Martyn candidacy asks: Whose voices are represented?

Lynette Martyn, one of four candidates seeking three seats on the Arlington School Committee, submitted this viewpoint about her campaign. It was first published by WickedLocal. This is an edited version.

Martyn

This unprecedented pandemic has been a humbling experience. While I am thankful to our teachers and town leaders who are working hard to move us forward, my family continues to nonetheless have struggles. We grapple with technology constraints in our home -- passwords and logins that don’t work, adult work schedules juggled with our children’s Google Classroom calls, time to support our teachers and other essential workers in our family and community, with time for self-care.

I vacillate between gratitude and grief. I worry about our struggling reader, who made great strides this fall but may fall behind during distance learning. I pause and consider; if this is difficult for my family, how is it affecting those members of our community with less privilege and less resources than our own?

When making big or difficult decisions for our schools, I want to make sure we stop and ask ourselves whose voices are being represented and how do we bring in more perspectives before moving forward. These questions are often on the forefront of my mind when deliberating on ideas or solutions for a myriad of challenges, whether in my former roles as a teacher and educational nonprofit executive, as a local community activist or as a mother of two young sons in our public school system.

Since my husband and I bought our home here and decided to throw down roots in Arlington a decade ago, I have become increasingly involved in pertinent town issues and events. This includes being an active member of both the town’s Diversity Task Group since 2015 and the Superintendent Diversity Advisory group since 2017. In 2016, I volunteered with and served as one of the founding host families to establish our local refugee resettlement program in town.

The following year, I led a grass-roots campaign, laying the groundwork for a network that educated residents and Town Meeting members about the Trust Act resolution -- or  "sanctuary town" warrant article. This outreach helped garner overwhelming support for the Trust Act, and encouraged an unprecedented number of residents to speak in favor of its adoption. 

In 2017, I also brought together parents, teachers and administrative stakeholders to help found the Diversity and Inclusion Groups, which are making positive contributions at all of our elementary and middle schools, after the first official meeting took place at Brackett in the spring 2018.

The DIGs’ mission emerged through facilitated parent/caregiver listening sessions; the group’s purpose is “to promote an optimal learning environment for all of our children and to reinforce diversity, equity and inclusion as a valued part of APS culture.” Additionally, the DIGs “strive to provide a safe and welcoming learning space for all our children and their respective families, inclusive of all identities.” The backbone of my campaign is formed by the conversations and listening sessions I have had with these parents and caregivers as well as the resulting collaborations with parents/caregivers, students, teachers and administrators.

On ElectLynette.com, I outline more than 50 specific goals I would strive to accomplish over my tenure on the School Committee that advance communication, transparency, equity, inclusion, engagement of parents/caregivers and the closing of disparity gaps in APS. Among others, I have consulted with representatives of the AHS Black of Student Union, the founder of the APS Rainbow Alliance, and the chairs of the Arlington Special Education Alliance and SEPAC (Special Education Parent Advisory Council) to listen to their concerns and suggestions and to incorporate their feedback into my policy priorities.

As the person who will set the course for APS for the next decade or more, our incoming superintendent will have significant influence on the future path of our public schools. This is why I take my participation in the hiring process very seriously. I want us to hire a superintendent who values transparency and solicits input from teachers and the wider community, as well as prioritizes data-based decision making and strategy. The need to proactively adapt, to be forward thinking and creative is even more important now, as the pandemic has changed our model of education in ways that will likely have long-lasting or permanent impacts. We are finally giving attention, long overdue, to remote learning and access issues that have always existed for some disabled student populations.

I am committed to being a strong community liaison and to dedicating myself to representing the needs of all families during my tenure on the school committee. I encourage you to visit ElectLynette.com to learn more about my candidacy and to meet me at one of my upcoming virtual meet the candidate events every Thursday at 8 and Sunday at noon, zoom.us meeting id 455-256-5189 or dial in at 669-900-9128. I hope through learning more about my experience and ideas I will earn your vote on June 6.

This letter was published Tuesday, May 26, 2020.

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