FRAMINGHAM – Sunday evening, District 4 School Committee member Adam Freudberg, who chairs the 9-member School Committee gave his endorsement to former City Councilor and former 20-year Selectman Charlie Sisisky for mayor.
Sisistky will challenge the City’s first mayor Yvonne Spicer for her seat in 2021. Nomination papers are available on June 1. The two Democrats are the only announced candidates in the bipartisan election.
“Four years ago, I fell for the platform and the potential that Mayor Spicer ran her campaign on and have been sadly disappointed ever since. As an elected official you are expected to have an enduring sense of duty that compels you to go the extra mile. The facts and the records shows that Mayor Spicer is not interested in offering everyone a seat at the table, following required processes, or being open to all voices to do what is best for Framingham. Example after example shows that,” said Freudberg.
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“The public records (if you can get access to them) shows that. I have had a front row seat in the room, and on the Zoom. The problems have piled up, and continue to do so. Time after time. Her four years in office have caused a significant rift at a time where we need, and require, unity. We live in a great community, with a great still new system of government, yet our Mayor Yvonne Spicer is continuously falling short. Government is supposed to be transparent and uncomplicated,” said Freudberg.
“The school system needs to work extra hard around the Mayor, our schools are at risk of being stagnant, our health department is struggling, the economic development division is not working, the only two staffers serving the veterans community are resigning together, you don’t want to hear my views on the independent audit finding water and sewer mismanagement, and not one specific government and school efficiency has been suggested by the Mayor, not one. I searched every email she has ever sent me and read all minutes of every meeting we have been in together. There is NOT EVEN ONE specific suggestion by the Mayor on what we can do to team up and save money together,” said Freudberg.
But Freudberg spent much of his endorsement focused about the Framingham Public Schools.
Freudberg said Mayor Spicer, a former educator, “arbitrarily cuts the school budget to whatever round number she wishes, with no formula, no strategic plan, and no collaboration. Six different education specific budget cuts just during the pandemic. Each painful, each hurting our students and educators, and each just a Mayoral cut with zero ideas on how we deal with it.”
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“You’ve heard government officials say that we invest in what we value? What do six pandemic reductions of the school budget teach you?? This teaches me it is time for a change. It is time for everyone in this city who cares about education and our future to pay attention. Please, pay attention,” said Freudberg.
Freudberg, who was elected to the School Committee at the same time Spicer was elected Mayor, said “We have a candidate. We have hope. Charlie Sisitsky is the one who can turn this around: Charlie can lead us all out of the pandemic, support our senior citizens, our veterans, and boost civic engagement, support our schools, recreation, and invest in government services and improvements supporting generations.”
“Thank goodness Charlie is stepping up! I have known Charlie for many years When I worked at the State House he helped me while advocating for Framingham As a City Councilor he helped me as a new School Committee Member, and our school district during a transition from a town to a city,” said Freudberg.
“We serve on the Fuller School Building Committee together. When the building design was more expensive than we wished, Charlie brought the group together, worked with the school system, the architect, and the committee to balance out the final price without giving up on the school building we need. He went brick-by-brick, floor-by-floor, ceiling tile-by-ceiling tile, looking for efficiencies and compromise. He made the motion to add solar to the project, securing a higher state grant for energy efficiency. The Fuller project approval was a Framingham coming together moment. Charlie will be the first to say that it was a team effort. And Charlie made that team effort possible. This is the kind of leader we have right here, and the kind of leader we can help become our next Mayor, and lead us to the next series of Framingham Coming Together moments,” said Freudberg.
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