​Patrick O'Day, Exeter School Board Candidate

Exeter NH

02 March, 2022

2:56 PM

Description

Patrick O'Day Age (as of Election Day) 58 Position sought (including ward or district number if applicable) Exeter School Board for the town elementary schools and preschool. I am running for athree-year term. Party Affiliation I'm running as a nonpartisan representative of all Exeter community members. Family I have four kids. My two older daughters attended Exeter elementary schools and SAU16 schools. My two young sons (ages 1 and 4) will enter Main Street School. Does anyone in your family work in politics or government? No Education: BA in philosophy/government, College of William & MaryMA in education, Michigan State UniversityJD, Indiana University-Bloomington Maurer School of Law Occupation: Education law attorney Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office: Exeter School Board, member (2006 to present), Exeter School Board, chair (2011 to2021), New Hampshire Bar Association, board of governors (2013 to 2017), NewHampshire School Boards Association, board member (2005 to 2013), Dover Children'sHome, board member (2006 to 2012). Campaign website: www.oday4exeter.org Why are you seeking elective office? Like most families, I moved to Exeter because of the high quality of our schools. As anExeter School Board member, I will work to maintain the excellence of our schools. Ihave a unique combination of academic skills having earned my Master's in education(Michigan State) and studied in a PhD program in education (Indiana), and practicalexperience having worked as an education law attorney throughout New Hampshire. Iunderstand how the law intersects with education to protect and support the needs ofour kids and families. This helps me ask informed questions guided by putting kids first. The single most pressing issue facing our (board, district, etc.) is_______, and this is what I intend to do about it. We need a return to normalcy. The pandemic created unanticipated disruption andstress on our schools, our community and, most importantly, our kids. We need tosafely move to the endemic phase of the virus guided by science and evidenceincluding information about the impact on kids' mental health and academics. We needto allow kids to be kids while safeguarding vulnerable families. It's a balance that willrequire thoughtful action. What are the critical differences between you and the other candidatesseeking this post? I have 16 years of practical experience serving on the Exeter School Board. For 10years, I served as Chair of the Exeter School Board. During my years of public serviceon the Board, I have collaborated with teachers, staff and community members oncountless school initiatives, including full-day kindergarten, negotiations, academics,policy, strategic planning, budgeting, safety and security, diversity, technology, andwellness. These experiences provide a wealth of practical knowledge that helps mecontribute to our Board discussions in making sound decisions. If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community (or district or constituency) I am the only incumbent among the five candidates running for a three-year seat on theExeter School Board. Nevertheless, I want to answer this question because I value theneed to be reflective about how we can improve. With the sudden onset of thepandemic two years ago, our Board sometimes failed to make all parents feel genuinelyheard. With the suspension of in-person Board meetings for a year, parents lost amechanism to provide feedback in their own voice by speaking directly to the Board.Online chat functions via Zoom created an artificial barrier to navigate. While I considermyself to be a good listener, our Board needs to do better. Our primary constituencywithin our community is parents of our elementary and preschool kids. I will work hard tomake sure that all parents feel heard. Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform. We need to address academic deficits. Remote learning resulted in learning loss formany. Our schools evaluated each student using nationally normed, valid and reliabletesting. The Exeter School Board created two new teaching positions in math andreading to address learning needs. We have amazing teachers in Exeter who engageour students! We need to closely monitor academic progress of each student so that nochild is left behind. We need to put kids first in every decision. Our Board collaborated with teachers andcommunity members to identify and remove roadblocks to educational access andinclusion. However, this work takes vigilance and ongoing effort. Issues facing kidsrange from food security to emotional health, to why girls tend not to raise their hands inclass starting in middle school. As a Board member, I strive to be mindful that all kidswithin our diverse community deserve to have their educational needs fully met. What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you canhandle this job? I'm very proud of our school committee work on creating a full-day kindergartenprogram and building in Exeter. I served as the Board representative on that project. Weidentified a need for full-day kindergarten by monitoring the academic progress of ourelementary students. Our committee studied academic research, interviewed otherschools that switched from half-day to full-day kindergarten, and created an age-appropriate curriculum that included play time. We surveyed parents three times overthe course of several years to learn the level of parent support for transitioning to full-day kindergarten, and only moved forward once parent support was strong. We raised a$5.4 million bond to fund a new kindergarten building that Exeter voters passed whilethree other similar bond proposals in nearby towns failed. It was a collaborative initiativethat involved key stakeholders. I continue to value listening to and involving parents,teachers, community members and others when taking Board action. The best advice ever shared with me was:I love this piece of advice from Benjamin Franklin, "I am a strong believer in luck, and Ifind the harder I work the more I have of it." What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions? I have had several transformative international experiences. I lived in Luxembourg whileattending a French-speaking high school. I worked in West Africa as an interpreter on agold expedition. I lectured in Kazakhstan about education via a State Departmentproject. These experiences took me out of my comfort zone and challenged many coreassumptions. As a result, I developed a lifelong appreciation of diverse perspectives.