to the Board of Selectmen debate on Monday night at Tewksbury High School, it was the candidates for School Committee that took center stage telling residents why they should be chosen on the ballot Saturday on Election Day.

Tewksbury Patch and the Town Crier combined to host the event, which lasted about an hour an front of a crowd of residents in the auditorium.

During the event, candidate Raymond Lisiecki said that he believes the town is losing too many students to other high schools, and added that the town should implement full-day kindergarten as a way to combat this trend.

“There’s a disconnect with what we’re doing and what people perceive that we’re doing,” said Lisiecki. “We have to realize that when people vote with their feet and put kids into alternative education, those dollars provided by state aide go with them. We need to implement full-day kindergarten, and build on that.”

While all candidates agreed that full-day kindergarten would be ideal for the town, they didn’t necessarily agree that it was possible.

Incumbent Krissy Polimeno said the cost of implementing full-day kindergarten is simply too high.

“Everybody wants a full-day kindergarten, and who wouldn’t? We don’t have it because we can’t afford it,” said Polimeno, who added that the cost to implement full-day kindergarten would be $500,000. “We tried to go after the grant money but were always declined. The day will come when the money is here and we will implement it. We have to look at what’s best for 4,000 students, not just the kindergarten students coming in.”

Challenger Lisa Puccia spoke about the decreasing amounts of state aide, and the importance of working to make sure the town does not lose out on that funding.

“Just because we elect (legislators) to office, doesn’t mean they stop working for us. We really need to make our voices known for that,” said Puccia. “We need to work with our legislators to make sure we have the funding that we need.”

The three candidates are vying for two School Committee seats. Election Day is slated for Saturday, April 6.