Curro: We Need at Least One Parent Selectman

It wasn’t even eight hours after Joe Curro took out election papers from the . But, the member said, his campaign for the was in full force.

“I'm in this seriously,” Curro said in a phone interview Wednesday afternoon.

Curro is the . Chair Clarissa Rowe and Selectman Annie LaCourt are up for re-election.

But there was one deciding factor.

“Selectman Annie LaCourt has publicly stated she would not run for re-election next year,” Curro said, though Arlington Patch was unable to verify that statement as of this writing.

“The Board of Selectmen should really broadly represent different perspectives and life situations in town,” Curro said, who has lived in Arlington for more than 21 years. “And with Annie stepping down, the Selectmen will lose the last member who has a current student in the public schools, which is a population of families that represent about a fifth of the town.”

Curro has two daughters in Arlington elementary schools.

He counts as experience four years on the Arlington School Committee, including one as chairman, two years on the and about a year of service to the . He has also been a member for more than 10 years.

At the Human Rights Commission, Curro said he worked to improve labor-management relationships, by having union representatives “sit at the table and participate fully in our discussions.”

At the School Committee, Curro recalls chairing the Budget Subcommittee during what he called a “budget collapse,” when Arlington Public Schools faced a . His sense of accomplishment comes from being upfront, organizing a forum for more than 100 residents and showing the inner workings of decision-making at the committee level.

“I think that forum was pretty well-received,” he said.

Curro proposed the creation of an , which ultimately worked out at .

Now, he wants to shift that experience to town government as one of Arlington’s five selectmen.

“My experience has shown me that stronger relationships are needed between the School Committee and the Board of Selectmen,” Curro said. “In the past, the Board of Selectmen generally had one or two School Committee veterans among its members, and I think that was a real benefit.

“I hope to bring that to the board myself.”