Candidates

There have been a lot of conversations recently about candidates and I decided to try and spread the word about the people I am supporting for various boards in our upcoming election on March 10th. Here's my list:

SCHOOL BOARD
As you may know, there are 6 people competing for 2 spots on the School Board. This is the most important race we'll have in a long time, considering the important issues our community will be grappling with over the coming year. We have a facility to deal with, a superintendent to hire, teachers' contracts to negotiate and full day kindergarten to implement. Oh, and we still need to educate the students of Newmarket.

The people running are all good people--but that doesn't mean that I personally think they would be (or have been) good school board members. The dynamics this year are especially tricky and I feel that we need a combination of expertise and composure. Civility will be key. Compromise will be necessary. Fresh voices will be important.

With that in mind, I support Craig Dionne and Kimberly Shelton for School Board. I know them both and have had the opportunity to talk to each of them about their run for the School Board and what they can bring to the table. I trust that they will serve our community well, act with integrity and work hard to move Newmarket forward.

Newmarket Solutions distributed questions to all of the School Board candidates and five have responded so far. You can see their responses here. There was also an article in today's Exeter Newsletter.

TOWN COUNCIL
There are 2 candidates running for 2 seats, so this isn't a contested race. That said, Amy Burns is the only person I can vote for the Town Council. She has been involved in the school debate for a few years and has regularly attended Town Council and Budget Committee meetings. She will be a great new voice on the Town Council and I look forward to working with her.

There is another race for the one-year Council seat. Honestly, my plan is to write in Dan Wright for that seat. He served Newmarket well over the past three years and I have a lot of respect for him, even if we don't always see eye to eye on every issue.

BUDGET COMMITTEE
There are 4 people running for 3 seats. This is one place where significant change has happened over the last few years and it is exciting to see this shift. Dan Hill, Jeff Raab and Dan Smith are the obvious choices for me. They are all reasonable, thoughtful and fiscally responsible people who will serve our community well. An article in the Exeter Newsletter profiled the budget committee candidates last week.
 
We vote in TWO weeks.

Wonder

As I'm watching last night's school board meeting, I'm completely awestruck by our 7th grade team--including the teachers, administrators and most importantly, the students. 

I'm not a teacher, but I can't imagine that it's any small feat for a group of teachers to collectively integrate one book into their curriculum and then, through organic discussion, develop a completely new (and significant) aspect of their curriculum for the current year.

The kids took the reins and presented their plan for an overnight camping trip developed after the students read the book Wonder, to the School Board last night. As one teacher pointed out, "the teachers had really done very little besides provide a place for these students to plan this." This was clearly a student driven project, but wouldn't have happened without the support, guidance and flexibility of this team of teachers.

This is what we mean when we talk about the quality of our administration and teaching staff and the difference they make for our community.