The Candidates In Their Own Words: Nantucket School Committee Race

We invited the four candidates vying for the two open seats on the Nantucket School Committee to introduce themselves to Nantucket Current's readers, share their platform, and explain why voters should choose them in this race in 500 words or fewer.

Shantaw Bloise-Murphy

Serving our students, families, teachers, and community has been a great honor. During my time on the School Committee, I have worked to ensure every student has access to a safe, supportive, and high-quality education. I remain committed to building a school system that prepares students for success both inside and outside the classroom.

Our schools are the foundation of our community. Strong schools strengthen families, support neighborhoods, and create opportunities for future generations. I believe school leaders must always put students first while also respecting taxpayers and listening to parents, educators, and community members. That approach has guided my service on the School Committee through responsible leadership, transparency, and collaboration.

If reelected, I will continue prioritizing academic excellence, student well-being, equitable funding, and open communication. Every child deserves the opportunity to thrive. That means maintaining strong academic standards while expanding support for mental health services, special education resources, and career and technical learning opportunities. Students learn best when they feel safe, supported, and inspired, and I will continue advocating for programs that help every learner succeed.
Supporting our teachers and staff is also essential. Great educators are at the heart of every successful school system. We must continue investing in professional development, classroom resources, and a positive working environment that helps attract and retain outstanding educators. When we support our teachers, we strengthen outcomes for students and improve the overall learning experience across our schools.

I also believe it is important to fiscally support programs that have been historically underfunded while continuing to manage school resources responsibly and transparently. Families expect school leaders to plan carefully for the future and ensure funding decisions reflect the needs of all students. Our community deserves thoughtful budgeting that strengthens educational opportunities while maintaining long-term financial stability.

Communication and trust are equally important. I will continue working to ensure families and residents are informed, heard, and included in the decision-making process. Strong partnerships between schools and the community lead to better solutions and stronger outcomes for students. Respectful dialogue and collaboration are essential as we move our district forward together.

There is still important work ahead. We must continue preparing students for a rapidly changing world while preserving the values and traditions that define Whaler Pride. I bring experience, dedication, and a steady commitment to serving the best interests of our students and community.

I am asking for the community's vote because I care deeply about our schools and the future of every student. Together, we can continue building a school system that reflects our island's values, meets today’s challenges, and creates opportunities for tomorrow. It would be an honor to continue serving our community and working on behalf of all students and families.

Thank you for your commitment to our schools.

Jennie Cook:

I am running for the Nantucket School Committee because I care deeply about our public schools, our teachers, our students, and the future of this community.

As a year-round Nantucket resident for the past 20 years and a mother with a child in each of our island’s public schools—Nantucket Elementary School, Nantucket Intermediate School, Cyrus Peirce Middle School, and Nantucket High School—I see firsthand both the strengths of our school system and the challenges facing students, families, teachers, and administrators every day.

Nantucket is a unique community, and our schools are at the heart of it. They shape our children, support our families, and help define the future of this island. Strong schools require thoughtful leadership, responsible budgeting, transparency, and a willingness to listen.

My platform is centered on supporting students, supporting educators, and strengthening communication between the schools and the community.

I believe every student deserves the opportunity to succeed academically, socially, emotionally, creatively, and athletically. That means supporting strong academics while also recognizing the importance of the arts, athletics, vocational pathways, student wellness, and mental health support. Students thrive when they feel connected, challenged, and supported.

I also strongly believe in supporting our teachers, staff, and administrators. Our educators work incredibly hard to meet the needs of a diverse and growing student population, including English language learners and high-needs students. Retaining strong teachers and administrators, supporting professional development, and fostering a positive school culture must remain priorities.

As a parent, coach, Girl Scout leader, Swim Across America participant, and board member of Nantucket Stage Company, I have spent years working with Nantucket children and families in classrooms, on athletic fields, and in the arts community. Those experiences have taught me the importance of collaboration, accountability, and showing up for our kids.

I also understand the importance of responsible long-term planning. The School Committee must carefully balance educational priorities, budget realities, infrastructure needs, and the evolving needs of students and families. I believe in thoughtful decision-making that keeps students at the center of every conversation.

Most importantly, I want to be approachable and engaged. I want to listen to students, parents, teachers, and community members and help ensure their voices are heard. Having a child in every public school—from kindergarten through high school—gives me a broad perspective on the district and how decisions impact families across every grade level.

I’m running because I care deeply about this community and believe our schools deserve leadership that is collaborative, thoughtful, and focused on the success and well-being of every Nantucket student.

Heidi Fee

There are three structural elements of our school that school committee is responsible to oversee: the district budget, setting educational goals and curriculum, and supporting our community of students, educators and families.

My first priority will focus on academic achievement, ensuring all students have access and success by utilizing an updated quality curriculum. A district wide focus on academic achievement across all subject areas will be paramount to cultivating our student’s success in preparation for future college and post-graduate aspirations. For students to achieve academic success to reach their goals we need to promise they are learning in safe, inclusive and welcoming classrooms, providing them with curricular materials that represent the diversity of our school community.

I would like to take a closer look at class sizes for a more manageable teacher-student ratio. I would prioritize teacher professional development. We need to make tools available; student support professionals, updated curriculum materials, health and wellness, classroom supplies, administrative support, so that teachers can come to their classrooms feeling supported, nurtured and valued. Most importantly we need to give educators the permission to meet the students where they are. I think school committee should be consistently and intermittently, through administration and observation, monitoring our districts student successes. We do this by actively studying test scores, attendance rates, graduation rates, classroom learning hours, IEP goal attainment and student engagement and behavior reports. Students should also have access to extracurricular opportunities, athletics, cultural clubs, theater, music, STEM, art, language, social emotional dexterity, and dance.

Secondly, I would like to prioritize the scrutiny of our district budget. It is my experience that a budget, although rubber-stamped and finalized, is a moving document. We must approach the budget with transparency and experience to identify and rectify shortfalls and possible areas of repositioning in a timely manner. We are fortunate that the taxpayers of Nantucket fund a robust budget, it is our responsibility to be sure we spend our money with intention, purpose, integrity and rigor.

Additionally, supporting our students, families, and teachers should be top priority
because this is what creates a learning environment of belonging and community. It is my promise that questions and concerns, advice and differences of opinion, be met with humility, respect, reflection, responsiveness, empathy, efficiency, and ethical considerations.

Finally, I would like to start working on a strategic plan to identify areas of our buildings and campus that need care, make a clear plan to take care of what we have, and assess what we can’t salvage. Deferred maintenance is never the answer and only leads to more capital spending. Making line items in the budget, of course, drives up the ask but will lead to a more sustainable budget later and fewer capital expenditures. When our beautiful new field passes in the town election, the strategic plan will also apply to the care and protection of this important collective investment.

Tim Lepore

Why I am running for school committee. Having been on the school committee for over 35 years I have gained a degree of experience in just how our committee functions in making decisions in support of our schools. During my tenure we have been faced with happy occasions such as beating the Vineyard and participating in our graduation ceremonies, and in stark contrast there have been tragedies involving staff and students. I have been fortunate in working alongside six superintendents including John O’Neil , the superintendent when I was first elected. The committee has three responsibilities, the hiring of the superintendent, setting policy and approving the budget.

Looking ahead I see several problems with which we will be faced. The first and probably the most significant is the very poor performance of our students in grades 3-8 in English Language Arts/Reading. Only 28% of our students are scoring grade level or above. These scores are well below the state level. This means 72% are not performing at grade level. In reviewing these scores it is obvious that until they get to late middle school that we see an improvement. I understand there may be several reasons for this but there is no excuse. I believe we should be evaluating our students starting in kindergarten to identify the presence of any learning issues, such as dyslexia or other issues that may interfere with their ability to learn to read. I think waiting until 3rd grade to implement reading remediation is too late. Parents need to be empowered and to know their rights so they can advocate for their children. Without early identification and support, I am afraid many children will have no love of reading and will struggle to perform academically. Reading will be a chore for many of these students. We need to support and encourage our excellent classroom teachers so they have the tools and the time to improve the reading and comprehension of all of their students.

Reading is a key skill that can be developed but not if we fail to identify them very early in their educational career. Having a difficult time learning to read has caused children to become dispirited and frustrated. They sometimes feel that they are not smart and they sometimes stop trying. I have been told that a student was reading below grade level but consistent with classmates who are also reading below grade level. The parent was assured that the child was progressing normally in relation to peers who were also reading below grade level.

A second issue is the decrease in our enrollment. Last year we were down approximately 80 students. I brought this up at the school committee, asked about it and still don’t have an answer. Enrollment is certainly down across the cape and we are going to be affected similarly. This drop in enrollment however has to be taken into account in allocation of funds in our budget. I still would like to know why these students left.

My last thoughts are of the condition of the elementary school. The school was built in the 1970’s and has had multiple issues with mold, insects, rodents and no sprinkler system. This school will need to be updated and/or replaced in the near future. For me, the school committee is the most important board in town government, the students are our future. I would like to see the same level of enthusiasm generated from our community in addressing these significant concerns as was demonstrated for the athletic complex.