Worcester Candidate Profile: Cara Berg-Powers For School Board

WORCESTER, MA — The race for three at-large seats on the Worcester School Committee is packed this year, with nine candidates challenging two remaining incumbents. The race was further complicated last Friday when longtime school committee member Brian O'Connell died suddenly.

Cara Berg-Powers, 36, is one of the people running to unseat incumbents Jack Foley and John Manfredo (or fill O'Connell's spot). She is the executive director of the Transformative Culture Project, and has served for eight years on the Worcester Human Rights Commission. She's running to increase engagement in the community, and she's touting her experience as a community organizer.

Here's how she answered the Patch candidate questionnaire ahead of the Nov. 5 election:

The single most pressing issue facing our school district is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

Restoring Public Trust. We need to build authentic opportunities for student engagement, not just outreach. I will help to create a series of community meetings through which we can engage in difficult but necessary conversations to hear out the concerns of parents, students and educators. We need spaces where school stakeholders can build trusting relationships with one another to build shared solutions that we can move forward together. As a veteran organizer, educator, and non-profit director, as well as the only candidate that has been a student, a teacher, and a parent in 21st century public schools, I am uniquely situated to bring us all to the table and build these critical bridges forward.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

As I mentioned previously, I am the only candidate that has been a student, a parent, and an educator in 21st century Worcester Public Schools. None of the issues we're talking about are hypothetical to me. I have taken the MCAS, and seen my alma mater do away with the small class sizes and project-based learning that made my path to academic and professional success possible. I have had to console a crying 5 year-old, when the pressure of 10 pounds of math worksheets over her kindergarten year had her feeling not good enough or smart enough. I have had to manage a classroom of 10th graders after a day of MCAS testing has them both exhausted and jittery with nervous energy. I also have authentic, trusting relationships with parents, teachers, and students now. I can bring us to the table together to have difficult conversations, yes, but also to imagine the district we know we deserve, and the skills to make it possible.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community ?

The biggest failure of the current School Committee is the failure to take the concerns of the community seriously. As a leader, it is critical to be open to feedback and be willing to learn from our mistakes. Unwillingness to learn and grow is a dangerous and prevalent feature of some of our incumbents. Our students and teachers deserve our attentiveness to their experiences, as well as our curiosity and diligence in figuring out why those experiences are happening and solving the problems that have caused them. There is a clear role and responsibility of School Committee- to set policy, to hold the district's leadership accountable to our goals, and to oversee our resources to those ends. Too much School Committee time in my lifetime has been spent on volunteerism and politics, both to our peril. Volunteerism, to be sure, is a worthwhile pursuit- but book and coat drives is something you do as a member of our community, not as a credential to serve in elected office. Our community deserves a School Committee that is more interested in the experiences our students and staff have in our schools and less in how much people like them.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform:

Bringing Community Voices to the Table- I am committed to listening to those most impacted by our decisions- students, teachers and parents. There’s a number of ways we can do more to solicit and support community voices in our most important decisions.

Whole, Healthy Kids- Schools are more than places that kids learn reading and math. I will be an advocate for school nurses, adjustment counselors, social emotional learning, libraries and other vital services that make our school communities great. A comprehensive, 21st century curriculum also will build the skills and confidence our students need to lead.

Strong City and School Partnerships- We cannot ask our schools to solve our most pressing social issues alone. Working closely with the City, we can create a comprehensive agenda that makes sure families have the transportation, economy and housing needed to support their kids outside of the classroom so that they can reach their full potential inside the classroom.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

Because of the opportunities that I had as a Worcester Public Schools student and graduate, I went on to earn a doctorate in Education. I have spent the last 15 years bringing arts into classrooms and creating youth jobs. Now, as a Worcester Public School parent, I want to bring my professional experience to the table to make sure that my daughter, and every kid in every neighborhood in Worcester has access to the tools and resources they need to succeed.

I have taught Education at the college level, as well as spending time in k-12 classrooms myself. I've also, in my role as Executive Director, had to work closely with a board, manage organizational culture and health, supported and developed Strategic Plans and had to balance an annual budget. I've worked with several school districts across the state, and my varied experience gives me the opportunity to see things from all angles and help people to see one another's perspective. All of these skills will be critical to us bringing our schools into the 21st century.

The best advice ever shared with me was ...

None of us has arrived- we all have things to learn from one another.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

By far one of the issues I hear about most while door knocking the city is the impact that high-stakes standardized testing has had on our classrooms. As a longtime arts educator, I know that many schools across the Commonwealth have seen arts offerings dwindle as a result of the focus on increasing test scores. Similarly physical education, government and civics, and other things considered “extra” have been cut My crying kindergartener refusing to go to school over frustration at a particularly ill-written testing focused math sheet really brought home how much our kids have been affected. Still, we were incredibly lucky, we love our school community and our kids’ teachers. As foster parents with a high-need 3rd grader, we knew that he was getting everything he needed to thrive- an incredibly caring and communicative classroom teacher, a full-time school nurse, talented school adjustment counselor, and a committed assistant principal coordinating with everyone to make sure he was meeting his goals. Not every child has access to those same supports, even within our district. We need to ensure that every child, regardless of what school building they walk into, or what they bring with them, has access to the tools, resources and community they need to thrive.