Former Newton School Committee member Geoff Epstein is running for the same job in Framingham.
Geoff Epstein wants to do for Framingham what he did for Newton
by Greg Reibman | Jun 30, 2017 | School Committee | 17 comments
Crazy Divers: Men be like...
drivers man be like
Aren’t people allowed to change their minds based on experience and observation without being pilloried for it?
@Councilor Yates: Are you referring to when Epstein pilloried city leaders for not making the Zervas project a debt override after he campaigned (as a city leader) to have it included as an operating override? (He even removed the campaign video from YouTube where he championed his earlier view.)
Of course people can change their mind! But they also should own up to their role, not deny it.
Or we’re you referring to something else that he did?
Go Geoff!
Love him or hate him Greg, (and your mini-me Gail Spector)
Geoff Epstein ran for office in
Newton and served. He put himself out there and endured the ridicule, criticism and hostility of people like yourself, and now he is doing the same in Framingham. He served the voters of Newton and gave his time and energy. I believe he made Newton a better place to live and I am honored to have supported him and known him
despite whatever imperfections he may or may not have.
I think I’ve said this before, for all the years Greg and Gail have been kicking the crap out of our elected officials-
some of whom have deserved it, neither Greg nor Gail have ever run for office or served in elected office. Until they do, their views and opinions should be taken with a very large grain of salt. Good luck Geoff!
I haven’t worked with Gail for six years. I consider her to be a good friend. As when we worked together, we often agree and often disagree about many things, including our elected leaders.
I don’t tell her what to write or think. She doesn’t tell me what to write or think. We don’t approve each other’s posts or comments prior to publication.
It seems very unfair to me for Gail to continue getting credit when I am snarky or otherwise obnoxious.
@Paul Green: Why do you assume I follow Greg’s lead as opposed to the other way around? Why isn’t he my mini-me?
@Greg: I hope you’re doing well. I believe we’re due for another mind meld soon.
Geoff was leaving the School Committee when I was first running for the Ward 1 seat, so our terms did not overlap. But I do remember having coffee with him at the Newton Corner Starbucks back in 2013 and being very impressed with his intellect and breadth of knowledge. It was a memorable meeting for me. I was proud that he supported me in my first run for elected office and I was sorry that he moved out of Newton. He had a lot of good ideas.
I wish Geoff were still in Newton, too. But maybe some day he’ll run for Framingham’s new City Council with its majority district representation. 🙂
Greg,
It is my understanding that Geoff Epstein has tried to respond to this thread, but his comments are not appearing. In fairness, I think that his comments need to be seen since this is a thread dedicated to discussing him. I assume that this is just some technical glitch, but I did want to bring it to the attention of the good folks who run this forum. Thanks!
One of the reasons I can run in Framingham is that under the new city charter, the school committee members are elected by district (ward), rather than at large. That is a big change and very important for growing real, grass roots democracy. In my view, an at large race against an incumbent would have been much more difficult, 9 times more difficult, as there are 9 districts now in Framingham.
Regarding the Zervas project, the operating override key element in my view was more recurring money for the increased student population. The Zervas project should have been done as a debt exclusion after the community had voted on its design, as was done in Wellesley for their most recent school building project.
But the city leadership did not agree on that element. One had to give up best practices on the Zervas funding to get the money for added staff for our kids.
Further, the Zervas project was never pitched as the mega project it became. That was a fraud on the voters.
Another element of the operating override which was done poorly is the money put in for added police. There was no data to support that, as one (very) prominent alderman confided to me. But it was put in the boost the vote, and I also voted for the operating override despite that.
Imperfect, but really no choice.
FYI: Geoff did just post this comment (above) but not until after Lisap posted a comment saying Geoff was unable to post a comment. I’m not aware of any reason why he was telling Lisap this.
In general if folks are having trouble commenting here they should use the “contact” option at the top right of this page.
@Lisap: I checked and he has no comments pending. Let him know that if it’s telling him his comments are spam, it’s a glitch with our spam filter. The same thing happens to me when I try to post from my phone. See if he can try posting from a different device and/or username.
For the record, I approved Geoff’s comment (from 10:27am in the ‘pending’ queue) a short while ago. WordPress flags some posts, I think based on content or unfamiliar IP. Some of these other posts probably overlapped.
Much appreciated to be able to get a post up!
Thanks Greg, Bryan and Adam!
Hi Geoff,
Michelle Brosnahan here, your opponent in District 6. I have heard from many people you have been calling around and asking about me. You were also given my phone number. You have not tried to reach out to me. So I am reaching out to you. It is obvious by your comments you are very unfamiliar with Framingham and the Framingham School Committee. We are nothing at all like Newton, our demographics are extremely different and we have very different problems. Yes I do believe that student achievement is what should be upfront and foremost important, but it is not the job of the school committee to run curriculum. The School Committee has 3 areas which are Policy, Budget and the oversight of the Superintendent. Our school committee has focused on student achievement but we also take very seriously the social-emotional well being of each and every one of our students. I hake seen nothing in my research of you that takes that into account. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs tells us if a child is worried about if they are going to eat and have no roof over there head there is no chance the will even get to the step of being able to concentrate on learning. Have you researched how many homeless children we have, how many underprivileged we have or are you concentrating on becoming an elected official? Math and Science are great areas of focus but you need to get the child to the place where they can actually be able to focus on learning and not the grumbling of their stomach or where they are going to sleep tonight.
I think if you stop typing your attacks on us and put down the phone to stop checking up on me and just look at my website mbrosnahan4sc.wixsite.com/mysite it will be clear to you by the work I have done that I care about every taxpayer in this town as much as I care about each and every single student in Framingham. I have been a resident of Framingham for over 40+ years. I am a graduate of FPS. I have a son going into FHS this year.
With that said here is a direct quote from one of the article I found on you. “A further influence on my decision has been the fact that my youngest son is a senior and graduating from Newton North in 2013. He has been a vital connection to NPS reality. I would not want to operate on the school committee without that. It has been my observation that school committee members perform better if they have children in the school system and although that is not an iron clad rule, I think it is a wise practice for school committee members to exit when their children graduate.” So what made you change your mind and run for School Committee in a place where you have only lived 3 years and have no children in the school system? I think telling people that you are concerned about the representation of the under represented south side of town is ridiculous. This is one of the main reasons why I supported and voted for Framingham to become a city. This decision meant for me I would be running two campaigns in one year for the same seat. In the April election I topped the ticket by a fare margin. Have you reached out to support any of the candidates from the side of town you are so concerned about being under represented? I have. I have been a very strong advocate for the under represented as you will see by the 40 somewhat policies I have passed as the Convener of Policy, the 8 resolutions I have written over the past 4 years. Two will be coming up for vote at MASC this year for which I am a member of the delegate assembly, 4 have already have become bills and are going through the voting processes at the State level, and one went straight to DESE. In my spare time after working as an Occupational Therapist for the VNA in this very community40+ hours a week I was the proponent of a letter requesting 1.2 million back from an unfunded mandate which seems to be getting some attention as I write this. Not only do I work for a living in this community and am an elected official in this community, I teach CCD at the parish I have been a member of for 40+ years which happens to be the largest parish in town. Unfortunately I had to give up my spot on a team that works at the Miracle Kitchen feeding the homeless of our community. I just did not have enough time to spread everywhere and it conflicted with school committee every time. As you can see this community is in my heart and soul as I dedicate all my time to every member I can personally reach and help.
You speak of transparency and communication. Making phone calls to people and asking about me is not very transparent it is sneaky and Trumpish. I am a very open and honest person and more than happy to put out there any communications you would like to have. You have been given my phone number and now you have another way to contact me through my website. I welcome any communication with you that you would like to have and it can all be out there in the open and transparent as possible.
Suffice it to say that I have made no such phone calls. In all of my past campaigns I actually have never used phone calls such as you describe. I think we can both campaign in a positive manner using Framingham forums to advocate our positions and not engage in personal attacks. I don’t intend to use a Newton blog for a Framingham campaign.