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School Board Candidate Rachel Paepke
| Name: | Rachel Paepke 
|
| Office: | School Board |
| Term of Office: | 1 |
| Years Resident: | 11 |
| Contact Info: | rachel4schoolboard@gmail.com or 603-417-4864 |
| Website: | https://www.vote-rachel.com/ |
| Offices/Community Involvement: | Parents & Teachers of Thorntons Ferry School, Treasurer (4 years)
MSD COVID Parent Committee Taskforce Member (Summer 2020) Volunteer YMCA Fitness Instructor for Adults and Kids classes (5 years) Volunteer with MYA Baseball as needed (>1 year) |
| Why am I Running: | I think it is important to be involved in our school community; I believe that educating our youth by investing in our public schools is a means to strengthen and grow our town/community both now and in the future. I would encourage people to read more about my current involvement within our school district, as well as my background in budget/finance on my website. I am happy to chat with anyone that would like to do so - please feel free to reach out! |
| What do you plan on accomplishing while in Office: |
My near-term goal would be to continue navigating through the pandemic and ensuring there are plans in place to finish out the school year and be able to utilize next year as well if still under the same pandemic conditions. Plans would be known by the educators/staff as well as parents, in hopes of creating less confusion if the case arose where a school or the district had to pivot to remote learning at certain times in the year. I would also be looking at the longer-term educational goals of our educators and community to ensure our vision is in-line with setting our students up with the best chance of success as they progress from school to school and eventually into the real world as a young adult. I also find it important to be able to clearly and concisely communicate with the community about all topics surrounding school operations to topics and decisions made during school board meetings. If elected, I would work/strive to improve communication between the School Board and our community. |
| Candidate Statement: | I encourage you to learn more about me on my website, and to please reach out to discuss anything you'd like! 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 | |
| Article 3 Support Contract |
Yes |
| Comments | |
| Article 4 Spec. Mtg A3: |
Yes |
| Comments | |
| Article 5 Ventilators |
Yes |
| Comments | |
| Article 6 Disband Budget Committee |
No |
| Comments | |
| Article 7 Budget |
Yes |
| Comments | |
| School District Non Ballot Questions Below were questions asked of all candidates |
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| 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 support that school policy/guidelines reflect current DHHS and CDC policy/guidelines. The district should not adopt separate policies, unless there is a need driven by local cases/data that would support a local revision to pointing to DHHS guidelines. |
| 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: | I fully support the continuation of REAL academy. It is imperative for many families to have this model of learning during the pandemic. I believe a strong partnership between the school board, the admin team, REAL educators and students/families is crucial to ensure that the remote students educational and social/emotional needs continue to be met for the remainder of the school year and into the following school year. I believe that there have been many positive aspects that have come from setting up the REAL Academy and that this method of providing an education to students who thrive in this environment should be explored/considered once we are post-pandemic. |
| 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: | A school board will address matters regarding the setting of academic standards and work with administration / teachers / staff / students to ensure a safe and positive school environment. They should provide a vision/mission surrounding the education of our youth which prepares each student to progress from school to school, as well as being prepared to enter the community as a young adult after the completion of high school. The board reviews and/or implements district wide policies, as well as ensures the district has an infrastructure in place to retain our high-quality educators and support staff. Administration executes the daily operations of the district as well as handles the short- and long-term planning to meet the district goals. They are there to ensure the school administration, educators and staff have the resources required to meet the need of every student. |
| Question 4 |
What are your thoughts about full-day kindergarten?
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| Response: | I fully support full-day kindergarten. Between both of my boys, one was able to experience full-day kindergarten (privately) and one attended half-day kindergarten with a half-day extension program. My son who attended full-day in person, with no interruptions of teachers/facilities had a much transition to first grade than my other son. I see many benefits to having all students starting kindergarten as full-time students. |
| Question 5 |
What are your thoughts on college and career readiness?
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| Response: | I believe that students that wish to enter college after high school should have an experience in high school that will prepare them. This should include the help of guidance counselors and/or mentors that ensure they are meeting the correct course work, as well as any outside experiences (volunteer work, internships, etc.), that would provide benefit to both the college preparation as well as career readiness. I have not experienced what this looks like today at MHS as my children are younger, but I believe in providing resources that shows what two vs. four-year schools provide and at what costs should be presented to students and families throughout the high school years to help students make informed decisions. Career Readiness is critical weather in high school or post- high school; preparing students to be able to communicate with their bosses as well as their peers and/or the public/customers should always be worked on throughout any coursework. Also being able to get a task/goal, interpret that task/goal, and independently think to achieve that task/goal is so important to teach students as that will help set them up for success when entering the workforce. |
| Question 6 |
What are your thoughts on Vocational programs and how would you improve the
programs what we have now?
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| Response: | Vocational programs are important to those students that want to experience learning through real-life training and study. Completion of these programs/schools provide students with entry-level skills in order to enter the workforce post high school. I do not have enough experience at this time to comment on how these programs could be improved upon within MSD, but would look to partner with current students/families, educators and administration to understand our partnerships with Nashua and Hudson Regional Career & Technical Readiness Programs. |
| Question 7 |
What are your thoughts on ELO's (extended learning opportunities)?
|
| Response: | ELOs are another tool and method for students to gain experience working on their studies/education. I believe if a student feels passionately about a certain subject/topic, and they wish to explore it more than what they could in a classroom, they should be afforded the opportunity to do so, as long as it meets the criteria outlined in the MSD policy. |
| Question 8 |
Do you find value in benchmarking us against other districts and if so, how?
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| Response: | If analyzing data in a normalized fashioned (i.e., apples-to-apples & not apples-to-oranges), there is value in looking across data sets of similar sample sizes and populations. At a minimum, it provides a means to compare districts at a top-level and lends leadership and school boards to dig deeper into data. It should invoke thought and conversations as to why results vary, and help identify strengths and areas that may be in need of improvement. It should be one tool of many used to help in assessing the district and student progress as a whole, but should not be used solely to compare districts side-by-side. |
| 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: | While I do not have personal experience in the Special Education programs, I have heard on numerous occasions how fantastic of a program Merrimack provides to each of the students in need of those services and programs. From all experiences I have heard about through district families, I believe the MSD has a strong partnership between students, parents, educators and district leadership teams. At this time, I do not have enough experience regarding Special Education to know or understand what changes may have to be made. This is another area I would work in conjunction with the students/parents and educators/leadership teams to better understand the needs of all and if those needs are being met or if there are areas that may show a need for improvement that we could strive better to accomplish. |
| Question 10 |
If there is a budget cut, what would you cut first?
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| Response: | If there was a budget cut, I would look at areas that do not affect meeting our students' educational needs and goals, which includes keeping the infrastructure in place to retain a highly-qualified workforce. In my experience in developing near- and long-term budgets a key factor is knowing the entire scope of effort/requirements to be funded to develop the budget plus an understanding from all stakeholders on the priority of those requirements. It is an easier task to get through a budget cut when all parties know and understand the most important line items that must be funded through the lower priority line items in order to be able to recommend what line item(s) will be impacted at a time a budget cut is forthcoming. |