John Nunes is one of three candidates running for one of two seats on the Dartmouth School Committee. He is an incumbent who has served on the committee for over 30 years.

Nunes is also the master of ceremonies for the Dartmouth High Marching Band, the announcer for home football games, and a regular chaperone for after-prom. Last year, he received a lifetime achievement award from the Massachusetts Association of School Committees for his service on the school committee and his broader community efforts.

A retired municipal finance director, Nunes described the challenges facing the Dartmouth school system in fiscal terms highlighting the budget difficulties brought on by the pandemic and the choice of how to spend federal pandemic relief funds as top priorities.

“The biggest thing we’ve got facing us right now is the budget — and making sure that we can get the proper amount of funding,” he said. “We also have to try — and it's going to be very difficult with all the stimulus funds and pandemic funds that are coming down — to make sure that we use [federal money] in the proper sense.”

Nunes said one of the biggest areas of need for extra funding was the schools’ support systems for students who have been affected psychologically by the pandemic.

“We’ve got a lot of students that have some social and emotional issues just because of the pandemic,” he said. “So we’re trying to make sure we’ve got the proper support personnel in place for them, and that includes using some of those [stimulus] funds to do it.”

Nunes cautioned though that it is always dangerous to use one-time funds, such as the federal stimulus money, to pay for recurring costs like hiring new social workers.

He also spoke about the importance of completing the Dartmouth High Memorial Stadium renovation project which finished its first phase in the summer of 2019 but had further renovations delayed due to the pandemic.

“They were ready to start phase 2 when the pandemic hit but then everyone’s focus changed,” he said. “I’d like to see that stadium get finished — and I know they’re working on it, there’s just only so many hours in a day.”

On the subject of how to handle Dartmouth High’s controversial logo, Nunes said the Indian was a “fantastic symbol” and asserted that it has never been used in a “derogatory way.”

“I’m all in favor of it,” he said, citing the logo’s long history in Dartmouth and its support from members of the Gay Head Wampanoag tribe. “So hopefully this thing is put to bed in the not too distant future.”