ATHOL – In his campaign for one of two Athol seats on the Athol Royalston Regional School Committee, Charles Larkin hopes to utilize his teaching skillset to benefit the students.

After graduating from Marlboro High School in 1993, Larkin entered Fitchburg State College (now University) where in initially majored in industrial arts economics with an eye toward teaching industrial arts. However, he had a change of heart following passage of the 1993 Massachusetts Education Reform Act and later graduated with a bachelor degree in general studies. He also earned a master’s in individualized studies from Cambridge College.

Larkin worked as a substitute teacher from 2002-2010, serving in the Athol and Greenfield school districts, among others. He now works as a contract photographer and does field work doing asset inspections. He is also working to reactivate his real estate license.

While substituting in Athol, he noticed some things that could use improvement.

“They (the administration) were trying to do their jobs well, but they didn’t seem to have enough resources or they weren’t being offered good options regarding some procedures,” Larkin said. “A lot of the kids seemed to not be interested in a lot of the programs that were being offered. And I thought, maybe we could start doing something with that.”

Harkening back to the district’s former superintendent, Larkin said, “After the whole debacle with (Darcy) Fernandes over the past few years, I thought, ‘Boy, this is really troubling.’ I met a few people around town, and they expressed concerns about anything from the quality of the special ed program to a lot of bullying and harassment. So, I decided to (run).”

Larkin said he wants to tackle fiscal issues and add to the educational options available for students.

“I think one of the things I would also like to work on is good, sound fiscal management; see if we can build up a reserve so that stuff that needs to be done gets done,” he said.” “And the last thing I really want to work on is getting some more programs, especially for the high school, in terms of maybe – I understand they already have an internship program – I’d like to expand that. Frank Visco and I were talking about what’s going on with the Pleasant Street School. We’re thinking that it might be a good idea for that to become some kind of a community center; we might be able to use it as a high school extension program.”

Visco is also among the four candidates running for the committee. Larkin said the two discussed the possibility of using Pleasant Street School—now home to LaunchSpace—as a facility to supplement the programs offered by Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical High School.

“There’s a thousand ways it could be done,” he added. “If we did it as a night or summer program we could charge tuition and open it up to young adults—not only from Athol and Royalston, we could open it up to kids from all over the area.”

Larkin said he and his father purchased a home in Athol in 2018. He is single with no children.

“As a former teacher, I looked at the School Committee and said, ‘I might be able to help,’ and that’s what I’d like to do,” he said.

In addition to Larkin, those seeking Athol’s two seats on the AR school committee include Visco, Eric Jack, and Emily White. The Town Election will be held on Monday, April 3. Polls will be open at Athol Town Hall from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Thus far, no one has come forward to offer themselves as a candidate for the open committee seat from Royalston. The town’s current representative, Nancy Melbourne, opted against seeking reelection.

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.

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