(one one-year term)
Years living in town:15
Previous or current elected office held: Interim School Board rep./ 15 years Greenfield Town Treasurer
Other qualifications: 15 years of financial administration experience and certified municipal accountant.
What are two issues you think are important and how would you address them?Dear Greenfield Residents and ConVal Community, My name is Katherine Heck and I am running for the Greenfield seat on ConVal School District School Board. I have been serving as the appointed, interim representative since Oct. 1, 2019.
I have been a Greenfield resident for the last 15 years. I am a parent of three ConVal students and I believe in the power of public education. As a parent of children in our school system, I bring a genuine investment in making our school system a place where teachers want to work, families want to send their children and where all students gain the confidence and agency necessary to succeed.
I am an active volunteer in the school community as well as in my town. I feel that my professional qualifications in financial administration and municipal accounting will work to the tax-payers advantage. I have extensive experience working with publicly funded organizations. I have the privilege of serving as the treasurer for the Greenfield community and for multiple non-profits in our region.
I believe the most important role of the School Board is to provide equal access to the highest quality education for all students in the community. In my short tenure serving on the School Board, I quickly learned that our district has a strong strategic plan that is focused on student achievement and student success. As a School Board representative, I will work to ensure our district is adhering to the strategic plan and fortifying the foundations for student success. Key areas that require school board focus are: communication, infrastructure, equity/innovation, and district/school. The keys to improving teacher retention, community engagement, and student achievement lie in these four pillars.
I believe the strength of our schools comes from the many devoted, creative and kind people working hard to achieve this goal each and every day from inside the classroom out in the community. The School Board’s role then is to support this work and foster positive climate and culture, through the spirit of continuous improvement. I will advocate to promote and facilitate an open, public process for the decisions that impact both education and the budget. My financial experience tells me that we can be financially responsible without reducing teachers/staff or needed funds that translate into student success in the classroom. For each and every issue and vote the comes before me, my litmus test is and will continue to be: Is it educationally responsible to all students? Is it fiscally responsible to residents and tax payers? Does it uphold or align with the strategic plan? Is there enough data and information to make a decision consistent with the district mission and vision? Have stakeholders had any opportunity for input?
I look forward to using my professional and volunteer experience to work with all stakeholders to make fiscally sound decisions while maintaining high standards in a safe atmosphere for all students. As a board member, my responsibility is to you, the public, to whom I am accountable and to the students in our district to whom I have promised a bright future through the educational opportunities available at ConVal.
If you have questions or would like to discuss any school related topic, I will be available at the Greenfield Town Office on Saturday, March 7 from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. for coffee and conversation, all are welcome.
Years living in town: 19 years
Previous or current elected office held: N/A
Other qualifications:
We have been lucky enough to reside in this region for the past 19 years, we have 2 children that have already graduated from Conval and two children still in High School. Over the years I’ve been involved in PTO’s at several of our community schools, volunteered at many of our community events as well as in many classrooms. In the past seven years I’ve earned a degree from Granite state college and graduated from UNH’s Institute on Disabilities Leadership series program. I’ve went on to become a leadership mentor, and I’m in the process of working toward serving as a Leadership group leader. I’ve also been part of the early stages of the system of care grant planning and gone on to work under that grant.
Additionally, I’ve been fortunate to be working in our region with families, educators and many community stakeholders with great efforts working towards equity and inclusive education for our children. Within my role I have had the unique opportunity to listen to our family’s needs, as well as our school communities and other community partners. I feel these assets makes me a strong, collaborative candidate to serve on our school board.
What are two issues you think are important and how would you address them?
1)For the past 14+/- years our district has been working towards creative solutions to address the declining student numbers in some of our smaller community schools. I’ve observed our district hiring someone to come in and evaluate what would make sense, develop a proposed plan, present it to the school board and as I remember it, it ruffled many feathers back in the day, however this produced no outcome except let’s keep talking about these options, my question remains, was this a good use of our tax dollars? Year after year it seems our school board and community continue to have the same conversations. We see that our communities are divided, I feel each of us have the children and community’s best interest at heart. The consensus remains that our communities aren’t ready, and the small-town community feeling, and social aspects can’t be measured and remain very important to community members. This decision will have to be driven by the towns and not by the school board, I’ll always look at these discussions in the context it’s being presented and do what is in the best interest of our children.
I see that one of the reasons we keep looking at this as an option is our high school budget. ConVal has a vision of keeping our district moving forward. We are limited on our options if we want to keep our taxes down, we need to continue to work collaboratively in brainstorming creative solutions.
2)Mental health in our schools is also a concern, I believe my background supports my ability to evaluate solutions from many perspectives. I believe ConVal continues to strive towards being proactive and exploring what our next steps need to be in supporting all children. With that said I know that there is still a stigma around talking about and addressing mental health concerns in our districts and communities. We have experienced devastating tragedies within our communities, this is a pervasive issue that’s partitive we need to continue talking about collectively and exploring evidence-based research and trainings to support our students, staff, and communities. This is a growing area of need; I believe we need to be continuously monitoring our school programs and make the necessary changes to meet the evolving needs of our children. Examine our out of district placement ratio’s, and make sure we are talking about all options and possibilities. Explore the effectiveness of our multi-tiered systems of support, what early interventions we have in place and their effectiveness as well as stringently review our school policies. Also having conversations about what barriers are youth and families facing in accessing proper supports both at school and in our communities. As well as look at our willingness to collaborate with community resources and how we bring resources and needed education to our schools, lastly assess how to get parents more involved and educated around mental health. In conclusion I don’t feel it’s one person’s job or ideas to move an agenda item forward, rather a takes many people willing to have difficult conversations and collectively brainstorm idea’s that will meet the needs of our children, staff and community.