Woburn Candidate Profile: Andrew Lipsett For School Committee

WOBURN, MA — With the Woburn Municipal Election scheduled for Nov. 7, Patch is profiling the candidates.

Here, we learn more about Andrew Lipsett, who is running for School Committee. Lipsett, an incumbent, is among seven candidates running for five open seats on the seven-person committee.

Also running are fellow incumbents Patricia Chisolm and Ellen Crowley and challengers James Austin, Marie Dellagrotte, Meaghan Morris and Jessie Wetzel.

The five winners will serve two-year terms. Meanwhile, Michael Mulrenan and Colleen Cormier were elected to four-year terms in 2021.

Lipsett has spent the last 15 years as a high school history teacher at a nearby public school district.

Candidates were sent questionnaires and filled out the answers.

Name

Andrew Lipsett

How old will you be as of Election Day?

44 years old.

Campaign website

https://www.lipsettschoolcommi...

What city or town do you live in?

Woburn

What office are you seeking?

School Committee

Education

I have a BA from Sarah Lawrence College (Class of 2000) and two Masters Degrees, in History (University of Toronto, 2005) and Teaching (Simmons College, 2009).

Occupation

For the past 15 years, I have taught high school history in a nearby public school district.

Family

My wife Emily and I have lived in Woburn for over a decade, and are raising two wonderful children here. Both attend the Woburn Public Schools, in Kindergarten and Fifth grade.

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

My wife Emily is the president of the Board of Trustees of the Woburn Public Library.

Have you ever held a public office, whether appointive or elective?

I have served two terms on the Woburn School Committee — I was first elected in 2019.

Why are you seeking this office?

As a teacher, parent, and committee member, I live public education every day, from a number of perspectives. I have tried to use these perspectives to listen better and communicate better, especially as we’ve faced crisis after crisis over my time in office. I believe I have a track record of putting student needs first and fighting for what we need, whether it be advocating for student-facing jobs as I’ve done in budget after budget, standing up for vulnerable students, working to improve district and committee communication, and pushing for better services for our working families. I hope to continue to do that, and ask for your vote to allow me to do so.

Please complete this statement: The single most pressing issue facing my constituents is ______ and this is what I intend to do about it.

One thing I learned early on was that you can’t always predict the biggest challenge you’ll face: after all, I joined the committee only a couple months before COVID. However, what I see as our three biggest areas of need right now are as follows:

1) A budget that keeps up with student need — as our student body evolves, we need to evolve with it. Woburn is not a sleepy suburb, but a growing city with commerce and industry, a bustling downtown, and an urbanizing population. We have to serve that population’s needs, which takes additional funding and more targeted budgeting that can support students with a wide array of disabilities, language backgrounds, and income levels. This most recent budget, I think, demonstrated the need for a change in thinking at the city level: we have “gotten by” with level funding in most city departments for too long, and it’s time to rethink how we look at city revenue so that we can build proactively, both in the schools and beyond.

2) Addressing our capital needs for the future — The Woburn Public Schools and the City of Woburn have done well these past two decades in building and maintaining school facilities, but we are in need of forward planning for our middle schools, our North Woburn elementary schools, and our integrated preschool program. We are also experiencing an enrollment increase due to a number of factors, and will have to look at how to best serve all of our students across the city this year. Much of this work will be guided by a feasibility study that will be published soon to the Resource Subcommittee, of which I am a member.

3) Repairing relationships and moving forward — In the aftermath of COVID, education everywhere has been in crisis. That has emerged in different ways in different communities, but it is on each local district to make sure we are listening to our people, and communicating ourselves to them well. I hope that my “dual role” as a teacher and school committee member, not to mention parent, can help bridge whatever gaps exist and allow us to work together to serve our students.

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

There are seven candidates seeking five seats on the Woburn School Committee, and many of us agree on most of the critical issues. Among those is the need to support all our students through a focus on equity and excellence — making sure each student has access to the kinds of supports and challenges they need to thrive. That may look different for each student, and that's okay — our district does best when we make sure we affirm who our students are, celebrate both our differences and our shared community, and build our resources and programs through that lens.

What other issues do you intend to address during your campaign?

I’d like to see a renewed commitment to highlighting the amazing things our students and staff do every day. This can include, as I mentioned above, bringing students and staff to our committee meetings more regularly, as well as making sure the district gets word out when we’ve had particular accomplishments or events that showcase what we do. Community partnerships are important here as well: I would love to see, for example, our Visual Arts department engage in public art projects such as murals in Woburn.

I also want to make sure that we are seen by the community as accessible. This can be done through public forums in which we talk about the programs we offer, or committee office hours, which I had begun before COVID but which were shelved due to the pandemic.

We also need to maintain and grow our investment in social and emotional health. The most recent budget included the reduction of a high school social worker, which I pushed against; I will be focused on expansion of social support positions in the next budget.

For our youngest learners, it is high time Woburn have a dedicated preschool space. At present, due to rapid growth in our preschool population, our integrated program is split between two schools. I am hopeful that the feasibility study that will be published soon will give us recommendations for a unified space for this program.

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

For one, I've been doing it for four challenging years. Through a pandemic, budget fights, and a teacher strike, my focus has been on how we maintain and grow our district to support everyone in our buildings, from students to staff. I've had some wins and some losses, but on balance I hope my commitment to a great Woburn education has been evident.

Is there anything else you would like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

While the past four years have been far more difficult than I could have imagined, I still believe in Woburn’s potential as a school district and as a city. I hope to continue to be accessible to students, staff, families, and community members who want to engage with our schools, and I plan to continue to communicate as plainly and openly as I can, bring people into our processes, and cement the schools as the beating heart of Woburn. I welcome any questions and encourage anyone to reach out. Thanks for your consideration this fall, and I hope I can continue to earn your vote to serve our kids.