James Thibault: Time for a change during upcoming school board elections

To The Daily Sun,

On Monday, Nov. 8, the Winnisquam Regional School Board passed a strict mask mandate for students across the district in an emergency session with little public notice and no public comment. The next week, Nov. 15, they amended the policy at the public meeting, making masks optional regardless of circumstances for the high school. Of course, this still excludes the middle and elementary school kids, but it is a momentous step in the right direction

This change of heart by the board was after two members of the public spoke, myself included, out in opposition to the policy in the public comment portion of the Nov. 15 meeting. This goes to show that we can still hold our elected representatives accountable for their actions and their policies, and there are two ways to do this.

The first is to speak out either in support or in opposition of policies when they come up, or bring them up if you feel like they aren’t being given enough light. If you speak up for it enough and get more people to speak up, change will come. If it’s a school issue, contact your administrators, your school board members, and even teachers expressing your concern. Typically, they will listen. If it’s a policy issue, contact your representatives. However, the most important part is to do it as directly as possible. Letters and emails are easy enough to ignore, but going to board meetings, scheduling appointments with administration, those things cannot be ignored as easily and it’s easier to get your point across. The other important aspect, especially with things like school boards, is to hold them accountable at the ballot box. New Hampshire school board elections are coming up soon for a lot of districts, so if you’re displeased with how your board has been running things, vote them out. A lot of people don’t typically care very much about small elections like these, but the most change, and the things that most directly impact you, happen at the local level. If you don’t exercise your right to vote in these small elections, these incumbents get to stay in their spots, nothing gets changed, and feeling more secure in their positions, they might crack down on the policies you may not like them for in the first place. This change by the Winnisquam School Board is evidence of the power of our rights as Americans, and it’s beautiful.

Simply by speaking out enough and exercising our ability to choose our representatives, we can create the change we want to see.

James Thibault

Tilton