The John Stark School District covers John Stark High School, which has about 650 students in grades 9 through 12 from the towns of Weare and Henniker. The board has five members, three from Weare and two from Henniker, a proportion reflecting the Weare’s greater population of about 9,000 as compared to Henniker’s 6,000.
Christine Heath — who is also running for a seat on the Weare School Board — is running unopposed for one of Weare’s seats on the John Stark School Board. She has lived in Weare for 23 years. James Newcomb is an incumbent running unopposed for a seat in Henniker, where he has lived for 20 years.
The Monitor sent questionnaires to all Select Board and School Board candidates running in towns within our coverage area.
What is your occupation or experience?
Heath: I have been teaching for 29 years, also working as a Cooperating Teacher for local colleges. I have been on the Weare School Board since 2020, and I belong to the Weare Friends PTO. But my most important experience is being the mom of two amazing young ladies.
Newcomb: I am Dean of the Science, Health & Exercise Division at New England College, where I have been a professor of biology since 2006. I have served two terms on the John Stark School Board, where I have been engaged with many subcommittees and endeavors over the last six years.
Why are you running and what do you see as the most pressing issues in town?
Heath: I am running again to continue to support the good work that the Weare Schools are doing. We have been working on teacher retention with improving salaries and implementing quality curriculum and are starting to see the positive results. Our teachers and staff do a great job supporting the whole student, so that they can reach their potential and I want to help this continue.
Newcomb: I am running to continue working on increasing a sense of belonging for students at John Stark and improving educational outcomes, while also being fiscally responsible. I think that the most pressing issues right now are teacher retention, open enrollment, special education and health insurance. Lots of evidence demonstrates that students’ experiences and learning are directly tied to having consistent high-quality educators, so creating an environment and compensation that attracts and retains these employees is vital to the success of students, as well as minimizing costs to taxpayers because it is expensive to train new employees. The other three issues all have significant, and often unpredictable, impacts on local taxpayers in our current (or proposed) funding models.
What do you hope to accomplish if you are elected?
Heath: I would like to continue to participate in working on efficiencies across our SAU and find more ways to encourage community members to participate in our meetings to learn about our schools.
Newcomb: If elected, I will continue to work to accomplish the following, among other things: 1) negotiate a more attractive work environment for educators, including non/low-cost opportunities, 2) find a less volatile mechanism for health insurance and 3) collaborate with state legislators, as an active member of our SAU 24 Legislative Committee, on pending and future legislation, especially around open enrollment, special education and other areas of education with the potential for large unpredictable impacts on local taxpayers.