Educator to Run for School Board [VIDEO]

Former Concord High School teacher and coach Barbara Higgins is mounting a campaign to gain one of the three at-large school board seats in November.

According to Higgins, the decision to run was both emotional and principled, based on her time in the district and public policy initiatives she would like to pursue.

For all but 13 years of her life, Higgins has been involved in the Concord public school system, as a student, teacher, coach, parent, and taxpayer. As a fifth generation member of the district, Higgins said she had a “strong, emotional attachment to the district.”

“These past few months, having been not teaching (and) not having an official role in the district in any way, except as a parent, I really felt that I wanted to be involved and maintain my connection,” Higgins said. “It dawned on me one day, on a whim, that I could run for school board.”

Higgins said she thought about the whim long and hard, and then, decided to jump in. She joked that often, when she has a hard time sleeping, like a lot of people, she watches the school board meetings, noting that while some are “incredibly boring,” others would get her “all fired up.” But what Higgins has noticed is that there is a lot of hard work going on, with members attempting to create a quality school system.

“I am really impressed by what appears to be an honest effort people make, and the hard work people put in on the school board, to make decisions for our kids,” she said, “meeting after meeting after meeting, the committees, arguing with the public that is educated, uneducated, emotional, stoic, all at the same time.”

But during the past year, as Higgins watched the meetings, she has tried to think about all aspects of the school system – from the kids, to the custodians, crossing guards, secretaries, and teachers – and she realized that only one of the school board members had spent any time with students as a career.

“A lot of those folks on the board are attorneys, have had children go through the schools, or have had children they have sent to private schools,” she said. "But aside from Clint [Cogswell], who spent a number of years in Massachusetts teaching third-grade … it’s citizens from a variety of different jobs that have nothing to do with education. If this is the group of people making decisions on behalf of teachers and students, then, I feel that there should be teachers on the board, people that have spent only time in a school district as a teacher.”

Higgins said it was true that Dr. Christine Rath, superintendent of the schools, who advises the board, did have a doctorate in Education (“she was actually my college student teaching advisor, and a very good one, I might add”), it wasn’t really enough to have so few board members with actual classroom experience.

Higgins noted that the board did have some stellar members, including Tara Reardon, who has long-ties to the community, not unlike Higgins. She also commended Cogswell, who was also a principal in the Concord system for many years, as “a consummate professional.”

“It’s all people, who show up for little to no money, to work hard for the people they represent,” she said.

Higgins, who is working on a special graduate program, aiming towards earning her doctorate, believes serving on the board would help her understand another part of the system, especially after so many years as a teacher and coach. If elected, she would like to serve on committees dealing with curriculum and finance. Higgins said she would like to get a better sense of where the district’s money is being spent.

“I’m a taxpayer,” she said, “I pay a lot in taxes for my home … I want the best for my children. But I (also) have parents on fixed incomes. They shouldn’t be taxed into poverty for projects or initiatives that aren’t the best bang for the buck.”

Higgins has two  children in elementary school. She said a big part of her opposition to the school projects was not just the destruction of historic buildings but the accountability of the usage of the funds. It is easy to be critical of the board without walking in their shoes and understanding where all the money goes and how line items are funded, she said.

Some of the negatives about being involved in municipal electoral offices or even volunteer committees was the time commitment made to serving. Higgins admitted this but said that anyone who knows her knows that on top of raising her children and teaching, she coached three seasons for 13 years, even while pregnant and nursing her daughters.

“I go into it with my eyes wide open,” she said.

Higgins, who was a very popular teacher at Concord High School before resigning earlier this year, said despite her recent departure from the district, she had a good relationship with many people who still work with the Concord public school system.

“The people that I have had occasion to be involved with are supportive and love me,” she said. “There are many, many people in the district who feel very excited that I would consider running for school board. I have not had any negative response from anyone about running.”

As a first time candidate, Higgins understands it will be an uphill battle. But she plans on building on her large network of family and friends, including literally hundreds of people that she either taught or coached, to mount a credible citywide campaign to win one of the three seats. Higgins noted that the other day, a former track camp student waved to her while she was jogging and she realized that being on the school board really came down to doing the best thing for the kids.

“Those are the moments that I think to myself, Well, hopefully, I can really be an advocate for that little boy on the school board,” she said, “’Cause really, he has to rely on those nine people to make decisions that will make his school experience the best that it can be.”

Other candidates

The three at-large candidates ending their first terms as board members are Jack Dunn, Dr. Kevin Fleming, and Eric Williams. Of the three, only Dunn has made a decision to run for a second three-year term. In an email, Williams said he was undecided about whether he would run again. Fleming noted in an email that he too was undecided but was leaning against running for re-election.

Filing for school board candidacy historically starts after Labor Day. The cost is $5 and paperwork can be filed at clerk Roger Phillips’ office, at the intersection of Pine and Pleasant streets.