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School Board Candidate Michelle Bronchuk
| Name: | Michelle Bronchuk 
|
| Office: | School Board |
| Term of Office: | 3 |
| Years Resident: | 20 |
| Contact Info: | mbronchuk@yahoo.com |
| Website: | https://www.facebook.com/Michelle-Bronchuk-for-Merrimack-School-Board-107350824792016 |
| Offices/Community Involvement: | Alec Bronchuk Memorial Foundation - President (2019-Present)
Various volunteer work over the years for the Boy's sports teams and school events- fundraising, etc |
| Why am I Running: | As a working mom I have 20 years of experience with the Merrimack school district. My three boys have all graduated from MHS. Over the years I have seen them and their friends struggle at times and I feel that I have good perspective on the areas we can improve to strengthen the education our kids receive in this district. I believe with some small changes, a focus on teamwork, honest evaluation, and respect there is a lot that we can get done. |
| What do you plan on accomplishing while in Office: |
Plain and simple- make things better for our kids and give them the quality education they deserve for a bright future. I want to fix the dropout rate and make sure we are not leaving any students behind. I want to work with the guidance department to understand where we are struggling , and establish a strong game plan to make sure the support network our students need is in place. I believe with some teamwork we can bring this district to the top, and that's where we should be. |
| Candidate Statement: | My boys have moved on from the Merrimack School system, but the lessons learned over the past 20 years remain. My intent in running for school board is to put these lessons to use. I believe with some honest dialogue, teamwork, and respect we can make some good strides as a district to provide a top level education for our kids. I believe in tackling issues head on, quitting is not an option. We can do this together- I hope you share my vision and will stand with me on voting day (April 13). Thank you! |
| School District Articles Below were questions asked of the candidates running for School District Positions |
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| Article 2 Accept Gifts: |
Yes |
| Comments | Gifting of personal or real property for the benefit of the school district, or community at large is a wonderful thing. I can't imagine a scenario where this would not be the case |
| Article 3 Support Contract |
Yes |
| Comments | I think the support staff are critical front line workers keeping our school district functioning. The pay increase coupled with a corresponding decrease in health contributions (bringing them more in line with private industry) is a fair compromise. |
| Article 4 Spec. Mtg A3: |
Yes |
| Comments | |
| Article 5 Ventilators |
Yes |
| Comments | Health/ well being of our students and faculty |
| Article 6 Disband Budget Committee |
No |
| Comments | There is no tax benefit to this, and the elimination of the budget committee would remove an important validation/ review component of the budget process. |
| Article 7 Budget |
Yes |
| Comments | Voting against this article would effectively increase the tax burden on our local home owners and businesses |
| School District Non Ballot Questions Below were questions asked of all candidates |
|
| Question 1 |
What is your stance on travel and quarantine policy? Do we make up our own school
policy or do we follow what the CDC and DHHS has a current policy and keep up to date
with them.
|
| Response: | I think it is important for us to be guided by CDC and DHHS recommendations. As conditions change during this pandemic we need to be flexible and adaptable to respond in a way that best protects the students and faculty. |
| Question 2 |
What is your stance on continuing the REAL academy for those who cannot safely
return to school or choose not to until there is a vaccine for children.
|
| Response: | Vaccines are being administered at an accelerated rate, but the COVID pandemic is not over. We cannot have apathy and fatigue on safety, and need to make sure that parents who choose remote learning due to concerns have the REAL academy options available to them. I think we can take the lessons learned this year to continue to leverage this technology even when we return to a state of normalcy- for children that need to be physically out of school for an extended period of time due to an illness, suspension, etc. |
| Question 3 |
What is the role of the School Board and what differences do you see with their role
versus the role of administration?
|
| Response: | The School Board should serve in an oversight capacity to ensure our school district is strong and providing a high quality of education to all of our children. The board should be ensuring that school funds are expended wisely to meet this goal. The board should also review areas that need improvement within the current system and ensure they are addressed. The role of administration should be to carry out the day to day execution of our school system operations and ensure a high standard of operational execution and excellence. |
| Question 4 |
What are your thoughts about full-day kindergarten?
|
| Response: | As a working mom I would have loved to have had a full day kindergarten program. In fact- when my kids first started out in Merrimack, there was no kindergarten program. That eventually shifted to the half day mode then full day model's which I was very happy about. I am in favor of keeping the full day Kindergarten, as I believe the extra time in the classroom serves as an additional benefit to the child, and certainly helps out parents from a child care cost standpoint. I think full day kindergarten provides our kids with a head start, giving them valuable additional time in the classroom for socialization and developing the building blocks they need at a time when their young minds are rapidly learning and adapting to the world around them. As with everything we do, we need to make sure we are delivering a quality program in an efficient manner for the benefit of the district and our children. |
| Question 5 |
What are your thoughts on college and career readiness?
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| Response: | I believe that preparing our children for a college or career path is the fundamental job of the school system. I also believe it is an area that we need to strengthen. Over the years I have seen my kids and their friends struggle at the upper grades. I think we need to take a look at the guidance/ support system that is in place at the upper levels and make sure our kids have the support they need. College/ career path discussions need to happen earlier in the process. Kids need to have a game plan or road map for their future success and I believe that guidance is a key part of that puzzle. We need to make sure that the kids are engaged early, and that there is a consistent, positive, and engaging support network in place. Our kids are preparing for adulthood, they are not adults. |
| Question 6 |
What are your thoughts on Vocational programs and how would you improve the
programs what we have now?
|
| Response: | I think vocational programs are an important element in providing our kids with a foundation for success and this goes hand in hand with the previous question. College is not the path for all students- and having a vibrant vocational program provides our kids with another viable path that will give them a strong foundation for success. In addition, I believe the vocational program provides real life skills that our children take with them regardless of the college/ trade/ military/ or entrepreneurial paths. Some of my kid's favorite programs were metal working and wood working- skills they employ to this day even though that is not the career path that they ultimately chose. I think we need to look at the enrollment and cost/ benefit of the programs that we offer the kids- but I believe a good cross section is important. I also believe we should be innovative in our approach and look for ways to partner with local business to provide real life trade experience and on the job training to our kids perhaps in a co-op/ intern type approach. This would be a benefit to our kids and to our business community. |
| Question 7 |
What are your thoughts on ELO's (extended learning opportunities)?
|
| Response: | I think ELO's in general are a fantastic idea- broadening our children's exposure to real life skills outside of the normal classroom environment- or at least providing that opportunity I believe is important. This could take the form of volunteerism- working in a soup kitchen one morning a week, working a co-op job a few hours a week, assisting in an experiment . . .the list goes on. I think we need to be innovative, open minded, and flexible in our approach to thinking about these. |
| Question 8 |
Do you find value in benchmarking us against other districts and if so, how?
|
| Response: | YES! Self evaluation I believe is important in business, as a school district, and life in general. There are always things we can be doing better. Benchmarking/ looking at how other districts are succeeding should be an important element of that evaluation. We need to honestly ask ourselves- what are we doing right? Where are the areas we can improve? In what areas are other districts out performing us? How are they doing that, and how can we use that information to make Merrimack better? If other districts are doing things that are improving the education they are providing for their children, then those are things we should be looking at and discussing. |
| Question 9 |
Please share your thoughts on how Merrimack is currently doing working with
students who have additional and special needs, and if you see any changes that should
be made, etc.
|
| Response: | I think we have room for improvement across the board. Back to my comments on self improvement and benchmarking- we need to take an open and honest look at our current performance and identify ways we can be better. That change does not need to occur over night- as long as we are constantly improving, and incrementally achieving a higher standard of excellence we will be on the right path. |
| Question 10 |
If there is a budget cut, what would you cut first?
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| Response: | Non-essential perks and benefits such as travel expenses, conferences, etc. I would go line by line through the existing budget to identify any items we could remove, or defer (ie- infrastructure investments or longer term projects) without negatively impacting our core faculty and support staff or their ability to educate our kids. |