Cannon: Concord Board Of Education Run About Rebuilding Trust

CONCORD, NH — Like so many Concord residents who decide to put themselves on the ballot for any of the many citizen political races that are offered, Gina Cannon wasn't going to run for a board of education seat this year. Her husband, Shawn Hackshaw, a long-time city resident, unsuccessfully ran himself a number of years ago, and with a daughter in the district, she was aware of school issues in the city. She attended a board meeting earlier this year, attempting to speak to then-School Superintendent Terri Forsten about another issue in the district. And then, she heard about the Primo "Howie" Leung teacher-student rape debacle though and watched the chaos unfolding month after month, and she decided to get involved.

"I didn't ever mean to do this," Cannon said. "It was not my desire to ... I'm not artful; I speak what's in my heart. This is no stepping stone and I'm not doing it for the prestige … I'm only in it for the kids."

The non-practicing attorney said her run was expanded transparency, where legally viable, as well as rebuilding trust with an infuriated community, were her prime motivations. Cannon said the school district was "part of the backbone" of a community, not unlike police, fire, the library, a hospital, and without trust being rebuilt, the community will always be divided and fractured.

"The board knew how upset the community was about this issue," Cannon said. "They should, in my opinion, have taken the time to explain what they could and couldn't release and why."

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There will always be predators in the world; there are bad people in the world, she stated. The problem though is how the school board handled the allegations. The public was smart enough to understand that accusations, allegations, and evidence needed to be vetted and explored in private, in order to protect the innocent, she said. Leung, Cannon added, had not been found guilty of any crime yet. Tom Sica, the principal of Concord High School, who is on administrative leave, "didn't mess up until it is shown that he did," whether that is in a hearing or that has or hasn't happened, needed to be explained.

"If that is what we are all waiting for, tell us," Cannon said. "Explain to us, what and why, that was a huge issue."

Board interaction with others involved in the district, like teachers, union representatives, and students, on an equal footing with administration, needed to be expanded during meetings. Undoing some of the mindset of previous administrations should also be part of the board's focus moving forward, she said.

Cannon knows being on the board will be a lot of work. When she was in high school in New Jersey, she served as a student representative on the school board, city council, and police advisory board. That's been her only experience with public boards. But Cannon is ready for the challenge and the work. She expects a lot of late nights and pots of coffee, she said with slight glee in her voice.

Part of that work is to create some form of a redacted version of the internal investigation into Leung and how and why he was allowed to stay in his classroom, in order to calm the nerves of parents who don't really know if their kids are safe in SAU 8 schools.

"There will be an enormous community backlash (without it)," she said. "There needs to be a thorough evaluation of what went wrong … (so) it never ever happens again like this. The school district made a huge mess out of this. And, if nothing else, learn from the mess that we made and don't ever make it again. I don't see how the community can put faith and trust into the school board and the school district without some transparency."

The Rundlett Middle School project was another issue the board would be needing to deal with soon.

Cannon said she understood the need to upgrade but part of the school wasn't that old and she didn't think now was the time to build. She went back to study the issue, as well as the elementary school consolidation project, and the community was promised not to build any future projects until the bond for the elementary schools was paid off. That won't occur until 2041 and there are currently no matching funds from the state or federal government for a new middle school.

"We can't afford (it) and we're still paying off (the other project)," she said.

Cannon said the public was told, at the time, that the Dame School had asbestos and mold issues and it couldn't be renovated as a school. Then, not long after the new schools were built, Dame was converted into a community center – with no issues at all. The lack of being honest about Dame, years ago, had also contributed to the distrust of the board and district in the community, while forcing children on buses from one side of I-393 to the other when they used to walk to school. The fact that dishwashers in the relatively new elementary schools needed to be replaced so soon, was puzzling, too, she said.

Curriculum is also on Cannon's mind including expanded science classes and a required class for high-schoolers that she nicknamed "Adulting 101," basic things to prepare for the outside world, including how to cook and do laundry, how to fill out a tax form, job application, and balance a checkbook, as well as credit cards and debt, and a household budget.

"There's a hook to that," she said. "Kids, if they understand, that they are not going to be able to afford the lifestyle that they want, if they don't take their schooling seriously … to get to the job that pays enough … that may be a conversation that wants to happens a whole lot sooner than senior year."

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