Campbell Vows To 'Ask The Questions' On Danvers School Committee

DANVERS, MA — Alice Campbell said she talked to many families during her school committee campaign who felt shut out of the conversation of how Danvers Public Schools was managing the coronavirus health crisis over the past year.

As one of two newly elected committee members, she wants to start driving that conversation in a way that makes the district more transparent and accountable.

"I think I'm going to ask the questions," Campbell told Patch after she and Robin Doherty won the two open seats on the committee earlier this week. "When you watched the committee meetings before they weren't asking the hard questions. They were taking the administration's word for everything. I don't know if I will take the administration's word from day one. I will ask the questions that need to be asked."

Campbell acknowledged that everyone was in a very difficult position trying to respond to constantly evolving state guidance and virus metrics this academic year. But with hopes of a far more stable 2021-22 school year, she said the work to rebuild that connection between the district and parents begins now.

"We need the stability back," she said. "We need to focus on being more proactive to our students' needs instead of this past year being so reactive. Things were changing so much that it wasn't the fault of any one person. But now we have to focus on September.

"I feel like this past year really showed the community how important it is to have a voice for the families on the school committee. It was very frustrating to see decisions being made without accountability and transparency."

Campbell said many families reached out to her during the campaign about their emotional experiences of the past year, and termed the stories she was told: "more negative than positive."

She said that was especially true with the experiences of students in special education.

"I feel they were left behind greatly this past year," she said. "If you want to talk about advocacy, it's those special education families. I would say they will most likely be my focus because of what they went through this past year and how hard it was on the students and families."

She said the mission now should be to build Danvers Public Schools back better post-COVID than they were pre-COVID.

"We can't settle for being average in the state anymore," she said. "That's what I'm going to continue to strive for."

With children in the school system, she said she is highly invested in seeing Danvers Public Schools improve.

"I'm honored that families put their faith in me more than anything being fairly new,” said Campbell, who has lived in the town for nine years. "There were four very strong candidates (for the two spots) this year. I'm thankful they trusted me with this responsibility."

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)

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