Voters Guide: David Murotake for Nashua Board of Education

Name: David Murotake

Age: 59

How long have you resided in Nashua? 31 years

Your background /education: 

I'm a second generation Japanese American, born in Hawaii, and a US Army veteran. A 1971 graduate of Immaculata High School in Leavenworth, Kansas, I attended MIT on a full ROTC scholarship. I served on active duty for five years. Upon leaving the military, I received a full RCA scholarship to obtain a Ph.D. at my school of choice, and picked the MIT Sloan School. Our family has lived in Nashua since January 1982. I served as a diplomat to the United Nations' International Telecommunications Union (ITU-R) in 1996-1997 to help develop global wireless standards in cognitive radio and non-interfering, secondary use of wireless spectrum. I started a Nashua based small high-tech defense business in 2002. 

College Education: Ph.D. management of technological innovation, MIT Sloan School; BS, MS electrical engineering and computer science, MIT; BS humanities and science, MIT. Graduate student at Rivier College, majoring in education (curriculum and instruction). 

Certifications: FEMA Incident Command System (ICS-400); Nashua Community Emergency Response Team (CERT); Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) Peer for both individuals and groups; rated search and rescue aircrew (Senior Mission Observer).

Experience/Occupation: 

MILITARY: Served 5 years in the US Army as Combat Engineer, Atomic Demolition Munitions, Special Weapons Target Analyst, Military Intelligence, Signals Intelligence (SIGINT). 

CIVILIAN: 35 years in engineering for RCA, GE, Lockheed Sanders and Mercury Computer Systems and my own company. "Day job" experience includes: defense and federal command control and communications; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance system design; electronic warfare and cyber-security systems design; embedded computer and communications design; wireless networking. I've also served as a US Diplomat to the UN agency, International Telecommunications Union (ITU-R), and also have held positions in business development; proposal management; and program management.  I founded my own Nashua company, SCA Technica, Inc., in 2002.

Prior elected offices:

 2009: Nashua BOE.

2012: NH State Representative, Nashua Ward 5.

Personal info and interests outside of politics:

My wife Tommie and I live at 17 Portchester Drive, Nashua, our home for over 31 years.  We raised four children here - Amanda, Susan, Allen, Barbara - all of whom have "left the nest." We now share our home with four wonderful cats.  I am "in formation" and have taken my temporary vows in a Catholic religious order, the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites (OCDS).

I've been active in volunteer organizations since childhood. Since moving to Nashua, I've been active in Nashua chapters of the Civil Air Patrol (CAP), Greater Nashua Medical Reserve Corps. Knights of Columbus, Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. I've also volunteered at St. Joseph the Worker Parish as a catechist and lay minister. I recently joined the Nashua Citizens Emergency Response Team (CERT).

I'm a senior member of the institute of  Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), and served on the Board of Directors of the Software Defined Radio Forum for 8 years. I founded and several industry working groups, and .currently serve on the steering group member of the Wireless Innovation Forum, guiding development of global standards for secure tactical radios. My hobbies include photography, hiking, religious studies, social networking. Loves dogs and cats!

Should you be elected, how will you connect with your constituents to learn more about issues they care most about?

We are fortunate in Nashua NH, of having a very transparent City Government. ALL meetings of the full Board of Education (BoE), and its Committees, are televised and advertised on the District website: http://www.nashua.edu/About-Us/Board-of-Education . I encourage interested people to attend our BoE and committee meetings in person, or watch us on TV.  BoE and Committee meetings are often re-broadcast for those who are unable to make meeting times, due to work or other responsibilities. In addition, Board Member information is available on-line, and you can reach me by mail, or email. I'm reachable by mail, phone, email, website and Facebook, and participate in as many face to face public forums as possible. In addition, I try to bring controversial topics like the Common Core Forum into public debate, both by scheduling committee hearings and workshops to which the public is invited, and writing Letters to the Editor and other articles published in local newspapers like the Nashua Telegraph and the Union Leader, for those without access to the Internet.

What are the top priorities, in your perspective, for Nashua's Schools right now?

a) Improving student achievement in Science and Math.. We've made some strides in Elementary math and science, but still have a way to go at the Middle School and High School levels. We do well with the "Honors" and "Advanced Placement" group, but not as well with students who are in the "Foundations" level. We can see this from the NECAP assessment results over the past few years.

b) Closing the gap between the "haves" and the "have nots". Federal law requires we teach ALL students in Nashua, regardless of their socioeconomic status, ethnicity, or even their legal immigration status. Over 43% of Nashua students have parents eligible for food stamps - and the performance gap in the NECAP assessments between the average test scores, and those for "low Socio Economic Status" and "English as a Second Language" categories is statistically significant. I've also heard from outreach counselors that these children often come from households, in which the parents and grandparents themselves, are illiterate in their basic language. The city needs to be award of this "poverty gap" and somehow address it in the strategic planning done by both the Board of Aldermen, and the Board of Education. We need to work together.

c) Giving an honest re-assessment of State and Federal mandates on education. One concern I've had since I was first elected in 2009, is the "shall fund" clause in the Special Ed law, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The funding formula, when Congress first passed IDEA, was 40% Federal, 30% State and 30% Federal. But, the law mandates the Local Education Agency - that's Nashua - "shall fund" the program irrespective of what we get from the Feds or the State. Each year since I've been elected, the Feds have UNDERFUNDED the city of Nashua by over $6 million a year. That's $24 million and counting. I also learned, last year, that NH's spending on special ed, per student, was substantiality higher than the national average. If that's true, there should be things we can do at the local level, especially in a large district like Nashua, to further bring Special Ed costs under control. 

Another mandate I'm concerned about is the Common Core State Standards. By Spring 2015, we have to run the Smarter Balanced Assessment - a "summative" assessment which tests how well our kids learned THIS school year. I recognize the need for K-12 education improvement in Nashua. However I don't think Common Core is the right answer Nashua. The “Core-aligned” Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA) that replaces NECAP, starting in Spring 2015. That means we have to be teaching our children Common Core THIS YEAR. Many Nashua teachers don't feel there's enough time to properly "align" their classes so their students can be tested properly next year. This is an opinion shared by both national teachers unions (the AFT and NEA). Several national education associations including the school boards, school superintendents, elementary school principals and secondary school principals jointly back a 2-year moratorium.  I join our teachers in supporting a 2-year moratorium on Common Core assessments (SBA) in Nashua.

Parents and civil liberties watchdogs also have serious privacy concerns. The private companies that perform testing plan to sell aggregated student (and family) information for profit, with the student ID removed (redacted). However, .with modern technology like "big data" and "data analytics", their privacy information can be re-constructed. Also, with the data stored by third-parties outside the local school district or State Department of Education, the possibility of massive "leaks" is omnipresent - whether as a result of an accidental release, or as a result of "hacking".. This violates their rights under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). 

There are numerous credible studies which also estimate the cost, per student, over and above the cost of "business as usual" at the school board to implement the Common Core, is $289 per student or higher. The $289 figure was cited by the NH Commissioner of Education, Dr. Virginia Barry, in January 2013 to a group of State Legislators during an Education Issues session. This rounds to $3.5 million for the Nashua school district - and because we started with outmoded and insufficient technology, this number is likely to be higher, according to various studies cited by the National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL).. A lot of this money is in upgrading computers, networks, and software. More comes in purchasing new textbooks to align our curriculum with the Common Core. Even more is needed provide professional development to teachers and administrators, and also "align" our curriculums to the Core. All this takes money. It's interesting to me, that the last two years we've submitted grant applications to the Federal Government to help us implement education improvements, like the Common Core, we asked for more than $23 million EXTRA funding in our grant application. Sobering thought...

So, are the teachers and the District ready? Are the curriculums aligned? Is the technology up to speed? Can we afford it? I'm guessing the answer is NO.

Why should voters select you to represent them on the School Board? 

I am focusing my attention on these areas:

1. I believe I bring a unique perspectives to the Board of Education. I was born poor to an immigrant family. My first language was Japanese, making me an "English Language Learner". I "made it" out of humble beginnings by working hard as a child, with my parents' and community's support, to obtain an excellent education paid for by scholarships. I know what it takes for a "common man" to go to a top-ranked college like MIT on a scholarship. I can continue to bring that to the Nashua schools.

2. I've tutored math to high school students since I was 17, as a volunteer. I've also mentored young engineering students. This STEM mentoring experience makes me aware of WHAT STEM graduates need to know, to be successful in the high-tech industry. As the District begins to re-align its curriculum for College Readiness and Apprentice Readiness, my presence on the School Board, and the Curriculum and Evaluation Committee, can continue to be valuable.

3. I'm one of twenty-seven Nashua State Representatives, and active in both Science-Technology-Energy and Education. Unlike more than half of all NH State Reps, I actually write legislation - I've written one bill for the 2013 year, and submitted three draft Bills for the 2014 year. Of those four, two are related to Education. Being both a sitting member of Nashua's school board, and the State House, can benefit both the city of Nashua, and the State, to create and vote bills that benefit education, as well as STEM.