Today, I post a candidate interview with Harold Nicholson Jr., candidate for the school board. I mailed candidate questionnaires to all those running in this year’s election and will post their responses in the order received. Below are my questions and Mr. Nicholson’s responses.
Could you please tell us about yourself and why you are running for the school board?
I have always felt a desire to help my community, born and raised in Gansevoort, but having lived in numerous places in the area, my wife and I settled in Whitehall and made this our hometown. I am running for a number of reasons, but mainly because I don’t represent any special interests other than the academic successes of all the students that attend Whitehall Central School District. I am running because I believe that we can return our school to the top, and that I am the man to help our school reach that goal.
Most people look back fondly on some aspects of their high-school education. Could you tell us what your favorite book from high school was? Why was it your favorite book and should it be required reading today?
As a child I was never one to just pick up a book, the outdoors provided more enjoyment than book work. One of the fist books I read was Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls. We would read it along with watching the movie and it was the first time that I realized that the book is always better than the movie. The ability for literature to invoke such an emotional response resonated with me and started me on the path of becoming a reader. Losing a pet, a loved one, or someone you know is something that we all must deal with at some time and this book had beautiful portrayals of this loss. I cry just thinking about it. I don’t believe in required reading because that book may not be everyone’s cup of tea. I think that the key is catering to every child’s individual interests or background to engage them more.
There were big issues decided by the school board this past year. What do you think about block scheduling and the way the football program was handled?
The School Board will always be making big decisions, and sometimes those decisions will be unpopular, and sometimes they will be liked, regardless of this the Board should be doing what the people electing them have asked. The Board should always make decisions with complete knowledge of everyone’s point of view. You cannot make informed decisions without taking every factor and voice into consideration. I think the answer to improving our overall academic achievement is attainable by removing gaps in the curriculum, giving students the help they need to succeed at the youngest ages possible because if we lose them when they are young it’s impossible to catch them up, and wisely spending our money on the tools that our teachers and students need to succeed.
Many of the students educated in the Whitehall school district talk about leaving Whitehall once they graduate and going elsewhere to look for work. Does the school board have a responsibility to cut spending to make the local taxing climate more receptive to jobs and growth?
The School Board has a personal and legal responsibility to all taxpayers and students to create a fiscally responsible budget that doesn’t over burden the tax payer, but doesn’t short our students either. I have scanned and posted the budget from my Facebook page, at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Harold-Nicholson-Jr-for-Whitehall-School-Board/1456833224577414?ref=hl I encourage everyone to look at it and form their own opinions. The key to growth in Whitehall is something that needs to be looked at holistically and in collaboration with the village and town boards. No one with kids will want to come if our school is failing, but no one will come if there aren’t jobs and basic necessities. We have so many opportunities here in Whitehall to make this area great again; we just need to be brave enough to believe in ourselves. One of the issues I would like to look at is taxing percentages and how those are implemented. I don’t think it’s fair that Dresden and Clemons pay the majority of the tax in Whitehall, and if we brought in more industry it would alleviate that issue.
The job market today is a highly competitive one. Should the school district be doing something that it is not already doing or should it be offering additional classes to see that its graduates have the skills and education necessary for success?
The first priority of the school should be to do what is best for our students. We cannot expect our students to succeed until we can actually get them to grade level. We should have the majority of our students testing at or above grade level, but in Whitehall our students more often test below grade level. This is unforgivable, we are failing our students. Socioeconomics plays some part in this, but I refuse to think it is the only factor. I have friends that came from nothing and succeeded. My parents owned a small business and I am an attorney. With the right tools and the right instruction any student can succeed and we have a responsibility to our students to give them those tools. Once we have righted these issues we should continue to push our students with classes in nanotechnology, programming, networking, public speaking, writing, and other classes that will give our students the edge, but we can’t get there until we get them succeeding.
What is the biggest issue that children face today and what realistically can the school board do to address it?
There are a number of issues that face today’s youth that as adults we didn’t deal with. One of these issues is social media. Facebook, Twitter, snapchat, these may not be things that you have heard of but our kids have. Whitehall was in the news just last year facing this issue because of “sexting”. There are also aspects of bullying that come into play as we have all seen in the news. We as a community need to create a safe place for our children to learn. This is of paramount importance because if a child does not feel safe and welcome how will they concentrate on learning? School should be a safe haven from bullying, hunger, and neglect. We should be fostering teamwork and understanding. We are a small community and fostering that community spirit begins at school.