To the editor:
I felt compelled to write a letter to the editor after reading Karen Tal-Makhluf’s call for Jews to vote for Emily DeJoy. As an Israeli Jew living in Marblehead since 2008, I would like to emphatically state that Karen does not speak for all Jews in this community when trying to rally votes for DeJoy.
In our 17 years living here, I have witnessed the School Committee ascend to peaks of community building and steady guidance of our schools. I have also seen it reach deep nadirs of dysfunction. The current group has brought us to as low a point as I can recall. While I would not think to disparage any individual who volunteers to help our town, as a group the School Committee has led us to the loss of beloved teachers and administrators, a prolonged strike and several lawsuits. We are in desperate need of new members to begin the work of fixing all the wrong decisions that have been made in the past few years.
I agree with Karen that antisemitism has reared its ugly head in this country since the horrors of Oct. 7. As per an article in the Current from May 16, the Marblehead Education Association has publicly disagreed with the Mass Teachers Union in regards to Gaza and has opposed adopting educational resources they deemed to have antisemitic leanings. We are fortunate to reside in a town with a strong Jewish community. We absolutely do not need individual School Committee members to begin micromanaging aspects of our educational curriculum as occurred several years ago, leading to another low point for our schools.
I would encourage everyone to read statements provided by each candidate by visiting their respective websites. While Kate Schmeckpeper and Henry Gwazda have addressed numerous issues in depth on their sites, Emily DeJoy has chosen to focus almost exclusively on the flag policy and has a paragraph on the high school roof.
The School Committee is broken. We cannot afford to continue with the members we have now. To borrow from their respective campaign slogans, it is time to bring “good governance” to our school system and start “building bridges for better schools.” Leave the “joy” for the playground.
Dr. Eyal Oren (aka Wednesdays in Marblehead)
Shetland Road
