To my fellow Red River Parish voters,

My name is Melinda Hardy. I proudly announce my candidacy for the Red River Parish School Board’s District One seat. I am seeking election because I care about our community and I want to make a difference. With the support of my family and you, the voters, I’ll do everything in my power to offer our kids the best opportunity to not only succeed but thrive throughout their educational journey.

After graduating high school, I earned a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Northwestern State University. Later in life, I returned to NSU, and furthered my education by completing a master’s degree plus 30 additional credits in Education Leadership. I believe in the power of creating lifelong learners and setting students up to succeed regardless of the path they choose.

I spent the first five years of my education career as a Title One and Kindergarten teacher in Sabine Parish. After that came ten years of teaching preschool students. The next phase of my career consisted of teaching high school math at Riverdale and also serving 15 years on the school’s board. I ended my career with four years at Red River Elementary School working with special education students. My career has allowed me to work with students of all ages and ability levels, each group as special to me as the one before.

Outside of education, I have a degree in accounting and have worked for over 40 years with Red River Cable TV. I am a happily married mother of five children; two of my daughters have spent their careers working in our public school system. Our community matters to me and it can only be enriched by continuing to invest in our children’s education.

Working together, we can build a district where students, parents, teachers, and staff members feel at home and like they belong while knowing that we have done everything in our power to meet the educational needs of every child. Each season of life brings new challenges to us personally and collectively as a community. I am ready to work hard to meet this new challenge head-on. In this spirit, I kindly ask for your vote. 

I look forward to hearing from you at mbaldridgehardy@gmail.com.

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