Why are you seeking elective office?

My wife and I have been residents of Concord for over 20 years. My son graduated from Concord High School in 2022, and I have seen how the school system here in Concord has both benefitted and failed him and his classmates. His journey started in Dame School, then to Broken Ground, Beech Hill School (an independent middle school) and finishing in Concord High School.

I have seen an unintentional movement away from what I believe benefits the students. This can be seen in how Concord High School is ranked against other schools in New Hampshire. CHS is ranked as 51st in the state overall, ranking 70th in the state for Graduation Rate (all figures from US News and World Reports: Concord High School in Concord, NH - US News Best High Schools)

Our teachers are doing all they can to help our students, but somewhere the system is failing them. I intend to look into what needs to be done to make our schools better, giving teachers and administrators the tools to make our schools better.

The most important issue:

We need to create a better learning environment for students, to better prepare them for the future. This must start by improving our school district’s standards. Poor ratings show we are letting our students down: 34% Mathematics Proficiency, 43% Science Proficiency, and 64% Reading Proficiency. These low numbers are just not acceptable. We need schools our community can be proud of, so that parents want to send their children to our schools. With these awful numbers, it’s completely understandable why parents are looking into other educational alternatives for their children.

The solution is not simple - there is no single change that will fix this. We need to work with teachers, administrators, students, families, and the community to better understand what is working, and what is not - all while realizing the limited resources we have available to build a better system for our children.

What other issues concern you?

Budget

The district’s budget is about $100 million, or about $24,500 per student. That is a lot of money. We need cost effective solutions that benefit students, keeping or adding programs that will help students recover from Covid losses, while considering the removal of programs that are less effective.

The Concord School Board determines its budget and educational portion of the city’s tax rate without a citizen vote or any city approval either. Because of this, any change in the tax rate must be understood and justified. I will work to make sure the school budget is appropriate for our district, that teachers get paid what they deserve, and residents of the city don’t pay more than they should.

Middle School Replacement

I am happy with the progress made towards the middle school replacement. Our city deserves school buildings we are proud to send our children.

I want to be sure that all groups are considered before the final decision is made. We need a location that encourages children to walk and bike to school. Because of the size of Concord, regardless of location, many students will still need to take a bus or be brought to school. We also need to be considerate Concord’s growing migrant population, building a new school that helps support them, while contributing to the benefit of everyone in the community. As a Board member, I’d also be considerate of all of this and Concord’s taxpayers.

Student and Family challenges

Nearly one quarter of Concord’s 4,100 students are considered economically disadvantaged, and one in five is a minority student. Our immigrant populations is growing. Each of these presents different challenges to our students, to the school, and to the residents of Concord.

We must remain mindful of each group, as they are often the ones who can be overlooked or even worse, ignored. This is not acceptable. As a community and school board, we must ensure that all voices are heard and considered in all decisions.

Post Covid Challenges

When Covid hit, society was ill prepared. There are many reports available on how school children faired poorly during this time. However, we should not use this event as an us against them argument to see who is right or wrong - we can’t fix what happened in the past. Now, we must look carefully at what went well, and what failed.

Most importantly, we need to be better prepared for the next unexpected event. We need to be sure that when the next catastrophe hits, our responses minimize the negative impacts to students. And all throughout, we need to keep the best interests of children in mind.