A veteran of the Wareham School Committee, Geoff Swett is running for a two-year seat with a plan to support Wareham students and teachers on both state and local levels.

Appointed to fill a two-month vacancy left by Rebekah Pratt in December, Swett has previously served on Wareham’s School Committee for a total of 12 years. He lost his most recent reelection bid last April running against Pratt and current committee member Mike Flaherty. Swett also served on Wareham’s Finance Committee for six years.

“There’s a lot I’m still passionate about,” Swett said. “I’m running again because I think I’ve learned so much that I can be more effective than people without the same knowledge.”

A New Jersey native and graduate of Harvard University, Swett moved to Wareham in 1997 before retiring from a lifelong career in healthcare management in 1999. 

He has spent the last 15 years coaching girls tennis at Wareham High School and driving buses. 

In the past, Swett has also served on the Board of Directors of the Big Brother Big Sister organization, where he himself was a Big Brother. Swett has additional experience working with kids through the YMCA and New Bedford Symphony.

He is a longtime member of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, where he most recently served as division chair for the Cape and Islands.

“People on the state level know who I am,” Swett said. “And who you know matters.”

As division chair, Swett advocated for Wareham schools to receive greater state aid and also fought for the schools to maintain their current funding.

“The budget process is always difficult,” Swett said. “You’re just trying to keep the student to teacher ratio as low as possible and maintain all the services necessary for a growing population of special ed students.”

If elected, Swett said he would continue to advocate for Wareham schools to receive more state funding. He said he would also be looking to advocate for the schools on a local level to better their reputation.

“I think the biggest critics of our schools don’t understand the progress that’s actually being made,” he said. “And every time they get online to complain, they’re making things that much more difficult for us to move forward.”

Swett said teachers and principals need the support of the committee and the town to continue making progress possible.

“I believe education is more difficult than medicine,” Swett said. “You can’t just learn a best practice and do it. Every student is different, and I think too many people get on a School Committee thinking that just because they’re a parent or a teacher, they know how to educate. I’ve been asking myself a lot of questions lately about what I’ve learned, and if the town will have me, I’m ready to keep serving.”