Candidate Profile: Jamey Cutelis For Tewksbury School Committee

TEWKSBURY, MA — Tewksbury will have contested races for both School Committee and Board of Selectmen in the April 10 town election. Tewksbury Patch asked candidates in both races to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles over the coming weeks.

Jamey Cutelis is running for re-election the School Committee. There are four people running for two available seats. Cutelis, the sole incumbent, faces Bridget Garabedian, Nicholas Parsons and Deborah Wall.

Cutelis, an attorney, has been on the committee for nine years.

Cutelis's answers below also include responses he shared to a questionnaire from the Tewksbury Teachers Association.

Are you running for office in North Andover? Contact Christopher Huffaker at chris.huffaker@patch.com for information on being featured in a candidate profile and submitting campaign announcements to North Andover Patch.

Previously on Patch: Tewksbury Candidate Forum Planned For March 18

Jamey Cutelis

Age (as of Election Day)

64

Position Sought

School Committee

Family

Wife - Maria Cutelis Two adult Children graduated from Tewksbury Public Schools

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

Wife Maria Cutelis has worked in Tewksbury Public Schools for over twenty years.

Education

Graduate Northeastern Law School 1984

Occupation

Attorney - 35 years

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office

School Committee Tewksbury for nine years

Campaign website

Under construction.

Why are you seeking elective office?

I want to make Tewksbury public schools the best they can be.

I have been a member of the Tewksbury Public Schools School Committee for the past nine years. Prior to that I was very active as a parent on a number of committees starting in 1994 with my participation as a member of the Long Range School Planning Committee which led to the construction of the John Ryan Elementary School in 1999. I then served as Chairman of the Wynn School Building Committee (completed in 2002) and the Tewksbury Memorial High School Building Committee (completed in 2012). I am now the Vice-Chairman of the New Elementary School Building Committee.

During that time I also served as a member of the Tewksbury Finance Committee and the Tewksbury Financial Planning Committee. I also was a founding member of U25, a grassroots parent group created to address significant underfunding of the Tewksbury Public Schools and to reduce class size. I also served on numerous School Councils during that time.

I got involved as a parent School Council member in 1994 when my daughter was in kindergarten at the Dewing School. Her teachers at that time told me the state of the Tewksbury Public Schools was less than stellar and needed a serious upgrade. Dr. Christine McGrath approached me about serving on the Long Range Planning Committee for the Ryan School and I felt that was a good opportunity to try and make a difference and improve the quality of education in our town.

My firm belief in that the school system is the most important component of any community, the first thing people ask when moving to a new town is "How are the schools?" A strong vibrant public school system is the foundation upon which a town's quality of life rests. Everyone ultimately depends on it, parents, children, seniors, property owners, businesses, and employers. The quality of life of everyone involved depends on your school system, look at any city or town anywhere and you will always see at the center of an outstanding town is an outstanding school system.

That understanding along with an understanding that education is critical to improve not just your local community but the larger world around you motivated me to get involved and it still does to this date. My sole objective as a school committee member was is and always will be to improve student achievement and make our schools the best they can be for the benefit of all.

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

Pandemic and getting kids back in class and making sure school budget fully funded next couple of years.

Clearly, the pandemic is first. We need to get the kids back in the classroom safely. This appears to be on the horizon and that is a good thing.

We need to address looming budgetary issues as the pandemic has caused a marked reduction in state and local revenues.

Third, we need to open the new elementary school on time and on budget.

Fourth we need to continue to keep our curriculum robust and continue to add course offerings at the high school. Developing full day pre-K is also critical.

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

My experience working to improve the Tewksbury public schools for over 25 years.

Anyone seeking this position and currently serving is motivated by the same goal I have: to make our schools the best they can be for the community as a whole and to put student achievement at the center of that goal.

My twenty-five years of experience, and the knowledge gained from those efforts, serving as a school committee member, committee volunteer and parent volunteer working through many difficult times in this community to find solutions to problems to make our schools the best they can is invaluable.

How do you think local officials performed in responding to the coronavirus? What if anything would you have done differently?

We did the best we could, but getting kids in class sooner would have been preferable.

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

I have been an attorney for over 35 years. As noted above I have been involved with the Tewksbury Public Schools for over twenty-five years. I am extremely familiar with municipal finance and school budgets. I was a driving force behind the four new schools in town which significantly upgraded the working environment for all employees and the learning environment for all students, not only that, but I believe our community takes great pride in our schools especially the high school.

I led the campaign to fairly fund the Tewksbury Public Schools in the mid 2000's. At that time our class sizes were out of control exceeding 30 and even 35 kids per class. This directly resulted from our per-pupil spending being almost next to last in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I found that appalling and led the campaign, along with a number of other very good and active people, to highlight this to the community and begin to change it. Classroom teachers can engage in differentiated instruction with twenty-two students much better than they can with thirty-five. There is a reason the best schools in the world like Phillips Academy in Andover have eight children in a class not thirty.

Also I have experience/involvement in many hiring decisions/committees for administration, including the Superintendent, Business Manager and Principals.

As a school committee member I always look to work cooperatively with the board. I believe I also have a very good relationship with the Board of Selectman and the Town Manager.

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

I have been involved for twenty-five years working to make a difference and I believe I still have much to offer and can make a difference to keep our schools on the right track moving forward. My experience, knowledge and insight into the workings of our school system, the town budget, the Board of Selectman, and the critical importance of chapter 70 funding from the state, as well as my philosophy of the essentialness of high quality public education for all are some reasons.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.