Jenna Hardy, Merrimack School Board Candidate

Jenna Hardy

Age (as of Election Day)

46

Position Sought

School Board

Party Affiliation

This is a non-partisan position.

Family

I married my high school sweetheart, Scot, and we have four children ages 17, 15, 14 and 8 (Senior, Freshman, 8th grade, 2nd grade.)

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

My father, Dan Coakley, was elected to the Budget Committee in Merrimack last year.

Education

I have both a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Education.

Occupation

Currently teaching at a public NH Charter School after years of being home to raise my kids. Previous to that I taught 4/5th Grade Looping in the Windham public schools.

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office

Elected to the School District Budget Committee in June 2020; Appointed to the Merrimack School Board in October 2020.

Campaign website

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2489673927994190

Why are you seeking elective office?

The Merrimack School District has given so much to myself and my children. I appreciate the opportunity to use my education and experience to give back a fraction of what they have given to me over many years.

The single most pressing issue facing our (board, district, etc.) is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

Our district needs to continue navigating the ever-evolving COVID Crisis in ways that ensure both student safety and success. As we emerge from this crisis, we need to accurately assess any learning gaps and create a plan to address them over the next couple of years. Meanwhile, we need to support our Systems of Care team as they work to address the vast social and emotional needs of students in these extremely challenging times.

As we emerge from this crisis, I support the Merrimack School District's efforts to "reimagine education" using the myriad things we learned during this time when we have done education so differently. Being forced into flexibility, innovation, and quick adoption of the infusion of technology and real-world practices into day-to-day educational practices, we need to evaluate what is successful and working well and create a plan to weave those into our "new normal." For example, Merrimack's REAL Academy, which has provided remote learning throughout this pandemic, has been successful for many students for reasons that have nothing to do with COVID. There is merit in evaluating things that we have discovered work well for students and how those things can be meaningful in how we educate students in Merrimack long into the future.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

I think the thing that sets me apart from the other candidates who are running is my decades of experience with and involvement in the Merrimack School district in various capacities. Having grown up in Merrimack, I was a student in the Merrimack School District. When I graduated from college with a teaching degree, I began my teaching career as a Title 1 Tutor at Reeds Ferry School before getting a full-time teaching job in Windham.

In addition, we have lived on both sides of town, so I have had children go through every school in this district except for Mastricola Elementary. Throughout those years, I was a school volunteer in more capacities than I could list here, and I have also been a substitute teacher. Also, as the parent of a child who receives special education services, I have experience with how our district supports students and families who face educational challenges.

As a result, I have had years to build strong, positive relationships with the teachers, support staff, and administration in our district. I have also seen and experienced the Merrimack School District through multiple lenses giving me a truly unique perspective into the strengths and challenges of our school district. I believe this is one of my greatest strengths as a candidate, and the thing that sets me most uniquely apart from all of the other candidates.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community (or district or constituency)

I was appointed to the Merrimack School Board in October 2020, so I am not a challenger.

How do you think local officials performed in responding to the coronavirus? What if anything would you have done differently?

Having only joined the school district in October 2020, I was not a part of the original team that created and approved the 2020-2021 Merrimack School District COVID instructional plan. As a board member now and in hindsight, I believe there should have been three fully outlined plans with criteria for their use from the very beginning: the hybrid plan that the district adopted, planned and started the year with, a detailed plan for what an inevitable pivot to full remote would look like and necessitate, and at least the outline of a plan for what a transition to a full in-person model would look like if/when it became possible.

Having three plans from the beginning would have set expectations, set the stage for district and community-wide flexible thinking/planning, and while it would have been challenging in the beginning, it would have saved hours of stress and unanticipated transitions for everyone involved.

Hindsight is, of course, 2020 (pun not intended, but very appropriate), however, I think if this had been done from the beginning, it would have eliminated extra, unnecessary stress for everyone during an already excessively challenging year.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.

I want to ensure that ALL students in Merrimack are receiving the appropriate support AND challenge they need to succeed in school and beyond. To accomplish this, Merrimack needs to continue to provide the excellent Special Education support for our exceptional students that our district is widely known for. We should be extremely proud of that as a district. In addition, we need to expand opportunities for gifted and high-achieving students to be challenged at the highest level and in various different ways including extended learning opportunities beyond traditional classroom experiences.
Lastly, the majority of students falling between those two populations is made up of students who represent so many varied abilities, talents, learning styles, and college/career paths. For these students, we need to strengthen our partnerships with surrounding districts to continue to offer trade and technology programs that expand student’s educational opportunities and vision for the future. We need to explore ways to employ extended learning opportunities like internships, independent studies, apprenticeships, etc to capture the interests and abilities of students for whom traditional classroom learning is challenging. I believe these sorts of things are how we improve our graduation rate, but more importantly give ALL students a meaningful, motivating path to graduation that sets them up for life-long pursuit of personal growth and love for learning.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

Having only been on the Merrimack school board since October 2020, my experience in that role is not long. However, I have been on the school board for the majority of what could arguably be called one of the most difficult years in the history of public education. Until I joined the board, I did not even come close to fully understanding the weight of responsibility a board member feels when faced with decisions that will impact their friends, neighbors, and community members. It’s truly a difficult thing to put into words.
During this time, I have learned a lot about myself, and this community on a much deeper level. As I began to feel the reality of the responsibility in front of me, I realized that in order for me to be able to sleep at night and look myself in the mirror every morning, I had to truly listen to and consider the various voices and perspectives of many different groups of stakeholders and form my positions accordingly. I have read every constituent email (even when there were so many I did not have time to reply), spoken in person to many community members, made personal phone calls to teachers, the teachers union, administration, community members and to friends and leaders in various other school districts in order to have as much perspective and information going into every meeting or vote as I possibly could.
I can point to times on the board when I have changed my mind and my vote when presented with evidence from friends or community members who offered me a different perspective. The highest compliment I have received in this experience is when someone who is often on the opposite side of most issues from me let me know how meaningful it was that I listened, considered their position, and changed my mind. Because THAT, to me, is what brave leaders do. I do not always get it right, but with every decision I can promise to listen, learn, be open to change, and bravely lean into my values and the values of this school district and community to make the best decision I can.

The best advice ever shared with me was:

Love your neighbor as yourself. (Sometimes paraphrased by my parents as "Life is not all about you.")

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

I am fiercely committed to continuing to make sure Merrimack's schools are pursuing excellence, and I am committed to continue taking my role on the School Board seriously by putting aside what I think I know to listen and learn along the way to teachers, students, parents, administrators and the community to find the best balance in our approach to pursuing excellence and meeting the needs of all students. Holding the tension between the various stakeholders is challenging, but is also very possible so that in Merrimack we ALL win.