I am writing to encourage the voters in Wards 5, 6 and 7 to vote for David Parker for school board.
I have known David since our undergraduate days at UNH. As many of you are aware, David is an educator. He is an educator not only professionally but, more importantly, passionately. David is more than a teacher, he is an educator.
I was privileged to serve the city of Concord in the late seventies as a state representative and late nineties as a city councilor. I have never seen the school district under such heavy criticism. There will be no easy solutions.
We are unique in that we have two school districts in one city. Some have suggested that the city council take over the school district. We had a proposal put before the voters in a charter referendum and it failed.
The council is made up of 15 seats: one for each ward, four at-large and the mayor. Parts of Ward 1 and 2 are in the Merrimack Valley District. You could possibly have the mayor and the four at-large not be residents of the Concord District. It would not work.
What is needed is for a strong board to examine what went wrong and hold those who failed our children accountable.
David Parker knows how to handle issues like this. David knows this city and is committed to this city. David will bring a much-needed skill-set to this board.
JIM O’NEILL
Loudon