Taxes, Teacher Rape Case Prompts Retiree To Run For School Board

CONCORD, NH — A newcomer to city politics said escalating property taxes, shocking headlines, and the chaos and upheaval in the Concord School District, were just a few of the reasons why she was running for the District A board of education seat in Concord. Patrice Myers, an Air Force veteran, former state employee, and retiree said after watching all that was going on, meeting with officials, and speaking with voters, she knew she could contribute not only to the wellbeing of children stabilizing the school board during difficult times. She said she has been surprised by the response the board had to the public in the wake of the Primo "Howie" Leung teacher-student rape case and then, the credentialing scandal that was revealed afterward.

After filing to run for the seat, Myers agreed to meet with school officials for an overview of the system, its functions – a customary meeting administrators offer to new candidates in case they need budget information, any other documentation, or have questions. During that meeting, one thing struck Myers: How giddy administrators appeared to be about the autonomy the school district had to raise taxes and spend money, without any oversight other than board members being elected.

"If there is no oversight, it's no wonder (staffers) weren't credentialed. It's what our governmental system is based on … the more I found out the more I thought, 'Wow,'" her voice trailing off, shaking her head.

Read all of Concord NH Patch's election coverage inside our 2019 Concord Election Guide.

The District A seat represents Wards 1, 2, 3, and 4. It runs from Ward 1 south to the north side of District 5 Road, Little Pond Road, and Penacook Street, Liberty to Centre streets east, to the Merrimack River and then, north along the river to Penacook.

Myers has lived in the city close to two decades after moving back to the states in the mid-1990s after serving overseas, where she was working in linguistics. She later worked for the state department of justice, on the drug task force, and department of safety, in the criminal records division. Myers currently leads the board of directors of her homeowner's association in a complex off Fisherville Road, so she has some experience working with boards, she said.

Myers has been stunned by some of the property tax bills she has seen noting that the school side of the ledger is always more than the city and county – always increasing more and more. She understands the need for revenue for the school district but stabilization was needed because Concord residents, including many retirees, were losing their homes. Myers wondered about the high cost of facilities in the district and was curious about whether or not upkeep and maintenance weren't as efficient as they could be. She compared it to owning a home; it may nickel and dime you but you don't have to replace the whole building, which made a new Rundlett Middle School project concerning.

"(Maintenance is) a lot less expensive than having to replace the whole thing," she said. "You don't throw your house away because you can't maintain it; you fix it."

Myers said teaching children to respect school buildings, maybe as a part of the curriculum, might alter the behavior of the handful of students who sometimes cause damage to buildings. Critical thinking, logic, etiquette, research, and teaching students "to be meaningful members of society," were focuses of her role as a parent with her daughter and should be topics explored by the board. Schools should be reinforcing the skills and values parents are trying to instill in their children, Myers stated. Technology, she said, was great, but are the students prepared if the Internet goes down or a computer crashed?

"Education should be education," Myers said. "Academics … that is what (schools) are designed to do."

Having worked in criminal justice, Myers was stunned by the Leung arrest and the disarray and turmoil that followed. The case may have a human trafficking element to it, she surmised, since he is accused of grooming more than one girl, was encouraging them to cross state lines to participate in a summer program in the Bay State, and that there may be more victims involved in the case.

"How do you miss that?," she asked. "Why didn't they catch it in Massachusetts? Was there anything more going on there? Red flags … you have to pay attention to them. They might be nothing but it's better to know about them or at least investigate them to discover they are nothing. It is a huge problem and I'm glad he was caught."

While focused on education locally, Myers is also looking at the bigger picture. It was not that long ago the United States was ranked No. 1 in education around the world, she said, when it came to high school and college educations, churning experts in math and science and innovators like Elon Musk, who she admired. Now, the country was ranked in the middle of the pack of most industrialized nations. While she is only one potential school board member, "these are our leaders … these are the people who are going to make policy, make decisions, running the country." It was worth ensuring there was excellence in education for Concord school children, Myers stated.

"There's a lot to fix … and you have to start somewhere … and I'm ready to take that on," she said.

Got a news tip? Send it to Tony Schinella at tony.schinella@patch.com.

View videos at https://www.youtube.com/user/tonyschinella.

Follow the New Hampshire Patch Politics Twitter account @NHPatchPolitics for all our campaign coverage.