100 Days In Office: Worcester's New Political Class Looks Back

WORCESTER, MA — Worcester voters in November elected five new residents to sit on the school committee and city council, which political watchers at the time hailed as a big shakeup in local politics.

Those five candidates — school committee members Jermaine Johnson, Sue Mailman and Jermoh Kamara; plus District 5 Councilor Etel Haxhiaj and At-Large Councilor Thu Nguyen — reached the 100-day mark on April 13 after an inauguration ceremony on Jan. 3.

Worcester Patch spoke to each of the newly elected candidates about the first 100 days to find out what challenges and successes they've experienced so far.

Jermaine Johnson

Johnson made history in November when he became the first Black man to win a seat on the Worcester School Committee. One area he wanted to focus on was the social and emotional wellbeing of students following long remote learning periods during the pandemic.

Johnson reported a pretty good experience 100 days in, but noted a learning curve for new members. He's had to learn how to navigate parliamentary rules, and discovered that the school system doesn't always move as quickly as he'd like. For example, he asked for data on student mental health in January, but it took until April for him to get it.

"Sometimes it's just a slow process, and it feels like we're spinning our wheels and not getting the answers we want. I know it just takes time," he said.

The lifting of a district mask mandate and the superintendent search have been two of the biggest issues before the school committee in 2022. Johnson is not on the superintendent search committee, but he did vote to repeal the mask mandate. He said the decision was tough because constituents were split on the issue. He felt it was the right move based on data available in early March.

As far as the next superintendent, Johnson said he wants someone who is "open, honest and transparent," and focused on working on diversity and inclusion issues in the district. He's also looking forward to working on other projects, like the district's takeover of the bus system, and meeting with principals and other school building leaders.

"I'm just trying to learn and listen to people, to get a grasp on what's going on and what's needed in the district," he said.

Jermoh Kamara

Kamara's bid for school committee in 2021 was her second after she fell short in 2019. She made a splash in August when she released a statement saying Superintendent Maureen Binienda's contract should not be renewed. A few days later, the school committee voted to do just that, kicking off the superintendent search process. Kamara joined the committee searching for the new school district leader after she took office.

Kamara said one surprise so far is the amount of time she's devoted to the elected position, on top of her full-time job, since taking office.

"To really want to do this job perfectly, you have to give up so much of yourself," she said of the time committment. "I like to feel like I’m putting my all in and also maintaining work-life balance."

She's also been frustrated reaching goals. Kamara had wanted to work on broadband accessibility issues for students, with about one-third of households in Worcester lacking broadband internet access, according to the Worcester Regional Research Bureau. But she's had trouble even getting appointed to committees in city government dealing with that issue.

"Is it fair as a new person, I can't sit on the committee because someone else on school committee already does?" she said.

But Kamara also said she feels like she's making an impact. She highlighted multiple meetings with school leaders, parent-teacher organizations and community groups as occasions when she's been able to be an advocate for the people she represents.

"I feel like I am doing my best if I'm protecting people who are vulnerable, the kids who can't speak for themselves and the people who aren't in the public sphere," she said.

Sue Mailman

Although Mailman won an election for the first time in November, she's well known in Worcester as owner of Coghlin Electrical Contractors, a board member at the United Way of Central Massachusetts and a member of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Even with that experience, Mailman agreed with Johnson that there's a steep learning curve coming into office. It's especially notable on the school committee, where three of the six members (minus Mayor Joseph Petty) are brand new in 2022.

"That creates a ton of people who don't fully get the process, but the better side of it is you have engaged people who really want to do the job they ran to do," she said.

But Mailman also said all three new members realized that issues like the superintendent search, coronavirus and the upcoming fiscal year 2023 budget process would dominate at least the first six months of 2022. The new members have also had plenty more to do, from sorting out ESSER coronavirus relief funding to staying on top of school maintenance issues.

One item that could change is two-year terms. Both city council and school committee members serve the same term lengths.

"These are big roles that take a long time to learn the ins and outs of," she said. "It's too bad that we don't give people an opportunity to really do that before they're running again."

Etel Haxhiaj

Dating back to the 2021 campaign, Haxhiaj has been a target of right wing attacks, which escalated after she took office. Haxhiaj says the attacks are part of a wider trend of harassment against women, people of color and members of LGBTQ community who have been elected in recent years. New Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, for example, has been the target of racist attacks in 2022.

About a week after Haxhiaj won her District 5 seat, a hacker seized her Facebook account and began posting obscene images, and pictures of the ISIS flag — which may be due to Haxhiaj being the first Muslim-American elected to city council, she said. Haxhiaj has regularly been called antisemitic, and was mocked as "extreme Etel" by her opponent in the 2021 race.

During her first 100 days, Haxhiaj attempted to reinstitute an eviction moratorium because of the omicron surge, and spoke in favor of a zoning ban on new gas stations. Those efforts were scuttled in a series of procedural moves, and so Haxhiaj has refocused on forging relationships with councilors who have been around longer , she said.

"After having a couple of those experiences with items I was putting forward, I reached out to a few of the councilors to try to understand a little better where I can be supportive of them," she said.

Haxhiaj is looking forward to upcoming debates in city council around a possible new inclusionary zoning effort that could help housing affordability in swiftly gentrifying Worcester. In the near term, she's also looking forward to discussing a new proposal by Worcester police to begin using drones, and the search for a new city manager. She also hopes to start doing more public events, including neighborhood walks with constituents.

Right wing groups around Worcester are still targeting Haxhiaj on social media. But as she continues through her first term, she hopes the problems she's faced will highlight larger inequities in Worcester political culture that need fixing.

"Comfort isn't the goal. Equity and full community engagement is," she said.

Thu Nguyen

Nguyen is the third person along with Haxhiaj and Kamara elected in November born outside the U.S. Nguyen is also the first elected official in Massachusetts who identifies as nonbinary, which means they do not describe themselves as either male or female.

Nguyen did not respond to requests for an interview, but after the recent resignation of Stephanie Williams, Worcester's most recent chief diversity officer, Nguyen gave a glimpse at some of the adversity they’ve faced in office.

"I have also been misgendered many times by city staff. During orientation, someone from HR sat across from me and said, 'I’m glad there are more women getting in these positions,'" they said. Nguyen went on to say that Worcester still has a lot of work to do around equity, diversity and inclusion.

Nguyen has become one of the more outspoken councilors, siding with the gas station ban proposal, supporting women who came forward to report sexual abuse at the St. John's food pantry and pumping the brakes on Petty's plan to replace outgoing City Manager Ed Augustus Jr.

Near their 100-day mark last week, Nguyen posted a message on Facebook asking for feedback.

"Hitting that 100 days mark! Checking in my friends! Please drop some feedback! How am I doing as your councilor? Here to serve ya!" they wrote.

"You're doing exactly what you promised: representing the community and leading with heart. It's obvious you do your homework and recognize implications that many others want to ignore," Worcester political activist Deb Powers responded.