Amy Snyder Announces School Committee Bid

Note: candidate announcements for all candidates will be posted this week. Links to the other stories will be added to this one as they’re posted.

A doctor whose work is centered on health and wellness who moved to East Greenwich for its quality schools, Amy Snyder, is running for School Committee.

Synder announced her intention to run for the seat last week.

The election will be held January 5.

Below is the entire text of her campaign announcement:

My name is Amy Snyder, and I am the mother of two students at Cole Middle School and East Greenwich High School. I also am a physician employed at the Women & Infants Emergency Department. Like many other parents in our town, my husband and I chose to move to East Greenwich eight years ago so that our children could attend quality public schools. I am running for School Committee in order to maintain the high standards that East Greenwich residents expect, to propose and support new initiatives that will make our schools even better, and provide richer learning experiences for all students.

Health and wellness are central to my work as a doctor. Much of my work in and around East Greenwich schools during the last eight years is an extension of that concern. Last year, I served on the committee that reviewed the impact of school start times on our students. Our committee hosted public forums, created a broad survey to inform our debate, and provided multiple opportunities for general education and public discussion. We were ultimately successful in shifting the start times (beginning in the 2016­2017 academic year) by 30 minutes for the high school and middle school, which more closely aligns with the clear recommendations set by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Children who sleep more are less likely to suffer from depression, are less likely to have car accidents and less likely to attempt suicide. This modest delay in school start time has also been shown to result in improved scholastic performance, and there is a wealth of highly credible peer­reviewed research to support this conclusion. I believe that this change will bring positive results for many families in East Greenwich.

A later school start time is one means of achieving a healthier environment for our children, but there are many other opportunities as well. Last year, working with the Academy Foundation, I helped host a public screening of the documentary film Race to Nowhere at St Luke’s Church. The film was followed by a fantastic panel discussion of local experts (two pediatricians, a drug counselor and a psychiatrist) to discuss issues such as stress, anxiety and depression which unfortunately affect so many young people. While stress certainly can help us get things done, it also can harm us. In our overscheduled world, children face greater demands on their time and unrelenting pressure to succeed ­ to the point where it can be quite harmful to them. I would love to see our school system pursue new policies that might appropriately reduce this intense pressure for our students and balance successful college preparation with support for their mental and emotional health.

I believe that education should not adhere to a “one size fits all” model, but rather should use multiple approaches to promote mastery of vital subject matter in and out of the classroom. Our students should be excited about learning, so that they are ready and prepared to acquire deep mastery of various subjects, to think logically and critically and approach new material with creativity and an openness to explore different points of view. I believe students learn best through project based and experiential learning, both of which encourage creative and collaborative thinking. Research shows that over the past few decades children have become less creative. The CQ or creative index scores

have steadily declined in our country since the 1990s. Creativity will be essential as our children tackle the vast issues which lay ahead of them. We need to find ways to bring creativity and the joy of learning back to the classroom.

If I am elected to serve on the school committee, I want to work cooperatively to ensure that our schools remain a source of great community pride. The School Committee should be a place for an open exchange of ideas in support of our students. East Greenwich is rich in citizens with talent, passion and commitment, and I look forward to soliciting the thoughts, experiences and opinions of our community to make our schools the best they can be.