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THANK YOU! Because of your support, we did what no other challenger opposing an incumbent did. We won!
Now, the hard work begins. It’s time to serve and your voices will be more important than ever. Be sure to stay in touch!
To contribute, (funds to communicate with parents and taxpayers well continue to be necessary)
please make checks payable to:
Campaign for Excellence and mail to
Rich Girard, 283 Orange St., Manchester, NH 03104
THANK YOU!
Why I’m Running
Well, I’m a radio and TV talk show host who has said a lot about why I’m running. For the sake of expedience, I’m going to link to interviews and monologues that explain why I’m running and what I’m about and ask you take a few minutes to listen.
In short, from my media perch, I have seen district administrators act with intention to withhold information not just from the parents and the public, but also from the school board to which it answers. Knowing what I know after a quarter century following and participating in local government, I won’t be so easy to get around. Knowing what questions to ask and when to ask them is key and it’s something I was known for even before I entered broadcast media.
Transparency, public dialogue, parental rights, administrator accountability, local control and common sense solutions are my agenda.
Please:
- Watch my 3 minute speech on Manchester Public TV
- Read my campaign brochure
- Click here for my bio
- Click here for the explanation I gave on my radio show as to why I decided to run on the day I filed. Here, I explained my thoughts on the role of elected officials in general and school board members in particular
- Click here for the explanation of my candidacy on my TV show (forward to minute 38)
- Click here for my interview on Inside Education with Sid Glassner in which I explain why I’m running
- Click here to learn about my candidate interview with the Manchester Education Association. I hit most of the high points from the hour long interview and post all the documents, including my speaker notes, that I shared. (See, I believe in transparency!)
- Click here for my interview on GROKTalk, the online podcast from NH’s leading conservative blog. Click here for my second!
- Click here for my first interview on In It Together with Lori Lynn Greene. Click here for my second!
- Click here for my second interview on Inside Education with Sid Glassner in which Sid quizzes me on several issues.
For a sign, to volunteer (we need people to drop literature, send mail, hold signs at the polls) please email me at Info@GirardatLarge.com
On the Issues
One of the reasons I decided to create a page on this Web site to support my campaign for school board at-Large is because I have covered educational issues in Manchester and other communities, among a plethora of other local and state issues, extensively. If there’s an issue you’re concerned with, where I stand is probably already here, somewhere.
Smarter Balanced Assessment? Opposed!
Common Core National Standards? Opposed!
State or district directed “diagnostic assessments?” Opposed!
21st Century Skills? What exactly are they, if not a bogus red herring talking point to push an agenda? Opposed!
Recently adopted union contract with Manchester Education Association? Opposed!
- click here for my explanation on Oh My BLOG! (Way too many radio segments to link to on this one!)
- click here for television show, complete with PowerPoint presentations.
- click here for all available documentation on the contract.
Policies that allow, and arguably require, kids with head lice to remain in school with live bugs in their head? Must overturn!
Parents’ right to refuse non-academic testing, like Smarter Balanced? Support! (BTW, I led the effort to fight for and inform parents of their right to refuse, which more than 1/3 of Manchester’s parents did!)
Parents’ right to refuse“behavioral surveys?” District’s obligation to notify parents of invasive, non-academic surveys? Support!
Notify parents of lessons with sexual content and enable them to opt their children out? Support!
Parents’ right to refuse non academic programs, like controversial “anti-bullying” lessons? Support! (Honestly, I don’t know why lessons like this exist in the first place!)
Restore lost course offerings and address class sizes? Support!
Redistricting? I support appendices A-D in this report from former Superintendent Tom Brennan re-presented nearly 3 years ago! (Note well when it was originally introduced!)
Find ways to get things done within the city’s Tax Cap? Support!
Is there more? You bet! Welcome to my site!