Mary Morgan and incumbent Rhonda Veugen are competing for a seat on the School Committee this coming election on Apr 5. The two answered questions in an open forum Candidates Night on Thursday.

Morgan, who left Wareham School District with disappointment in its direction and lack of support for struggling children, said, "I am here today because I am a devoted Wareham resident and I am hopeful that my knowledge and my experience will turn things around."

Veugen has served on the Committee for three years and seeks re-election. With a child in the school system, Veugen is optimistic about the programs that are being set into place and said, "I believe in a supportive system for our children to be challenged."

Q: How will you play a role in leadership in spearheading the best possible way of getting our numbers up?

Morgan: There are children that are struggling in the elementary school. We give them bare minimum supports and then we move them onto the middle school and then that's where the middle school continues to be a lot more free. In the high school, I know that there are huge cuts, especially in the special education department, that probably play a part where they are dropping to a Level 3. What I would recommend, what I would suggest to the committee is to take a look at what we tried to implement before... that's a framework that is called Response to Intervention... I truly believe that if we focus more on this framework, if we implement it correctly, it would change the levels.

Veugen: Early education is absolutely the key when it comes to giving a child the right start in education. My son benefitted from a pre-school program that wasn't in Wareham that had a very strong educational program with a curriculum. The early education program that we have for several years... the district did not have the structured curriculum... Now what we're doing is we're giving our children the best opportunity to begin kindergarten right there, right where they need to be... When you take a look at the work that Beverly Shea is doing, she's our new director for Special Education, she is directly looking at the policies and procedures in place and making sure that we're making adjustments to them so that if a child is identified as struggling out of their early age that that need is identified and the support systems are put in place... I think that for the first time, that with the alignment of the grades, especially in the earlier grades... those pieces are now being placed and they have a very focused look at what is going on with early grades.

Q: How can you have so many cuts in teachers when there's so much overhead? Do we need so much overhead?

Veugen: If you take a look at the last budget cycle and going into this budget cycle, it was the first year that there was not a mass cuts in teachers. We are investing in the classroom. The School Committee and the - I was actually on the - Budget Subcomittee, and it was very very clear that this year and the prior year that "no more cuts in the classroom. The classroom has to stay solid, we cannot increase our class sizes, and the investments have to happen in the classroom- nowhere else. The realignment of the administration did not cost the district any more money.

Morgan: There were cuts that were made. We lost West Wareham Academy, which took a lot of our out-of-district students, and we also cut deeply into the Co-op, which is an alternative school...for students that are struggling at the high school. And it is my understanding that the Co-op will no longer exist next year. So again, we're gonna see a rise in the out-of-district... I actually don't like to have to say this, but I don't agree with having three assistant principals at each elementary school as well as, I heard that there were, four assistant principals over at the middle school. I think that this money could be used in the classroom... I do agree that there is overhead, and that we need to take a better look at it and see how we can better meet the needs of our children in Wareham.

Q: What will happen to at-risk students if the Co-op closes?

Morgan: There should be programs in place... We have a title one program that is supposed to be addressing at risk students... It really should be focusing in on the RTI model where the students that are at-risk are being given intensive intervention before they end up being special-needs.

Veugen: The cooperative school is being looked at. I understand that there is a concern that the actual building closes and then that means that there are no services for at-risk students in our district. That's just simply not true... An alternative program for our students has to happen.