N.H. education options aren't about the state; they're about your child

Founder Jody Underwood (Courtesy photo)

Editor's note: Today we are welcoming a new columnist to The Rochester Voice. Born, raised and until 2020, Hal Shurtleff lived in Boston. He now resides in Alton. He is an Army veteran who served a tour of duty with the 101st Airborne and a member of the Sons of the American Revolution. He is also the director and co-founder of Camp Constitution in Alton.

My late friend and mentor Sam Blumenfeld once remarked that the government school system is a "sick obsolete dinosaur being propped up by powerful lobbyists like the National Education Association, and government officials." The truth of that statement was on full display recently at the Wolfeboro Library. On June 10th New Hamshire Education Options held an exposition inside while outside on the sidewalk in front of the library were a group of people demonstrating against New Hampshire Education Options' presence. There were well over 100 attendees at the exposition, mainly young couples with small children who are seeking alternatives to government schools. Some of the attendees were already homeschooling their children or sending them to private or charter schools.

The folks demonstrating against free people making their own decisions about their children's education outside of the library-about twenty- were trying to preserve the sick obsolete dinosaur that cost the taxpayers up to $30,000 a year per student while not only giving them a substandard level of education but are aggressively promoting a worldview that is hostile to a moral and free people. I suspect some, if not all of them, were government school employees or family members of government school employees that have a financial interest in preserving that sick obsolete dinosaur. The organizer of the protest was Bobbi Boudman who ran unsuccessfully for state rep. This sick obsolete dinosaur supporter called the Education Options organizers and the attendees "hate mongers." Such a reckless and irresponsible statement from a mouthpiece of the Education Mafia will not deter the folks at Education Options. It will only inspire them. As the saying goes, "If you are catching flak, you must be over the target."

From Education Option's website:

Our mission is to provide information, support, and connections to families who want to explore education options. To do this, we hold expos in different regions around the state, connect people to the resources that will help them, and support families in their efforts to educate their children.

EdOpt is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit education organization. We accept tax-deductible donations to help us with our mission.

2024 Year Founded 12 Expos Hosted 1000+ Providers Indexed 2+Upcoming Expos.

A few testimonials:

My daughter used to cry every morning and feel sick to her stomach before going to school - she never wanted to go.
We chose a drop-off learning center. Mom of a 10 Year Old

My kids were never excited to learn until they started at Micah Studios in Newport. Mom of 3 (ages 7, 9 and 12)

My third grader was struggling to read at 1st grade level. We chose to homeschool. Homeschool Mom

President/Chair Jody Underwood has spent almost all of her life involved in education. Retired in 2023, she's a learning scientist-she designed and produced software to help students learn or be assessed. For many years she worked for the Research Division of Education Testing Service (ETS), the people who bring you the SAT, NAEP, and other standardized tests.

She served on the Croydon School Board from 2010-2023, serving as chair much of the time. She's a founding board member of the non-profit School District Governance Association (SDGA) whose mission is to help school board members discover their lawful powers. She has been involved in bill review, focusing on the vast number of education bills proposed each year for the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance and the SDGA.

Along with a small team, she began the process of starting a charter school in the Upper Valley Area. They found that the law wouldn't allow them to do the type of school they wanted but learned a lot about the process along the way. Jody worked with the founders to set up Micah Studios, a learning center in Newport, NH, which started in September 2024.

She has a PH. D. in Science and Technology Education, and a B.S. and M.S. in computer science with a focus in artificial intelligence. Her dream has always been to revolutionize learning environments to engage individuals to move ahead at their own pace.

Camp Constitution has attended nine of the twelve expos held around the state so far. These expos, usually held in public libraries or churches, are free to both vendors and the public. Attendees find a wide variety of options to the inferior government schools from private prep schools to Christian schools to charter schools, to learning centers and, of course, home schools cooperatives. They also offer extracurricular activities like aviation schools, acting classes, music lessons, , organic farming, gardening, nature hikes forensics for children, organizations offering scholarships, and much more. We offer families our week-long family retreats and our Sam Blumenfeld Archives which is a free on-line resource for educators and homeschoolers.

It has been an excellent experience for us. We have met with dozens of people from young parents who are planning to homeschool their children to parents who are exploring options to government schools to parents looking for after school programs.

Members of the Education Mafia, and their allies are not pleased that their near monopoly on the minds of our nation's children are under attack. Let's continue to break that near monopoly. Readers are encouraged to attend and/or host a New Hampshire Education Options exposition in their area. For more information, please visit their website https://edopt.org/about/