Rachel Paepke, Merrimack School Board Candidate

Rachel Paepke

Age (as of Election Day)

39

Position Sought

School Board - One Year Term

Party Affiliation

N/A

Family

My husband and I moved to Merrimack in October 2009 and have two very active boys, ages eleven and nine who attend James Mastricola Upper Elementary (JMUES) and Thorntons Ferry School (TFS).

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

I am a civilian employee for the United States Air Force

Education

Naval Postgraduate School
Masters of Cost Estimating & Analysis (Operations Research), Graduated with Distinguished Honors
State University of New York, Plattsburgh, NY
Major: Bachelor of Arts Mathematics
Minor: Computer Science

Occupation

Senior Operations Research Analyst & Financial Analyst (combined 17 yrs experience)
Long-Term Substitute Mathematics Teacher (1 year)
Volunteer: Parents & Teachers of Thorntons Ferry School, Treasurer (4 years)
Volunteer: MSD COVID Parent Committee Taskforce Member (Summer 2020)
Volunteer: YMCA Fitness Instructor for Adults and Kids classes (5 years)
Volunteer: MYA Baseball as needed (>1 year)

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office

N/A

Campaign website

https://www.vote-rachel.com/

Why are you seeking elective office?

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!

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

The current pressing issue is continuing to navigate through the pandemic to ensuring there are plans in place to finish out the school year and be able to utilize them next year if still under pandemic conditions. Plans will/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 also think it is important to ensure the REAL Academy remains an option at a minimum through next school year for families that choose this method of learning. I would also look at the longer-term educational goals along side our administration, educators and community to ensure the board's 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 find it important to clearly and concisely communicate with the community about all topics surrounding school operations and budget, 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.

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

I believe that I have both experience as an active volunteer and parent within our school community currently serving as the Treasurer for the Parents & Teachers of Thorntons Ferry (PTTF). I have gained the insight and knowledge with regard to school operation, curriculum and programs while working hand-in-hand with school administration, staff, students and families. During the summer of 2020, I was a member of the Parent Taskforce Committee, led by our Superintendent, where my role was to canvas the parent community and bring their voices/thoughts/ideas to the school administration team as they navigated decisions and formulated policy and procedures to safely re-open our schools in September 2020.
I also hold outside finance and budget experience working for the USAF which provides me a strong foundation for researching and analyzing data in order to develop annual budgets. This experience includes leading and collaborating with a diverse group of people, communicating across various skill sets/knowledge levels of the groups, and communicating the risks/opportunities and trade space within multi-year budgets to help inform fiscal decisions in a budget constrained environment. These skill sets of leadership and critical thinking, along with already serving within our school community, would be strong assets to bring to the School Board decision making process.

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

I do not believe that the current board has intentionally failed the community as a whole, but I do think there are areas that show a need for improvement. I think the biggest point of weakness in our current board is having the majority of members on the board for 8+ years. I believe that after 5 - 6 years (or up to two three-year terms) it is always good to bring in new eyes/perspectives to ensure the vision/mission of the board is being met.

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

It is my belief that some areas of planning for the education of our students during a pandemic were done very well and other areas that left many parents and district staff in a reactive mode. This left many families and staff confused and left wondering, "what happens next?". At these moments of confusion, I would take a step back and remind myself we are in the middle of a pandemic and our Superintendent was always putting the health and safety of everyone in the district first and using that to guide his planning. That being said, I believe that the School Board and the Superintendent lost valuable time over the summer, which led to a non-existent long-term plan of students returning to the classrooms (virtual or in-person) five days a week.
Had I been on the school board, I would have utilized the partnership between the board, district administration and leadership, plus staff members and parents to create a vision of what return to school (virtual or in-person) looked like in (1) full remote, (2) hybrid, and (3) full-day in-person. There will always be known unknowns, and the way to overcome those most of the time is to generate discussions on assumptions, collect relevant data, run what-if excursions in order to make small decisions which lead to bigger decisions in developing the plans for all of the scenarios. Next, the communication to all staff and students/families in the Aug timeframe, prior to the start of school, would have informed all school community members what to initially expect and set expectations that changes may be made along the way in order to incorporate any feedback/adjustments. This would have made for a more seamless process when transitioning between the different models of learning. These transitions impacted our REAL Academy learners who also encountered major transitions; all three sets of plans would have addressed what transitions would look like when switching from two day to five day virtually and/or impacts to number of students/teachers in the virtual classroom. One final plan that would have been important to those staff and families that were in-person but had to quarantine for an extended time would be transition of a student and/or classroom to full-time remote. Consistency across schools and/or grade levels would have made these stressful times of quick transition more palatable by most families.
I believe that having these three sets of plans that were fully communicated to the school community would have set the students/families and all staff up for more successful transition points. I believe that having the plans, executing the plans, evaluating execution, then pivoting as needed would have been easier for families and staff to process.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.

If elected, I would work/strive to improve communication between the School Board and our community. It is important to be able to clearly and concisely communicate with the community about all topics surrounding school operations and budget to topics/decisions that occurred during school board meetings.
I would utilize the partnership between the board, district administration and leadership, plus staff members and parents to ensure that each students needs were being met. I have heard through many families of their child(ren) struggling to keep up with grade level activities. This is an area that I would look to understand as a board member, being able to listen to parents and their student's experience as well as partnering with the teachers/staff to ensure they have the resources and tools they need to facilitate the learning process in their classrooms. When the district presented the reimagining of education during the 5 April School Board Meeting, I found myself thinking of the exciting possibilities, but also thinking about ensuring the needs of every student (whether in Special Education program, Gifted & Talented program, or General Education) are being met academically and social/emotionally.
Our teachers/staff are the most valuable assets to educating our youth. The MSD Teacher contract will soon be expiring, and this is one area I believe is critical in retaining our highly-qualified educators. The board needs to ensure negotiations are fair and competitive to retain / attract educators that provide a top-notch learning environment where they inspire, challenge, motivate and teach each student each and every day.

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

I currently serve as the PTTF Treasurer within our school community, working hand-in-hand with administrators, teachers/staff, and students/families. I have led our group at times when the President was not available, as well as leading many initiatives and fundraising events which directly support enrichment programs for educational and/or social emotional learning for our students. I was also asked to be a part of the Parent Committee Taskforce this past Summer working with the Superintendent as well as being the voice of multiple families that I networked with to get their views on topics/issues brought to the Taskforce. I have also been a long-term high school math teacher in two different high schools, teaching a range of math concepts over various grade levels. As a teacher, I was always able to generate discussions encompassing all students in the discussion of concepts and real life applicability; I was able to effectively teach the daily lessons using multiple methods to ensure that every student understood the concept at-hand. As a volunteer at the Greater Nashua YMCA, I have taught many kid classes to promote a healthy well-being attitude, while being able to connect with any age level to make sure they were engaged and having fun!
In my current job as a Senior Ops Research Analyst, I have built strong networks/partnerships with all stakeholders involved. I am able to objectively look at the scope of work and either develop or review the multi-year budget from many angles to ensure that this is the best position that can be put forward based on past data/history. The key to my success is the team that surrounds me and whom I collaborate with. I relate these skills to being much like the school board as it would be an engaging team-oriented, collaborative environment.

The best advice ever shared with me was:

Not so much a phrase that was said to me, but actions I saw growing up from both sides of my family in which they were helping others. My grandparents, parents, aunts & uncles all in some way, shape or form, would go out of their way to provide for others. It may have been small gestures or large, but it was consistent. They always looked out of their small town community of neighbors/friends/family as well as the schools and students (many were teachers). Their advice which they have shown me is a direct reflection of how I look to provide and help out in our community.

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

I would encourage anyone that would like to learn more about me to visit my website as well as reach out to me to chat!