I don't have first hand experience with having a student with special needs in Merrimack, however I have spoken to some community members who do. I know that we have engagement between the Merrimack Director of Student Services and a dedicated Parent Advisory Committee for special education.

A committee of dedicated parents supporting their special needs students will have much more expertise and knowledge than me to identify what, if anything, needs to be improved in the district to support our special education students. I would see my role, and the role of the board, to engage with and support the Parent Advisory Committee when asked.

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.

We should be very proud that our district has a reputation for excellence in this area. Heather Barker and her team do just an outstanding job of meeting the needs of exceptional students and supporting their families. Working in a charter school has given me an opportunity to "compare districts" from the teacher perspective. Home districts manage the IEPs of students in a Charter School, and some districts make providing the services that students truly need to thrive and be successful painfully difficult for teachers and families. I'm proud to say that Merrimack is not one of the districts that makes doing what is best or necessary for students difficult. On a personal level, as a parent with a student on an IEP, we have been very pleased with the district's efforts to ensure our child has the support they need to succeed in school. Our district has a responsibility to assure that every student regardless of any challenges has the ability to succeed to their fullest potential. Merrimack partners well with parents to that end, and that is something that we as a community should be proud of.

Without any personal experience with the additional and special needs programs in our district I have had to rely on my conversations with the families that have used them. Like most things, opinions vary. Some have raved about those programs and educators and credit them with their students' success. Others feel unheard, ignored and disenfranchised. This difference in opinion exists in every school district I've ever worked in. As hard as we try to make education as accessible as possible to all of our students, we don't always succeed and we need to own that and learn from that. If a family feels we didn't provide the necessary support and accommodations for their child then we need to hear that and build a better program. Adversely the families who have benefited from these programs can provide insight and guidance into what works.

The Merrimack School District and their Student Services Team has put significant efforts into their programing for students who have additional and special needs. They have programs that start from preschool with the integrated MEEP Early Education Program and continue with supports through High School. The district has also been honored with NH Special Education Teacher of the Year awards twice in the past 10 years. With these successes, as a district there should always be a desire to improve. Though I can't speak to my own direct experience, I feel it is important to assess the programing benefits and struggles from all perspectives (administration, teachers, parents, and students) to determine how Merrimack's current programing can continue to improve and stay consistent with the regular development of new innovative methods for learning with special needs (electronic communication devices, alternative learning methods, behavioral analysis etc).

One of the things I did on the Budget Committee was to volunteer my time for the Student Services liaison team. We met with Heather Barker, the head of Student Services who came on board in Fall 2019 and listened to her share her vision and strategic plan for the department. She was open about areas of improvement and areas that still need improving. While I have received both positive and negative feedback from families with special needs students, I believe, post-covid, the department has promise for moving forward in a positive direction. One area that I believe has been beneficial are the monthly virtual "coffees" where families with IEP and 504 students can meet with Heather and other members of her team to share concerns.

From what I understand, Merrimack does very well with these students. I would want to speak with the head of this department to understand the program and the needs fully before I could ever offer any improvements.

I believe the role of the school board is to ensure that all departments including student services to achieve their goals. Every student has individual needs and I believe the outcome is also quite different based on their needs and experiences.

I believe that Merrimack values its support of students with IEPs and 504 plans. Of course, continuous improvement always has to remain top-of-mind. I support professional growth opportunities to have the most current understanding of educational law.

I do not have first-hand experience with this, but I have spoken to dozens of parents whose kids have academic needs that are not being met. I know families who have had to advocate heavily for their child to be evaluated or approved to receive support. I also know that we have families who go out of district (on Merrimack's dime) because we are not able to provide the educational support they need. Given the poor academic performance history of the district over the past several years and the number of kids who are struggling, I think we need significant review in this area and a plan for improvement. This should be an area of focus for the next School Board to review, measure and mitigate.

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.