My name is Jared Nicholson. I’m in my first term on the School Committee and I’m excited to be running for reelection.
I’m excited to share what we’ve accomplished in the last two years, working with my colleagues on the Committee and the Lynn Public Schools team. Here are some examples:
- We have pushed for the full funding of our schools in the eyes of the state, and we have reason to be optimistic that our budget does that this year.
- We came to an agreement with the Lynn Teachers Union that is fair to all sides and moves the District forward.
- We’ve made progress on building pathways for students to college and jobs, for example we launched a program at Lynn Tech for students across the district to learn job skills afterschool using the resources at Lynn Tech.
- We have begun to roll out a new social-emotional learning curriculum starting in the early grades.
- We started a wrestling team in Lynn at the middle school and high school varsity level.
- We launched a partnership with the North Share Area Rape Crisis Center to teach high schoolers about consent to help stop those problems before they start.
- To address the opioids crisis, we trained coaches on pain management after an injury and distributed information on outside resources to LPS staff.
So it’s been exciting to share those accomplishments and others. Another reason why I’m excited is the opportunity to talk to voters. I’ve been out knocking on lots of doors. As you might expect, the number one question I get on the doors this year is about the physical state of our schools, the need to build new ones and what happened last year with the school vote.
Look, I’m involved because I care deeply about public education. My mother was an early education teacher for over thirty years. I went to public schools myself. My wife Katherine and I want to send our future kids to public schools.
I’m involved in education through the School Committee because I believe in democracy. Believing in democracy means you have to respect to will of the voters. It’s our job to take the feedback we get from our constituents, from the ballot box, digest that feedback, and lead.
The need for new schools hasn’t gone away. I’m not saying I could tell you right now exactly how we’ll get new schools, exactly where they’ll go and exactly how we’ll pay for them. But we need to learn from what happened and work through those questions together.
As an attorney with a business background, as someone who is passionate about public education and respectful of the democratic process, as someone with a record of leadership who is already achieving results, and as a Spanish speaker who is accessible and responsive, I believe that I have a lot to contribute to that work.
That’s why I’m running for reelection and I need your help. Thank you for your support!