In her re-election bid for Belmont School Committee, Belmont native Amy Zuccarello is emphasizing sustainable growth and the need to prepare students in an ever-changing education landscape.
Zuccarello, running for her second term, is one of two committee members running unopposed. The other is Jung Yueh.
Zuccarello grew up in Belmont, and settled in town in 2003 with her husband (also a Belmont native) to raise their family. It was her love for her community that pushed her to run for a committee seat three years ago.
“I love the town. Fundamentally, that’s why I decided to run the first time, and it’s what keeps me as engaged as I am,” Zuccarello said.
Outside of the School Committee, Zuccarello has been involved in the Girl Scouts, Parents of Music Students (POMS), and with parent-teacher organizations across the district.
As an attorney, Zuccarello focuses on bankruptcy and financial restructuring, which she said gives her insight into what responsible and sustainable financial growth looks like. She serves as chair of the School Committee Finance Subcommittee and is one of two School Committee members involved in contract negotiations with the Belmont Education Association (BEA).
This month, the BEA and School Committee resumed negotiations under state mediation. Negotiations have been ongoing for 18 months. Zuccarello said she is proud of the committee’s work thus far, adding that she is dedicated to helping both sides come to a sustainable agreement.
“We are 100% supportive of staff and students, but we aren’t able to spend beyond our means. I think we need to think about growth in a sustainable way, and not about funding positions that we might be able to afford for one year, but really about being mindful about how we design a successful district that is sustainable for long-term growth in Belmont,” Zuccarello said.
Over the past three years, Zuccarello has played a role in approving school budgets she said were both supportive of students and staff and conscious of fiscal constraints, and has served as the School Committee representative on the 2024 Override Committee.
“I think it requires a disciplined approach that’s really thoughtful and measured, and I’m really proud that we’ve been able to accomplish what we have up to this point,” she added.
In her next term, Zuccarello said she wants to help bring Belmont schools into the future. She emphasized that the world after high school looks very different for today’s students—and that Belmont has a responsibility to ensure its students’ success.
“The challenge for Belmont is to make sure that our graduates are prepared for kind of what comes next,” she said. ”We need to evolve as a district to make sure that we’re preparing students for what their what their future is going to look like, which is again, different than it was even 10 years ago.”
