"𝗛𝗶 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲, 𝗺𝘆 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗶 𝗠𝗰𝗚o𝘄𝗮𝗻. I am running for school board in Ward 3, Seat A. I'm about to finish up my first term on school board.

About myself, I have a husband and a three-year-old. I was a seventh grade science teacher at RMS for six years and then I left after Breit was born to stay home with him.

Some hobbies I enjoy doing are gardening, running, skiing, hiking, biking. Really, anything outside, that's where you'll find me. I have my mers in public policy and analytics and I focus primarily within public education in New Hampshire, so I'm pretty well 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 in that.

The school board is a nonpartisan position, so I like to approach each issue with an open mind and listen to all sides and arguments prior to making my decision on how I want to vote. Of course, there are times when, you know, you're really passionate about an issue, so you already have your mind made up. An example for me is when we have beneficial new positions proposed—anything to support staff and students, I'm going to be all about.

The community has made it very clear that they want more transparency as to what's going on. And while some issues and discussions can't be public due to 91A laws, such as personnel issues, I strive to make sure that anything I bring up is in public. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘵. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 how decisions are made and who is making them and how those decisions affect your children.

It's clear that our test scores also need to come up, and the best way to do that is by supporting our teachers. As I was recently in the district, I have firsthand knowledge of how we can support the teachers, although I do acknowledge that I left two years ago and things have shifted a little bit since then.

I think the biggest thing for me is to make sure we are supporting all of our staff. What can we do to help them make their jobs easier? How can we best support their students? That in turn makes the students more successful if we're supporting the staff. I think there needs to be more emphasis on supporting the staff, which also helps our climate and culture. When staff feel supported and feel like someone has their backs, then everything shifts to become more positive.

I believe in the power of public education, and I believe our students deserve the very best we can give them. I care deeply about our kids, our teachers, and the future of our community. I'm running to serve with an open mind and a commitment to putting staff and students first in every decision.

Again, my name is Shauni McGowan and I'm running for school board in Ward 3, Seat A. Please reach out to me with any questions or concerns or comments. I'm always happy to talk to anybody."

Notes:

The Public Information and Community Engagement Office for the City of Rochester is pleased to announce that the Meet the Candidates video series is now available for viewing ahead of the upcoming Municipal Election.

The nonpartisan series introduces voters to candidates for Mayor, City Council, School Board, and Police Commission. Each candidate was given up to three minutes to speak directly to voters, share their priorities, and present their personal message.

To ensure fairness and transparency, all videos were recorded live in a single take, without edits, hosts, or predetermined questions.

The views and opinions expressed in the following video are those of the candidate and do not necessarily reflect the views of the City of Rochester, its elected officials or staff. The content is presented as part of a public information effort to provide equal opportunity for all candidates to address the community.

Transcript was taken directly from the GovTV website closed captioning. AI added bold/italic fonts for emphasis and separated paragraphs where appropriate.

About me:

• Taught at Rochester Middle School from 2017-2023.

• Yearbook advisor 2017-2023

• 7th grade science curriculum advisor from 2021-2023

• Master’s in Public Policy and Analytics from UNH. Focused on education policy.

• Capstone was about education funding in NH, focusing on property-poor and property-rich school districts.

• Married with a 1-year-old son. We have 2 dogs, 2 cats, 1 tortoise.

• Avid hiker and skier

Issues:

• Through my years of teaching at RMS I am familiar with the broad spectrum of Rochester student needs and will advocate for common sense decisions to best help the students.

• We need to retain our wonderful teachers and recruit more teachers to continue providing the best education we can for our students.

• We need to better utilize our funding so that all students in Rochester have a fair and adequate education. Classrooms need more resources!

Question & Answer¹

Q: "What do you mean by "common sense" decisions?" 

A: So often we see things that don’t actually address the root of the problem, it’s more of a Band-Aid fix. I want to actually look at the root of the problem and think about what the best way to fix it is instead of just slapping on a short term Band-Aid fix. 

I think one of the best ways to try and fix the problem at the root is to get teacher input. When I was in the classroom there were many decisions made that just didn’t make sense and didn’t fix the problem, partly because the people making them weren’t in the classroom and didn’t know what would work best for the students. Getting the opinions of teachers would be beneficial for everyone! 

Q: "How would you want to retain teachers and recruit more?" 

A: I think, right now, we need to start by fixing Rochester’s reputation within the public school system of NH. Many teachers that work in other districts are aware of the issues in Rochester and don’t want to come here or want to leave to go to better districts. The biggest thing is support for the teachers. They need to feel like they have support behind them. It’s really hard to do your job when everyone else is working against you. I think there needs to be better communication within the district. We need to figure out a way to pay teachers more. The salary scale at surrounding districts of similar size is higher. Those are just a few things. 

Q: "Why couldn't (the Rochester School District) retain you? Bear in mind, I'm not knocking you for being a (Stay-at-Home Mother). I'm just curious, since you bring up retention, what, if anything, could've been done in your case?" 

A: This was a really hard decision for me! I love teaching and I loved my students. Childcare was probably one of the biggest factors- we are still on waiting lists for daycare! I was also feeling burnt out and had the opportunity to take some time away. I think had I felt more support from administration I may have considered staying. 

Q: "When you say "better utilize our funding," that implies that schools have money, but are just mismanaging it. Is that your feeling? If so, how would you want to change that? If not, how would you advocate for more resources?"

A: I think that we could be more mindful about how we are using our money. There are programs that we have implemented that haven’t been very impactful that we probably could have gone without. We can’t change the amount of money we are getting from the state without the state changing their funding formula, but we can look at what we do have and reorganize it. 

For example, the budget for science at RMS was a smidge over $1/ student, and $1 is really hard to do science with! I think a big piece would be advocating at the state level for a change of the funding formula (which there has been a big push the last 3 years after a commission was formed to study NH school funding). I have done some data analysis contracting work with an organization to help with pushing for better school funding in the past. 

Q: "What are things that schools in the city do well that you'd like to see kept going?" 

A: I think that our current staff is very dedicated to their students. I want to see those relationships continue. The current staff is really supportive of each other, which I would want to see continued. We have an awesome vocational school! The middle school is starting an advisory period this year, which will hopefully be successful. I think our guidance departments help our homeless students with as many resources as possible. They always seem to be pulling something out of their sleeve to help out a student in need! 

Q: "What other things, besides what was mentioned here, would you want to see changed?"

A: Something I wanted to do at the middle school, but didn’t have the bandwidth while there, was trying to implement a composting system to reduce the amount of trash used. It could be a trial run in 1 school and go from there, or a larger thing, but I think reducing the amount of trash would be beneficial for our community as a whole! I would love to see an evaluation done regarding the HVAC systems to see about updating/modifying. 

View the Candidate's Responses in the 2023 Foster's Candidate Survey by Clicking Here!

¹ Q&A taken from "You Know You're From Rochester" Facebook Group post https://www.facebook.com/groups/253012774723734/permalink/24154454057486271/