Three Candidates Debate Path to Restoring Plainville Schools Before April 4 Vote

NORTH ATTLEBORO -- March 30, 2022, Three candidates debated for two open Plainville School Committee seats Wednesday night ahead of Monday's April 4 election. Justin Alexander, a former Plainville fire chief now serving in Easton who was appointed to fill a committee vacancy, Stephen Albert, a 29-year town resident and father of six with children currently in the district, and Sarah Cronin, an economics-degree-holding mother of two new to the school system, all agreed the district has been hollowed out by budget cuts, losing band, foreign language, teachers, and paraprofessionals, but differed on emphasis. Alexander stressed long-game sustainability and municipal budget experience; Albert called for immediate restoration through inter-board cooperation and new growth revenue; Cronin flagged a pattern of parents pulling children into homeschooling or private schools and called for a strategic spending plan. All three dismissed critical race theory as a live local issue. Polls open at 7 a.m. Monday at the Public Safety Building, 194 South Street.