LEBANON — Four women, each with different priorities, are running for three seats on the School Board in what will be the city’s only competitive race on the March 8 ballot.
Jenica Nelan and Martha DiDomenico, who were both elected in 2019, are up for reelection as they near the end of three-year terms as the board’s vice chairwoman and secretary. A third candidate, Mary Edes, previously served on the board, but did not run for reelection when her term ended last year.
Renée DePalo is the lone candidate without prior experience on the board.
DePalo, 35, works as the director of alternative sentencing for Grafton County — a position appointed by county commissioners — and also serves as the chairwoman of the city’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Commission. If elected, she hopes to improve the Lebanon school experience for students like her 10-year-old son.
“I’ve seen a lot of things happen over the past couple of years that are concerning and not helpful to some of our aging community and the kiddos that are going through the school systems now,” she said. “I’m hoping to make a change and some differences for kids like my son that just need a little extra attention from the school.”
Nelan, 42, is an information systems manager at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, and ran for School Board three years ago when her oldest children were starting in the Lebanon district and “having a very positive experience,” hoping to “ensure that experience continued and to make sure all students were receiving similarly excellent educations.”
Nelan’s current priority is returning the district to a “normal school experience,” including eliminating COVID-19 distancing requirements and making masks optional in school buildings.
“It is personally frustrating to witness this pre-COVID school environment in other places in our country but not yet in Lebanon,” Nelan wrote in an email. “Our children — always the least at-risk population for COVID — have shouldered many burdens during this pandemic. With vaccines widely available, it is our responsibility as adults to remove the restrictions on them and let them have a normal childhood again.”
DiDomenico, 48, is a practice manager at Dartmouth-Hitchcock. She said she is running for reelection to the board because her first three years were like an “orientation period,” allowing her to “understand how the board works and the different dynamics within the district.”
DiDomenico also noted that the district is currently pursuing a number of large projects, including renovations at three different school buildings and the track at Lebanon High School.
“I would really like to see a lot of these projects come to completion,” she said. “I’ve really enjoyed my time on the board and am just beginning to understand how everything works, so I think I could be a really effective board member for the next three years.”
Edes, 73, a retired Lebanon schoolteacher, originally ran for a board seat in 2015 and served for two terms before opting not to run for re-election last year. She decided to run this year because she believes city residents “need to participate more with education.”
“I don’t see a lot of people participating in their community right now, not just in New Hampshire, but all over,” she said. “I’m a person who loves modeling for and working with kids of all ages, so I just really want to stay involved” with the board.
The other races on Lebanon’s March election ballot — including for City Council, library trustee and other school district officials — are uncontested.
One candidate filed to run for city councilor in each of Lebanon’s three wards. In Ward 1, Christian Simon is a new candidate; in Wards 2 and 3, George Sykes and Karen Zook are incumbents.
Timothy McNamara and Erling Heistad also are running for reelection to their councilor at-large positions.
The three candidates for library trustee at-large also are all incumbents.
Donna Hartford is running for a one-year term, while Morgan Swan and Susan Weber-Valiente are running for three-year terms.
Ilana Grallert, who is running for Ward 1 supervisor of the voting checklist, is not an incumbent.
But the candidates for school district official positions are incumbents: Gary Mayo, the district moderator, was first elected in 2018, and Barbara Hazlett, the district treasurer, was first elected in 2016.
April Sanborn, the current district clerk, is not running for reelection, and there are no candidates on the ballot for the position.
In-person voting will be held from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 8. Elections will be held at Kilton Public Library for Ward 1, the Methodist Church for Ward 2, and at City Hall for Ward 3.
Lauren Adler can be reached at ladler19@gmail.com.