Editor’s note: Following the publication of this article, Patrick Sadlemire announced he was dropping out of the race for Boscawen’s 3-year seat, citing “a change in personal circumstances.”

Voters will elect four new representatives to Merrimack Valley’s 11-member school board next week. 

Five seats are up for grabs and only one incumbent – board chair Tracy Bricchi of Penacook – is running for re-election.

Three of the five seats are contested. 

In Boscawen, Stacie Jarvis and Patrick Sadlemire are running for the town’s full term, while Tom Laliberte and Gary Tillman are running to finish out the final year of a term following the resignation of Loren Martin in January. (A third candidate, Ryan Gunn, filed to run in that race but has since withdrawn.)

In Salisbury, Louise Andrus and Lorna Carlisle are running for a seat currently held by Peggy Jones-Blanchard, who is not seeking re-election.

In Webster, David Nesbitt is running unopposed for a seat currently held by Erik Hansen, who is not seeking re-election.

In Penacook, Tracy Bricchi is running unopposed.

Election day is Thursday, March 6. Voters can cast their ballots for candidates at Merrimack Valley High School from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. The district’s annual meeting will begin at 7 p.m.

The Monitor spoke with each of the candidates running in a contested race about their background and important issues facing the district and state:

 

BOSCAWEN 3-YEAR SEATStacie Jarvis

Background: Jarvis, 37, works remotely at a technology company and previously worked at the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation and Merrimack County Savings Bank. She has a daughter at Merrimack Valley High School and has lived in Boscawen since 2021. Before that, she lived in Loudon.

Priorities: Jarvis said she would lean on her financial background to look for areas in the budget where the district could be more efficient, perhaps through applying for grants. She also hopes to address the lack of state funding for career and technical education, as well as district-level cyber-security vulnerabilities.

On the Issues:

The district’s $2 million deficit: Jarvis said she has reviewed the last two years' worth of school board meetings and has come to believe there are some public misconceptions about what happened.  She said one of the factors that caused the deficit was an “explosion of special [education] costs,” and she believes Superintendent Randy Wormald “acted immediately” when he discovered the financial issues.

Next year’s budget: Jarvis said that while she was unsure about the 7% budget increase when it was unveiled, she’s had her questions answered and will support it. If the budget is reduced, she doesn’t know what she would propose cutting.

State spending on education: Jarvis believes the state isn’t adequately funding public education.

Education freedom account program: “I think that any parent should send their student to any school that they want to and I fully support that,” Jarvis said. “However, if it’s going to be at the expense of reducing state funding to public schools like Merrimack Valley School District, I think we need to find a solution because the vouchers are taking away from our public schools.”

 

Patrick Sadlemire

Background: Sadlemire, 40, works at a company that does burials and is a veteran of the National Guard. He has four children, two of whom attend Boscawen Elementary School, and he has lived in Boscawen since 2019.

Priorities: Sadlmire said he would need to immerse himself in the role before determining how he can have an impact. He is potentially interested in focusing on nutrition in school lunches.

On the Issues: 

The district’s $2 million deficit: Sadlemire said there wasn’t anything specific he would have done differently with respect to handling the district’s financial issues over the last few months.

Next year’s budget: Sadlemire said he hadn’t decided yet whether he would support the proposed budget. He said he would review the budget prior to next week’s vote.

State spending on education: Sadlemire said the focus should be on how the money the district receives is used, not on how much it gets.

Education freedom account program: Sadlemire, who was homeschooled for a portion of his education, expressed support for the school choice program. “If it takes money out of the schools’ pockets, I think that might force us to be more creative on how we generate money,” he said.

 

BOSCAWEN – 1-YEAR SEATTom Laliberte

Background: Laliberte, 58, is currently an administrator in the Bedford School District and previously served as the principal of the Loudon Elementary School. He serves on Boscawen’s advisory budget committee and building task force and has four children who are students in or have graduated from the Merrimack Valley School District. Laliberte has lived in Boscawen about 12 years.

Priorities: Laliberte has three priorities: academics, transparency and fiscal responsibility. Citing declining rates of achievement nationally, he said it would be up to educators to determine academic growth areas.

On the Issues:

The district’s $2 million deficit: Laliberte said that while he doesn’t know all the details of what caused the deficit, he would have been “forthcoming” about the issue when it arose – though he stressed that without being in the room, he was not necessarily faulting the board or administration for how the issue was disclosed.

Next year’s budget: Laliberte said that, while he wouldn’t support a budget that “hurts educators and students,” he has real concerns about the tax impact of the proposed $51.7 million budget for next year. He said that if the budget were reduced, he would consider waiting on proposed capital improvement projects as well as eliminating from the budget several positions that the district does not intend to fill.

State spending on education: Laliberte said that while he would like more state support for public education, he can only work with what the district receives currently.

Education freedom account program: Laliberte said he’s “worried about the amount of money that's going to be taken from the district to fund students who leave.” 

 

Gary Tillman

Background: Tillman, 76, was appointed to the school board in January to fill an open seat for the final two months of the term. He serves on seven committees, including the advisory budget committee, alongside his opponent in this race, Laliberte. Tillman works as an engineer at Novanta and has lived in Boscawen since 2019.

Priorities: Tillman said his primary priority is accountability. He wants to ensure administrators’ contracts contain benchmarks that they must hit in order to receive raises. He also believes the district should conduct regular financial audits.

On the Issues:

The district’s $2 million deficit: Tillman said that had he been on the board, he would have pushed for the district’s overspending “to be disclosed as soon as they found out about it.” 

 “There had to be checks and balances in place somewhere and somebody broke the rules and I would have pushed for it to be known to everybody right away,” he said.

Next year’s budget: Tillman said he will support next year’s proposed budget. “It’s a reasonable advance above what we have last year and we got to make sure that our school kids are taken care of and all the facilities are taken care of to make sure they have a safe and warm space to do their learning in,” he said.

If the budget is reduced, Tillman said he had “no clue” regarding what he would propose to cut.

State spending on education: Tillman does not believe current state spending on education is adequate.

Education freedom account program: Tillman is opposed to the school choice program. “If [families] want to go elsewhere, they can go elsewhere and they can pay their own bill,” he said. “We need to improve Merrimack Valley, which we can’t if all our money is going to other schools.”

 

SALISBURY – 3-YEAR SEATLouise Andrus

Background: Andrus, a 40-year Salisbury resident, is a third-term state representative. She serves on Salisbury’s budget committee, has three daughters who graduated from Merrimack Valley High and has run unsuccessfully for the school board multiple times. Andrus is retired from a career as an office manager and bookkeeper. She declined to share her age.

Priorities: Andrus said she would prioritize math and reading and ensure the school district was teaching phonics as part of its literacy curriculum. She would also focus on the district’s finances.

On the Issues:

The district’s $2 million deficit: Andrus said she is very upset with how administrators handled disclosing the district’s deficit, and she believes board members should have been more aware of what was going on. She would push for a forensic audit.

Next year’s budget: Andrus said she will not vote for the proposed budget because “the taxpayer is not able to sustain the increase.” She said she hasn’t made up her mind with respect to how much of a reduction she would support.

If the budget were reduced, she said she would look to try to renegotiate the district’s health insurance plan.

State spending on education: Andrus said she believes the state spends an adequate amount on education.

“The more you give them, the more everybody spends,” she said.

Education freedom account program: Andrus said that while she is in “total support” of the program, she doesn’t currently support making it universal because of the state’s budget crunch.

 

Lorna Carlisle

Background: Carlisle, 67, is a Merrimack Valley High graduate. She is retired from a career working in sales in the electronics industry and currently serves on Salisbury’s budget committee, alongside Andrus. She has lived in Salisbury since 2004.

Priorities: Carlisle wants to “defend public education.” She would look to reduce the cost to the district of employee benefits and reduce transportation time for students who attend special education programs out-of-district. She would hope to serve on the contract negotiations committee.

On the Issues:

The district’s $2 million deficit: While Carlisle said she would need to learn more about the district’s finances prior to making any recommendations, she would ensure that administrators are tracking their expenditures and revenue throughout the year.

Next year’s budget: Carlisle will support next year’s proposed budget. She noted that many of the drivers of the budget increases are contractually and legally-mandated.

State funding: Carlisle said she doesn’t believe the state is adequately funding public education.

Education freedom account program: Carlisle is opposed to the EFA program and characterized the push to make the program open to all as “unconscionable.” 

“We have to support our public schools. It’s for the common good,” Carlisle said. 

 Editor’s note: This article has been updated to clarify the date voting takes place. It is Thursday, March 6.