Cole Wilkerson For School Board

03/12/2025

I want to thank all my supporters and Congratulate the Election Winners!

03/11/2025

I would like to take this moment to thank everyone who plans on voting today. Whether I am your candidate or not, voting is a right and a privilege. Please exercise it.

I believe 💯 that I can make a difference without any preconceived agenda. I went through the entire Pelham School System; K-12. No matter what people think, it is what every child chooses to make of their education and their time in the classroom. I want to be there for your kids! I want to be their advocate! I am here for the parents students, faculty and to work with the administration.

Pelham is a great place to live and grow up. I want to give back to the community that helped shape the person I am today. Whether through my Church, Scouting, or my Education. The School Board is where I feel I can add the most value.

Once again, Thank You!

03/10/2025

Don’t forget to Vote!

03/10/2025

Looking forward to tomorrow’s election!

Thank you for all your support!

03/08/2025

Thank you to everyone who watched last night’s Candidate Forum. I want to specifically thank the forum's sponsor, The Pelham Council on Aging, where I did my Eagle Scout Project.

Having not received the questions in advance (all of the other candidates for both Budget Committee and School Board did receive them), I felt my presentation was not as well prepared as it could have been. I want to take this opportunity to reiterate the points I touched upon last night.

Here are facts about the Pelham School District from the last 12 years:

• In the last 12 years, Pelham has had 5 School Superintendents, including two interims.

• The Elementary School has had 3 different principals.

• The Middle School has had 4 different principals.

• The High School has had 3 different Principals.

• A new math curriculum was implemented two years ago at the Elementary School, and this year at the Middle School.

This 3-year rollout will allow the Administration to measure its success rate from one year to the next.

While the other candidates oppose Common Core, I believe it's being misinterpreted. Common Core is NOT a curriculum. It’s a guideline.

Common Core refers to a set of educational standards in the United States that outline what K-12 students should know in English, language arts, and mathematics at each grade level.
The initiative aims to ensure consistency in education across states and to better prepare students for college and careers.

At this point in time, Common Core is NOT optional. https://www.thecorestandards.org/what-parents-should-know/

Teachers, schools, and students need consistency and stability. What has happened in the last 12 years is not the norm for any district. Is it any wonder that scores have dropped?

The next 3 years will be a turning point for the Pelham Schools. We will see the results of adopting this new math curriculum, while continuing to focus on our own shortcomings and honing in on the root causes.

Leadership means rolling up your sleeves and getting to work stabilizing the schools first, before advocating for yet more changes.

It means engaging parents in finding solutions, all while being transparent.
A School Board is made up of elected officials whose task it is to guide, observe, suggest, and ensure that parents, teachers, administrative staff, aides, and maintenance personnel are heard and acknowledged.

I support that effort. I was a student during a portion of those "revolving door" years. I was also a witness to how kids can get left behind when no one is paying attention because things are in a constant state of flux.

I am running because, from my vantage point, I can be more cognizant of the signs that we are taking our eyes off the prize. Being on the board, I will raise awareness of all the students.
After carefully listening to other candidates and community members. and re-watching the forum, the word "change" was a common thread among them.

Change is healthy, change is good, except for when too much change undermines the work of our educators.
Our schools have been dealing with years of constant and consistent changes, and we have the scores to prove it.

Corrective actions have been put in place. It’s time to see how those actions are taking hold.

Sincerely,

Cole Wilkerson, Candidate For School Board
VOTE MARCH 11th!

What Parents Should Know Today’s students are preparing to enter a world in which colleges and businesses are demanding more than ever before. To ensure all students are ready for success after high school, the Common Core State Standards establish clear, consistent guidelines for what every stude...

02/20/2025

Last nights Candidate Night sponsored by the Pelham VFW

02/19/2025

Signs are up! See you tonight for Candidates Night at the VFW!

01/31/2025

A little bit about me.

I moved to Pelham when I was 18 months old from Littleton, NH. I attended King’s Kids’ Pre-School until I entered Kindergarten at Pelham Elementary School. I thrived during my time there, and then it was off to the Memorial School. For the first few years I did well, then 8th grade I tanked. I went from an A to High B student to getting Fs on my report card. Since we don’t keep back students anymore for poor performance, they were moving me on to High School. Before 8th grade graduation, my files were sent to the high school. That is when a guidance counselor looked at my academic record and called my parents immediately. We were able to work out a solution that would work to help support my success as a student through academic accommodations and extra time on exams.

I entered High School with an IEP. I managed to bring all my grades up to almost all A’s, except for math. No longer an F, I brought my overall math score to a D. I was still struggling with this one area. My parents then invested $7,000 of my college fund on tutors. By the time I was a sophomore, I was a solid B+ student in math and was excelling in my other classes. I ended up finishing school on the Honor Roll.

I was part of the Class of 2020 and lost my prom and a traditional graduation. Even still, I had been accepted to my top three university choices. As the nation and economy suffered during the peak year of COVID, I deferred entry for a year. I worked full and part time jobs, saving every penny to pay for school. Eventually, it became evident that I would have to reapply to those Universities. In deciding on a major (I have many interests) I chose Nursing. To which my pre-school teacher reminded me that in my pre-school yearbook I said I wanted to be a nurse. I had completely forgotten.
I took a Licensed Nursing Assistant course to discover if this is really what I wanted to do with my life. I passed with perfect grades and aced the State Certification test. Since graduating, I’ve been working as an LNA for a private Long Term Care Facility in Nashua. After a year and a half, I found myself being asked to help coordinate activities as an assistant for the Memory Care unit. I firmly believe in personal and financial responsibility, and as such I continue to work and save to put myself through college so that when I’m done, I’ll be debt free.
Being financially conservative, I have always prioritized saving, investing and cutting out unnecessary expenses. Personally, I don’t spend money unless it’s necessary or planned.

This careful planning is part of preventing costly future expenses. One of the most valuable things I have learned along the way is that sometimes, even if the upfront cost of something seems steep, if it is a well-made product or service, it can certainly be worth the initial cost and save you more money in the long run. Whether that means spending more money for a better contractor for a home repair, or simply buying a quality made product, the rule applies. This is an approach we need to bring to our schools too. Education is an investment, not just financially alone, but we are investing in our children, community, and future. We must be responsible.

I have watched over these past several years, our schools have been a revolving door of Principals and Superintendents. This has had adverse effects in allowing Pelham Education to develop a strong cohesive team. I want to support the development of that team.

As a product of the Pelham School System, I see where the system has both helped and failed me. The middle school has been a considerable “challenge” for a long time. There is good leadership in place now. I believe strongly that pushing for changes that benefit all our young people is what is needed. Of course, we still need to understand and weigh the needs of the community as a whole, as this is about all of us here in Pelham. Every single family and resident.

As a district we compare ourselves to 7 “peer” districts. Of these 7, Pelham is in last or near last place. We may be in first place for sports (Let’s Go Blue!), but academics is a massive part what will provide for a student’s future. The amount of money spent per student in our district, and the results we have to show for it, demonstrate there is a great need for improvement. We need to show results to justify this cost.

Help me to get Pelham to #1 overall.
Cole Wilkerson

01/29/2025

Signs are ordered. Bio up next