A Case of Befuddled Voters

"Sara Mae Berman is Running for School Committee," reads the campaign advertisement. The candidate, a women's record-holder in the Boston Marathon, is pictured running, quite literally running down a hill, near the rear of a group of happy children.

The Berman ad perhaps inadvertently underscores a central problem in this year's Cambridge School Committee election, and the attempts to cope with it by many of the 16 candidates in the race. Faced with an unprecedented level of voter apathy, a statutory ban on campaigning along party lines, and an ever-dwindling number of broad, substansive issues, candidates have had to seek alternative ways to stir up voter interest in the November 4 election.

Berman and her supporters have run through the streets of Cambridge distributing campaign literature to somewhat befuddled pedestrians; cars equipped with loudspeakers have cruised the same streets incessantly for several days, urging Cambridge citizens to register to vote; large, two-color posters, widely distributed throughout the city by supporters of the slate of candidates endorsed by Cambridge Convention '75 implore voters not to "sit this one out."

In large measure, this new wave of campaign activism is being carried out by and on behalf of the Convention '75 candidates, who, despite the "every-man-for-himself" nature of school committee race, have banded together and under a "progressive" banner, collectively hurled down the gauntlet to their nine Independent opponents. The formation of the Convention '75 slate, then, killed two birds with one stone--in addition to allowing the seven endorsed candidates to enjoy the economy and mutual support afforded by pooled resources, it also eliminated once and for all the charade of a "non-partisan" campaign. Political lines were quickly and clearly drawn, and the interparty friction that is apparently a necessary element in any election has materialized.

Convention '75 candidates view themselves as opponents of a long-standing school committee system of patronage in hiring teachers administrators, and as crusaders for a policy of open recruitment for school system employees, regardless of their previous residency. The Independents, on the other hand, are in favor of giving priority in hiring to individuals already in the Cambridge school system. Both groups are concerned about the escalating costs of education, but remain at odds over the means by which to cope with budgetary problems. Not surprisingly, since every candidate, regardless of group "affiliation," professes sincere desire to improve the quality of education in Cambridge, a city which, despite having the highest per-pupil expenditures in the state, has consistently failed to provide its students with an education of correspondingly high quality.

Obviously, if the campaign were left to the momentum of these issues alone, large-scale voter apathy would perhaps be understandable if not justified. Thus the candidates, both incumbents and challengers, both "progressives" and "Independents," have been forced to search for other issues and to demonstrate the need for a change in the current makeup of the committee. Their task has been rendered difficult by the fact that under the present committee's leadership, things have begun to go well in the Cambridge school system.

The committee and the city have been pleased by the performance of the newly appointed superintendent of schools, William Lannon. Glenn S. Koocher '71, a Convention '75-endorsed incumbent, was emphatic in his praise for Lannon: "He's simply an excellent superindendent, with an excellent background, and excellent insight." Lannon is a newcomer to the Cambridge school system and his popular acceptance as superintendent may be viewed as something of a victory for the progressives, who urged his hiring after a search committee had said that no equally qualified candidate could be found in Cambridge.

Four of the six incumbents are members of the Convention '75 slate, and only two are Independents. As one candidate put it, the current race will determine "where the balance of power is going to be on the committee."

Independent James F. Fitzgerald has served on the School Committee almost continuously since 1931, but if Koocher and his fellow progressives have their way, 1975 will be his last year in office. Despite the pressure from the reformers, Fitzgerald is optimistic: "I'm reasonably confident; you see, I'm an independent in the true sense of the word," he said.

Many of the other candidates both Independents and those endorsed by Convention '75, are considerably less certain about their chances in the election. Stephen D. Buckley, a 19-year-old sophomore at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, says that although he is "hoping for a good showing," he doesn't expect to garner more than 800 of a possible 40,000 votes. A somewhat bitter A. George Catavolo, an Independent, said his chances in the election are slim, even though he feels he is "perfectly qualified" for a position on the school committee. "When you're an idealist, a practical family man who wants to improve the system, nobody wants you," he said. "In an election of this kind, votes are bought and sold; if you have jobs to offer, you get the votes."

Virtually all of the candidates have appealed to members of the Harvard community, including students, for support in the election. Berman explained that "even in a school committee election, if Harvard chooses not to vote, then their feelings are not represented, and that could ultimately hurt them."

Koocher cautioned Harvard students against falling into the same kind of apathy which seems to be gripping much of the local electorate these days, "just because the tax rate has gone down a little, and we haven't had a race riot in a few years."

Not all the candidates, however, are banking on support from the more than 400 registered Cambridge voters in the Harvard student population. "I wouldn't be the one that Harvard students would vote for anyway," Fitzgerald said. "I don't belong to the same aristocratic hoi polloi as them, so I suppose I'm at a disadvantage."