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Panel of State Legislators open the 2018 Upper Valley Lecture Series

Education Legislation in the New Hampshire House—
Upper Valley Senior Center
10 Campbell Street, Lebanon
Date: Tuesday, January 23, 2018
Time: 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. (potluck @6, speakers @6.30)

A panel of state representatives will explain the potential consequences of education legislation introduced in the New Hampshire State Legislature. Significant education bills are being debated and acted upon over the next two months. In anticipation of the contentious debate surrounding this legislation, the New Hampshire Upper Valley Democrats are launching their 2018 Upper Valley Lecture Series on Tuesday, January 23, 2018, with a roundtable of House Representatives who will outline the content of proposed education bills, provide a history of legislative genesis, and offer guidance for grassroots intervention. Funding for the Upper Valley Lecture Series was provided by the New England Grassroots Environment Fund.

The presenter will be Representative Douglas Ley, D-Cheshire, current president of the American Federation of Teachers in New Hampshire. He will be joined by House members Mary Heath, D-Hillsborough, former deputy commissioner, N.H. Department of Education and retired dean, Southern New Hampshire University’s School of Education; Brian Sullivan, D- Sullivan, member-elect, recently retired from the National Education Association of New Hampshire; and Linda Tanner, D-Sullivan, retired department chair for Health and Physical Education, Kearsarge Regional School District.

The New Hampshire Upper Valley Democrats is designing this series of lectures to bring together people of differing views from various local communities to identify, debate, and address injustices, such as equal access to voting, equal access to quality healthcare and education, livable wages, racial bias, and other issues that divide our communities.

The New Hampshire Upper Valley Democrats believes that the best way to serve our communities is to educate citizens on pertinent issues, generate a debate of pros and cons, welcome differing opinions and perspectives, discuss why the issues are important, and agree on what we all can do together to resolve them. The Upper Valley Lecture Series intends to focus on how we can impact injustices within our communities, such as sustainable living, environmental ethics, equal access to voting, equal access to quality healthcare and education, livable wages, racial bias, and other issues that divide our communities.

The 2017 Upper Valley Lecture Series attracted as many as 60 people from multiple communities for each session, some who travel a distance to be included.

The 2017 Lecture Series included the following programs:

  • April — A talk by Mathew Houde, former senator from District 5, on the Affordable Care Act;
  • May, July, September, November — Civics 102, 102, 103, and 104 led by City Counsilor Karen Liot Hill;
  • June — A Fake News panel with Tom Blinkhorn and Dartmouth professors Alexis Jetter, Mark Williams, Jim Heffernan;
  • October — A talk by New Hampshire Executive Counsilor Andru Volinsky on the crisis in New Hampshire’s educational funding and why New Hampshire’s Executive Council matters.