Foxboro School Committee Hopefuls Talk Classes Reopening, Budget

FOXBOROUGH, MA — The Foxborough town election on May 3 will see just one contested race, as three candidates vie for two seats on the School Committee. But with the coronavirus pandemic hampering candidates' abilities to get together and discuss the issues, Foxboro Cable Access organized a virtual candidates' night to help inform voters.

Patch and the Foxboro Jaycees moderated the forum last Friday. It saw the three candidates for school committee, incumbent Richard Pearson and challengers Salina Chowdhury and Sarah Lidonni, discuss key issues, including the return to in-person learning and the state of the school budget amid the pandemic.

Candidates for other positions in uncontested races submitted recorded responses prior to the candidates' night, though Seth Ferguson, a selectman candidate, also came on to answer some questions.

School committee candidates were asked the following questions, and their answers can be found at the following marks in the video below:

1. How do you think the return to in-person learning is going in Foxborough, and what ways as a school committee member would you like to help the district with continuing to climb out of the coronavirus pandemic?

• Pearson: 14:21
• Chowdhury: 16:25
• Lidonni: 18:35

2. What sort of ideas would you bring to foster social and emotional learning and safety, as well as physical safety as we come back to in-person learning?

• Chowdhury: 22:22
• Pearson: 23:45
• Lidonni: 26:01

3. What do you think will be the biggest budgeting challenge for the school district amid the pandemic and what role do you plan to play in future years in ensuring fiscal responsibility?

• Pearson: 29:19
• Lidonni: 33:20
• Chowdhury: 36:42

4. Following the pandemic, what’s the most important issue or initiative you'd like the Foxborough School Committee to focus on?

• Pearson: 31:56
• Lidonni: 35:23
• Chowdhury: 39:05

Watch the full candidates night below.