School Board Candidate Halloran Speaks Out

With her two opponents unable to attend, School Committee candidate Kathleen Halloran had the floor at the recent candidates forum, where she addressed such issues as MCAS, town-school communication and line item school budgets.

Halloran, the current chairman of the School Committee, is seeking re-election, as is her fellow committee member Peter Carlson and newcomer Maggie McDonald.

Carlson was unable to attend because he recently had back surgery. McDonald was out of town on business.

Both submitted statements of regret for their absence.

Carlson asked voters to give him another term to continue what he described as considerable progress over the last few years, including hiring a new superintendent, supporting the reorganization of grade levels and building a new high school in a “fiscally responsible’’ manner.

McDonald said her background in business, as a social worker and as a parent gives her a “unique perspective that I believe will be an asset.’’ She said that she is “not afraid of being unpopular by making tough decisions.’’

At the forum, which was sponsored by the Grafton League of Women Voters and held Sunday night at the , Halloran addressed several topics raised by audience members, including:

If students should be picked up directly at their homes by the bus or if they could meet at a nearby joint location.

The students’ age and accessibility and the condition of the sidewalks are factors, she said. “I know it’s frustrating, I’ve been behind buses,’’ she said. “But safety comes first.’’

The state of communication between the School Committee and town government.

She said this was “improving. The new school superintendent has worked very diligently on being very communicative. He comes downstairs’’ from the second-floor school department offices to the first floor town offices “on an almost daily basis’’ to communicate with the Town Administrator and other officials.

Her views on MCAS.

She had a mixed view on this. She said, as a teacher herself, she believes the test teaches important concepts and skills that students should know. But having such a high-stakes annual test “totally changes the game’’ by forcing teachers to be “teaching the test,’’ which she said “takes away from some of the joy of teaching and learning.’’

Whether Town Meeting should review the school department budget line by line before voting on it.

She said the idea might not be practical, because it could take “days’’ to review the complex budget. But if residents wanted to do that, she had no objection.