Nancy Richards-Cavanaugh » Directory

Candidate Statement

I am seeking re-election to the School Committee this May to continue to work on behalf of Hopkinton students, families and staff in providing for the educational well-being of all of our students, while still meeting the fiduciary responsibility we hold to the town. Emerging from the pandemic and in the midst of a youth mental health crisis, our students are experiencing greater social and emotional needs and learning gaps than we have seen in the past. They need leadership and advocacy at the School Committee level and collaboration with our town partners to meet them where they are at right now. I believe my background and record of commitment to the town and schools position me best to provide this leadership.

My Background: I have lived in Hopkinton for nearly 25 years and, along with my husband, Neil, moved here before starting our family. We currently have two children enrolled in the Hopkinton Public Schools, one at the Middle School and one at the High School, and two children who are graduates of Hopkinton High School. I have had the benefit of working with the schools in various volunteer roles across all grades over the years, including as a classroom volunteer, an HPTA (now HPTO) Board member, and a Middle School Council member. I also served on the board of eHop and reported for the Hopkinton Independent for over 10 years, many of which were focussed on covering the schools and the School Committee. The lens of my experiences and engagement with the schools sparked an interest in serving the schools in a greater capacity and I was first elected to the School Committee in 2016 with a commitment that I hold dear today to work on the vast array of issues impacting our schools and our students.

I graduated in 1997 with a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Boston University and I have spent my professional career working in the mental health field. I am a psychiatric emergency services clinician and I conduct emergency mental health evaluations for youth and adults in the emergency room, the community and in my office. I have seen first hand the devastating impact the pandemic has had on youth mental health and I know some of the effects of the pandemic will continue to ripple through our schools for years to come. I have a history of working collaboratively on the School Committee with our state legislators and community organizations to increase programmatic opportunities and grant funding for our students and I believe such collaboration is especially vital to support our students in this increased time of need.

School Committee Tenure: I have served on the School Committee from 2016-2022 and I believe the breadth and depth of my experiences poises me to provide the leadership necessary on the issues facing our District in the coming years. During my tenure on the School Committee, I have served on many subcommittees, including as the Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC) liaison, the Hopkinton Youth Commission Liaison, the Irvine Todaro Property Advisory Group, and the Turf Field Oversight subcommittee. I have continued to serve for the past 3 years on the Bridge, which I helped establish, a subcommittee aiming to connect social economic needs of students with resources in the community to decrease barriers for students to focus in school. I am the current chair of the School Committee and I am on the negotiating team currently working on bargaining 3 separate union contracts in the District. I also work with the Budget Advisory Group and I am the liaison to the Select Board. Recently, I became the liaison to the English Learner Parent Advisory Council (ELPAC) and I am pleased to be able to work more closely with parents of children who are English language learners. I have not shied away from difficult decisions and complex problems facing our students, and if re-elected, I will commit to continue working on the diverse issues that face the School Committee with the transparency and community engagement that have been hallmarks of my work on the committee.

We know that success for each of our students may look different and even our District’s outstanding state and national rankings don’t tell the whole story. I have shown over my tenure that I am not a one or two issue candidate— I remain committed to diving in with equal passion for the many issues confronting our students and educators today. Here are a couple of issues I want to highlight which will continue to merit attention in the years ahead:

Growth in the District, driven in part by the excellent reputation of our schools, will continue to be a pressing issue for the schools to address, both in terms of our physical plant as well as our operating expenses. Enrollment projections indicate that the Hopkinton Public Schools will welcome an additional 700 students over the next 10 years. The Elementary School Building Committee is currently working with the Massachusetts School Building Authority on feasibility to address the constraints of the Elmwood School. As a School Committee and as a community, we need to look beyond Elmwood to determine how the District can best programmatically and physically meet these needs in a way that the tax payers can afford.

Bullying and bias-related incidents, During the pandemic, we saw an increase, not just on the national landscape, but here in Hopkinton of bullying and bias-related incidents. The divisions we have seen politically have trickled down to our students. The School Committee has been working through a sub-committee this year to update our Bullying Prevention and Intervention Plan— all students need to feel safe in school in order to learn and thrive— but we need to increase collaborative work with the community to help increase the culture of inclusion, regardless of race, religion, economic status, gender identification, sexual orientation, ability, political views or other. Hopkinton is stronger when we work together.

Mental Health– Over the past 2 years, our youth have seen an exacerbation of the mental health crisis. I see this first hand at work, and I hear from too many people here in Hopkinton, that students are experiencing increased anxiety and depression and thoughts of suicide. Isolation of the pandemic, coupled with a decreased availability of higher levels of mental health care, has shifted more of the frontline care of our youth to the schools. The School Committee has added positions such as adjustment counselors and a Director of Social and Emotional Learning to help our students, but we need to continue to press forward and increase collaboration with local resources to ensure we are meeting the needs of our students. Additionally, we need to continue to expand opportunities for students to find their own unique paths to success— through increased support of Career, Vocational, Technical Educational offerings at the High School, extra-curricular programming, and hands on skills. Opportunities for students to feel successful in their own authentic interests supports emotional health.

I look forward to the opportunity to speak with more of you directly during the campaign season ahead and I respectfully ask for your vote for School Committee at the May 16 Annual Town Election.