Wellness the Focus for EG School Committee Candidate Snyder

As a doctor and a parent, Amy Snyder has a keen understanding of the correlation between wellness and student achievement.

For many students, she said in a recent interview, ”the whole day is a pressure cooker. They’re not coming home until 6 or 8 p.m. and still have to look at hours of homework.”

The issue has been of great concern to Snyder and it’s one reason why she found herself involved in local school politics, beginning last year. She helped lead a parent-spearheaded push for the East Greenwich School Committee to explore the idea of starting school later.

While the district is still studying the impact on bus schedules, sports schedules and other cascading changes needed to implement a later start time, Snyder’s interest has not waned. In fact, she is even more motivated to be involved: Synder is running for a seat on the East Greenwich School Committee.

The town is preparing for a special election on Jan 5 to fill a vacant school committee seat and Snyder, an endorsed Democrat, said she hopes to bring her concerns and expertise on the wellness issue to the table.

The effort to convince the School Committee to form an ad-hoc committee to explore later start times in East Greenwich was an eye-opener for Snyder.

“It made me realize there’s so much more we can do in that whole arena of health and wellness,” Synder said. ”We have a great School Committee and we’ve had some great traction but I think there’s still more we can do.”

Synder said she offers parents a clear choice to get a parent’s voice on the committee. She has had children in the district for eight years. She concedes that she lacks experience in budgeting and contract negotiations, but she does have skills as a physician and “a diversified School Committee with many voices creates a strong school committee.

“I think there’s room for a voice like mine,” she said.

As a parent, Snyder said that she has generally been pleased with the school system, considered one of the best public school districts in the state. But part of what makes East Greenwich shine is parent involvement and an unwillingness to be placated.

“Among the parents are a lot of informed customers of the system,” she said. “Parents have high expectations of their children to which I absolutely agree.”

This is Snyder’s first foray into politics and she said she’s been learning a lot along the way. The best part has been listening to different stories from constituents and gathering information to “try to synthesize ways to meet most people’s needs.”

The desire to get involved began to percolate last year during the school start time discussion. Snyder said she harbored the thought in the back of her mind, fueled by feeling so strongly about the issue of student wellness. She didn’t have concrete plans to launch a campaign, but when the School Committee seat opened up, she said it “kind of lowered the bar a little and made it seem more accessible.”

Snyder, who lives in East Greenwich with her husband, Peter, and two children, said she has the time and energy to balance family, work and serving the community on the committee, if elected.

“We feel like we’re ready for it,” she said. “Health is pervasive in every part of our lives so it makes sense to have an advocate for health on board.”

And in terms of having the energy needed to serve, consider this: Snyder is an avid cross country skier. And this summer, she enjoyed flying over the surface of Ninigret Pond in a custom kayak her husband, a woodworker, made.

“It’s so fast, “ she said. “It’s the fastest you can go without a motor.”

Synder is running against Republican Matt Plain.