PRESS

Here is the full text of my answers to the questions I was asked for the article above:

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1) Can you tell me about yourself (what is your profession, how long have you lived in Lebanon and are you active in any volunteer or other city posts?)

 

I'm a freelance editor, former college instructor, and mother of two sons who is passionate about Lebanon schools. My family and I moved here to stay five years ago, after having lived around the country and in the Middle East. My husband, Matt, is Director of Telepharmacy at DH and an entrepreneur. We love living in Lebanon! Our boys have quickly embraced New Hampshire, and their school experiences at Hanover St School and LMS have been top-notch. I am grateful we have landed here in such a welcoming, unique community!

 

Since moving here, I've served on the HSS and LMS PTO boards (5 years: I'm currently LMS PTO president), served as a volunteer parent instructor with the Four Winds Nature Institute (4 years), run the HSS Book Fair (3 years), coordinated the LMS Voice magazine (2 years), served as a parent representative on the SAU88 Fall Proactive Planning Team and the LMS planning team this year, and I was a parent consultant on the LHS Vision of a Graduate Committee last year. Previously, I was the founding chairperson/president of two other PTOs, a volunteer community instructor for adult education programs in two cities, and a service missionary teaching health and literacy in Guatemala for 18 months.

 

2) Why did you decide to run for the School Board? What drove you to run this year?

 

I've wanted to serve the schools more substantially since I moved here and have been active in School Board discussions for a few years. This past year, while attending every school board meeting, most of them in person, I was able to see exactly how the Board handled challenging circumstances no one could have imagined. Being present for and active in these conversations throughout this past year puts me in a unique position to hit the ground running as an incoming Board member, able to carry on the difficult work the past Board has done and move forward.

3) What policies and accomplishments would you pursue in office?

 

While in office, I hope to increase transparency in our district through better communication with parents and the community at large. I want to continue to expand community access to Board deliberations by continuing and improving the use of Zoom for meetings and using social media platforms to proactively seek greater community involvement in district programs and discussions and inform the community quickly about decisions in clear, concise terms. In order to assure that Lebanon students have the best education our district can offer them, I will also work to seek out, emphasize, and reward quality teaching, build on and expand successful academic and extra-curricular programs in our schools, enhance technological resources, and provide Lebanon students with on-going, quality opportunities for growth. I would also like to take an active role in lobbying at the state level on behalf of our local student and community needs and concerns. Finally, the next Board will face the challenge of helping our students socio-emotionally and academically in a post-COVID world, so I will work proactively to find the resources we need to help them thrive and make evidence-based decisions that will further the academic and mental health and wellbeing of our students and our community at large.

 

4) Tell me your thoughts about the School Board’s past “modernization” efforts. Should the board consider a district-wide plan in the future or potentially forgo improvements at some schools to save costs?

 

In this economic climate, it is imperative that the Board invest responsibly in necessary district infrastructure, particularly given the rise in construction and materials costs since the pandemic began. To be responsible stewards of the city's resources, the Board will need to drill down into proposed infrastructure projects and diligently prioritize needs over wants in our budget, just as all of us are having to do right now in our own homes. That said, I hope we can all agree that children forced to learn in hallways, puddles caused by leaky roofs, cold lunches brought in from across town, or squeezing into tiny classrooms that inhibit social distancing in the middle of an ongoing pandemic do not reflect favorably on our community or on our schools. 

5) Should the school district do away with the school resource officer position as some activists have called for?

 

I appreciate the fact that members of the community have brought their concerns about this issue to the forefront in Lebanon and taken action as citizens by putting this issue up for a vote. I also find it regrettable that the follow-up conversations about the SRO position that were promised when it was first instituted have never happened. It is therefore premature to make a decision about the SRO. First, the Board needs to hear what the voters have to say in March and examine and reconcile the data that has been presented by activists and by the district. Second, we need to have a robust and probing conversation about the utility of the SRO position that examines exactly what role the SRO currently plays in our schools. And third, we need to hear the voices of groups the Board has yet to fully engage, such as the Students of Color Collective at LHS.