A retired nurse and mother of three, Nancy Dunn said she is running for the Port Jervis District school board to contribute her ideas and give back to the community.
Dunn moved to the City of Port Jervis from Middletown in the 1980s following her marriage to Henry Dunn, whose family had lived in the area for generations.
She worked as an emergency room charge nurse at the former Horton Memorial Hospital and a case manager at Bon Secours Community Hospital before becoming a full-time school nurse at the Port Jervis School District in 2007.
Her youngest child was a fifth grader in the district at the time.
“I learned so much working in the school,” Dunn told The Epoch Times. “From teachers to the secretaries to the janitors, to the cafeteria workers—they are all part of the educational process for a student, and everybody has a piece of it.”
After she retired from the district, Dunn ran for and won a one-year seat on the school board in 2021.
“As a community member and a taxpayer, a parent of three children that went through the Port Jervis school system, and a former employee of the system, I didn’t want to retire and sit back; I wanted to do something to give back to the community,” she said.
It was during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Dunn—having worked through the SARS, Ebola, and AIDS pandemic as a nurse—informed fellow board members on protective measures by the district.
“I was drawing from all the experiences that I ever had, and I voiced my opinions during our meetings,” she said.
After the term ended, Dunn had a pause and was appointed back onto the board in September following the resignation of Deborah Lasch.
As a Health and Wellness committee member, Dunn often brainstorms ideas with administrators and other board members on how to promote wholesome student growth.
“We must take care of the whole child, from health to education, to exercises, to meals,” Dunn said. “I think I bring something unique to the table in terms of the health aspect.”
Much of the hard work falls on front-line teachers, to whom she pays tribute.
“Teachers are taking on more responsibilities, and a lot is expected of them in this day and age,” she said. “We need to make sure that they are appreciated.”
While contributing her ideas, Dunn is also learning and growing as a board member.
“I didn’t realize the amount of reading before going into meetings and that there is so much going into decisions—no decision is made that is not well thought out,” she said.
“I have learned a lot from the current administrators,” Dunn said. “I feel that I have a certain amount of personal growth even from a volunteer position, and that is a rewarding experience.”
Seeking another term on the board, Dunn said she would do her best to make decisions she could sleep with at night.
“I want to represent the people—the taxpayer community and students—in my best way,” she said. “I want to be able to say I tried my best to educate myself on the subject that was pertinent here, and I made the best decision I could.”
