Voters Guide: Thomas Vaughn for Nashua Board of Education

Name: Thomas Vaughan 

What office are you running for? Nashua Board of Education 

Age: 63 

How long have you resided in Nashua? 25 years 

Your background /education: B.A. Tufts University 

Experience/Occupation: 

Retired Software Engineer (Digital/Compaq/HP) 

Prior elected offices: 

Finishing second term on Nashua Board of Education 

Personal info and interests outside of politics: 

Married with two children (who attended Nashua Schools), hiking, kayaking.

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

My email, phone number and mailing address are posted publicly on the Nashua School District Website or I can be contacted by email messages to the whole Board: boe@nashua.edu , 

All public Board and Board Committee meetings are recorded and televised. People are welcome at all our public meetings and welcome to make comments. 

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

The District is in the midst of a major transition to the New Hampshire College and Career Ready Standards. As part of this broad framework are the Common Core literacy and mathematics standards. At the same time the District is shifting to a new curriculum. This shift is partially driven by increased rigor and other changes in the standards and in part is a revision, refresh of the prior curriculum. Important shifts are also being made in instruction to support increased rigor, to add new emphasis on non-fiction throughout literacy instruction and to focus on problem solving in mathematics. Finally, the District’s overall assessment tool is switching from the current NECAP test to the new, online Smarter Balance Assessment. These are big changes that will take several years to complete. Navigating through these changes, minimizing their disruption on students and staff and ensuring that they actually increase student achievement is the top priority. 

To support this change I think we need to do several things, 

First , I think that we need to reduce the number of large (24 or more) classes at the elementary level. Large classes dilute the effectiveness of instruction and increase the likelihood of discipline issues. 

Secondly, I think we need to increase the quality and quantity of school level and district level performance data. The District has recently begun a rich, useful data program based on the IReady assessments. This program provides teachers timely, useful information that they can use to improve the effectiveness of their instruction. But there is no comparable data that gives the Board a view of progress at the school and district level. To support this transition we need to know which direction we are heading and where we are. 

Thirdly, I think we a regular cycle of effective long term planning. The Board has frequently created goals and objectives and recently a strategic plan. These are a good beginning. What we need to do is blend input from administration, Board members, parents and the community, focus on the key priorities and maintain these over several years. 

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

I am running because I want to provide our students with a deep and broad education that will help them succeed in a future that will be full of change and that will demand of them more than any other generation in our history. 

I believe that the skills I bring and my prior experience on the Board – the understanding, knowledge and perspective it has given me – prepare me to help achieve this goal. 

I am by nature pragmatic and analytical. I work hard to understand each issue. I try to assess whether it will increase student learning and I try to determine its impact on our limited resources. 

During my tenure on the Board, I’ve seen the approaches of three very different superintendents. I’ve learned when to speak up and when to let things pass. There are times when the best response to a proposed program—no matter how strongly it is presented and no matter how many experts line up with it—is to say no. No, we need more time to think through the issue. No, we need more information. No, we need a deeper understanding of its implications. I’ve also learned that not every mistake that boils up to the Board requires that someone to be chastised. Able, well intentioned people can make mistakes—and can learn from them. They deserve an opportunity to do this. 

We are in the midst of a major, multi-year change in standards, curriculum and instruction that I hope will increase student learning. I have the experience to help facilitate this transition. I have the grit to demand evidence that it is actually improving student performance and I have the skills to evaluate this evidence. 

I ask for your vote so that I can help address this key transition and continue to serve you on the Board of Education.