Jeff Nye, Erin Walczewski, and Jeremy Ward for Forest Hills School Board

First and foremost, we will put students at the center of every decision the board makes, and our decisions will be based on the best available evidence and data. No politics; just education. Our kids are all students here, and we know that the best way to achieve and maintain excellence in the classroom is to make sure that students feel not just intellectually challenged but physically and emotionally safe and respected. Forest Hills should and can again be a place where all students feel welcome, no exceptions. The three of us are products of public schools, and we know that public education is the rising tide that lifts all boats. Strong schools make strong communities.

Second, we need to rebuild the district’s relationship with and standing in the community by filling the leadership vacuum on the board. You deserve accessible and accountable leadership. The best decisions are made carefully and collaboratively, with dialogue between the board and parents, students, teachers, community members, and other government officials and stakeholders. That’s why we’ve spent months going to festivals and events, hosting meet-and-greets and having coffee, to hear from people about their concerns, questions, and ideas about our school district—and to share ours with them. And while we’ve been doing that for months as candidates, we’ve been doing it for years as Forest Hills parents. You’ll never have to wonder where your school board members are, what they’re up to, or who they’re being advised by, because we’ll still be right there, at school and community events, talking to you. You deserve to have a school board that will listen to, engage with, and work for you and your family again.

Third, we need to protect the investment our community has made in the district. That means more than just short-term fiscal responsibility and caring for our aging facilities (though it certainly means both of those—we are homeowners too, and we know as well as anyone that every dollar counts). It means standing up to the anti-public-education policies and rhetoric in our state and national governments, like the diversion of public school money away from public school districts. It also means that we need to make Forest Hills a destination district again, not only for families, but also for teachers and staff. We’ve heard from too many people who raised their families here and sent their kids to Forest Hills schools, who have told us that now that their kids are starting families, they’re not coming back to Forest Hills. And while we treasure the teachers our kids have had, we’ve lost too many great staff and administrators in recent years, and we know that many well-qualified candidates are not applying for job openings here. Our district’s greatest asset is its people, and with strong family-focused leadership we can maintain that legacy for years to come. 

While we have lots of credentials, the most important one is that we are parents of current Forest Hills students. Each of us has two kids in the district, presently spread across four schools (Anderson, Nagel, Maddux, and Summit). We’ll continue to have kids in the district for the entire four years of the next school board term. Even if you don’t know us, our faces may be familiar because we’re at so many school events already. In addition to being parents, we’re teachers, lawyers, volunteers, and so much more. 

JEFF NYE (Facebook; web site; email) moved to Anderson so he and his wife Abby could send their two kids to Forest Hills schools; their girls are now in 8th (Nagel) and 11th (Anderson) grades after having attended Maddux Elementary. Jeff has been volunteering in the district since the 2014-15 school year, and among other things he’s been a classroom reader, lunch parent, book fair aide, learning commons helper, and a Maddux Runs kid wrangler. He’s chaperoned zoo field trips, river excursions, Camp Kern, and Blue Outs. He’s worked several times with the district’s XCL program (formerly known as the Community Partnership program), including taking students downtown to see court proceedings and helping bring the Ohio’s First District Court of Appeals to FHSD for live arguments in Anderson High School’s auditorium. He currently serves on the board of the Forest Hills Foundation, which raises money to support programs for students in all nine Forest Hills schools, and serves or has served on multiple other boards in the community. He has been speaking regularly at Forest Hills School Board meetings for years.

Abby is a physician (an internist and a pediatrician) at a major local hospital, where she also teaches and supervises residents and medical students. Jeff and Abby’s kids are active in dance, soccer, orchestra, art, and their own volunteer and service projects both inside and outside of school.

A litigator by day, Jeff is trained to understand complex issues quickly and to identify and evaluate evidence. He is a good communicator and a good consensus builder. He is experienced and comfortable making difficult decisions. His pro bono legal work has included filings lawsuits to ensure public access to the records and deliberations of public bodies, and is similarly committed to restoring trust and transparency to the school board. 

ERIN WALCZEWSKI (wall-ZOO-ski) (Facebook; web site; email) and her family chose Forest Hills for the schools. She and her husband Luke have a son in 8th grade at Nagel and a daughter in 6th grade at Summit. They live across the street from Erin’s sister and her family (who also moved here for the schools), with two nieces at Anderson High School and a nephew who is a recent alum. Erin and her family are constantly attending school events and pitching in on activities from sports to music to theater to extracurriculars. Erin and Luke chaperone field trips, set up book fairs, bring snacks for teacher appreciation, volunteer as in-class helpers, wrangle kids backstage at plays, participate in fundraisers, and have even done a special guest presentation for Summit kids about Japan based on their experience living and teaching there. Their kids’ activities are too lengthy to list but include boys’ volleyball, girls’ volleyball, marching band, orchestra, theater, boys’ soccer, girls’ soccer, co-ed basketball, ski club, running club, gymnastics, Scouts, and Girl Scouts.

In her professional life, Erin is a lawyer specializing in nonprofit organizations’ governance and strategy. She is responsible for the management of her law firm’s transactional pro bono practice globally, which advises nearly 500 nonprofit organizations plus small businesses and social enterprises. She has also been an educator for 20+ years, currently as a lecturer at Harvard Law School, and spent 11 years as an academic and pre-professional advisor at Harvard College. Beyond volunteering in Forest Hills schools, her volunteer work includes advising military veteran entrepreneurs, coordinating philanthropic donations from her church to nonprofits in Cincinnati and beyond, and serving on the board of directors for nonprofits. 

Erin cares deeply about our district as a parent and aunt of current Forest Hills students, and she will use her unique combination of talents to bring reasonable, expert decision-making to the school board.

JEREMY WARD (Facebook; Instagram: @jeremywardfordboard; web site; email) is a proud advocate for public schools, both as a parent with kids in the district and as a public school teacher. Jeremy and his wife Nicole moved to Anderson almost 20 years ago with the schools in mind, and their daughters are current students at Maddux Elementary and at Anderson High School. For the last 10 years or so, Jeremy and Nicole could be found most days volunteering for school events like field trips and olympic day, coaching youth sports, and cheering on their daughters and the kids in the community in fastpitch softball, tennis, soccer, cheerleading, running club, choir performances, and many musicals.

Jeremy is going into his 23rd year of teaching high school science, and his wife Nicole is also in her 23rd year of public education working both as a special education teacher and as a principal (including serving as the assistant principal of Summit Elementary school from 2018-2021). Jeremy holds a Masters in Education and has taught all manner of science classes through the years, recently mostly teaching high school Physics, including a new elective he helped create at Loveland called Project Physics, a physics class that focuses more on hands-on experience and real-world application of physics concepts. Jeremy also serves as a building representative for the Loveland Education Association, and has extensive experience over the last 20+ years working on school levy campaigns and advocating for public education with local and state level elected representatives.

Jeremy is eager to bring his decades of teaching experience to the school board to keep our students, teachers, and schools as the top priorities in decision making for our district.

Here are seven ways that you can get involved this election season.

1. Vote. The single most important way to get involved in the school board race is to vote! The last date to register to vote or update your address is Tuesday, October 6. Make sure you’re registered by checking your registration here. You can vote early in person at the Board of Elections beginning on Wednesday, October 7; the hours and location can be found here. You can request a ballot and vote early by mail by filling out and mailing in this form—but make sure you request it early enough to receive it and return it in time for your vote to count. You can vote in person on Election Day on Tuesday, November 4, from 6:30 am to 7:30 pm; find your polling place here, and don’t forget to bring your non-expired ID with you. Talk to your friends, family, and neighbors, and make sure they’re registered and have a plan to vote! 

2. Donate. Your contribution helps us put up signs, car magnets, and billboards, and helps print mail and postcards and hand-outs. Ohio law requires each of us to accept donations separately, but know that we are coordinating our efforts and sharing resources where possible. Contribute to Jeff at this link, to Erin at this link, and to Jeremy at this link. 

3. Help us canvass. Getting information out to voters is critical. We need plenty of volunteers both to knock doors and to drop literature at doors (no knocking). Sign up here!

4. Host an event. One of the best places to reach voters is in your kitchen, living room, yard, or cul de sac. We’d love to meet you and your neighbors! Use this link to let us know you’re interested and we’ll try to schedule it as soon as possible!

5. Write postcards. A note from a neighbor or community member goes a long way to reminding people to go to the polls. Sign up here to help write postcards (don’t worry, we’ll supply them)!

6. Request a yard sign. Yard signs are a great way to spread the word or start a conversation. Request one from this link!

7. Share, like, and comment on social media. Every interaction with our pages increases the likelihood that someone else sees it. Hit that like button, drop a comment, and share on your own feed! Here are the links for Jeff’s campaign, for Erin’s campaign, and for Jeremy’s campaign--and of course for our coordinated campaign too!