The founder of urban environmentalism education nonprofit CitySprouts has thrown her name in the ring for Cambridge School Committee.
Jane Hirschi, who led CitySprouts for 23 years, is making her bid for School Committee for the first time.
“I feel like I can make a contribution to our schools,” she said. “I’m ready for service.”
Hirschi is one of eight newcomers to the race as of Monday – and a newcomer is guaranteed to be elected. Of the six incumbents, vice chair Caroline Hunter and members David Weinstein and Richard Harding Jr. have taken out nomination papers to run again. Elizabeth Hudson and José Luis Rojas Villarreal have until July 31 to take out and return papers. Member Rachel Weinstein (no relation to David Weinstein) has said she is not seeking reelection.
Hirschi, a Cambridge resident for more than 30 years, said a background in nonprofit work has conditioned her to fight for the needs of Cambridge children and their education. Decades of experience in “garden education,” as well as putting her two daughters through the school system has resulted in her “knowing Cambridge schools well,” she said.
CitySprouts was started by Hirschi in 2001 to inspire a passion for the green world in students, encourage engagement with nature and enhance science education in Cambridge and Boston. Before Hirschi handed off its leadership in 2023, it meant working closely not only with the next generation of green thumbs, but with teachers.
“Teachers do amazing things… they deserve a partner that meets them in strength,” she said, looking back on her work with the school district as a partner, meeting with science heads and watching teachers in action. “What I think is unique is informal, outside-of-school learning time.”
The CitySprouts experience primed her to focus on the relationship between the school and the “grounds,” the outside fields that flank Cambridge Public Schools often used for sports or recess. She thinks it’s an area for growth – an example of untapped potential.
“How do you connect it so that it’s like, ‘Oh, we’re not taking a break from the curriculum to go outside,’ no, it’s ’In order to fulfill the curriculum, we have to go outside,’” she said. “That’s what’s ideal.”
Other areas of improvement, in her eyes, are an increased focus on science and hands-on learning from an early age, which suffers from teachers lacking autonomy in hands-on learning and the amount of projects they do. “Often, those opportunities are ignored. Teachers [are] often not given enough time and support to do science,” she said.
“I don’t personally believe that literacy and math skills need to come at the expense of science and social studies,” she said. “They go together – and having kids enjoy school and love what they’re learning and [having] their curiosity nurtured and fostered helps their literacy and their math skills. I just believe that in my bones.”
She would make “high expectations for every child” a top priority, but scarce project-based and hands-on learning comes in part from “unnecessary testing,” Hirschi said. “It would be a good idea for the School Committee to have to justify their requests for more data. What is the cost of that data collection, of that testing, on our students?”
Several current committee members say they do not feel parent’s voices are heard, and she agrees. It’s a problem that is felt in the superintendent evaluation. “I hope the next evaluation takes into account more perspectives,” she said, citing a lack of representation for teacher and parent experiences.
“This would be a new role for me, but I have a history of caring for what happens there,” she said of running for elected office. “I can’t quit. I’m persistent. I’m already committed to Cambridge Public Schools.”
Outside of her career in nonprofit work, she is an avid churchgoer – a member of St. Jameses’ in Porter Square for more than 30 years – and a gardener in her free time. “I like to experiment with new plants” and to chat with passersby on Rindge Avenue where she tends to plants lining the sidewalk, she said. She has a cherry tree in her backyard that her friends and neighbors will help her harvest.
A stronger
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Ms. Hirschi,
Nowhere do I see any mention of how you propose to make sure that we improve on the fact that only 50% of grammar school students can read, write, and do math at grade level.
Isn’t this the most critical thing we can do for our students?