Days after Republican Rep. Kristin Noble expressed public support for segregating schools by political party, the superintendent of schools in the town she represents delivered a forceful rebuke of her vision for education.
“This idea of putting kids into buckets and categorizing them before they’ve even been educated and developed their frontal lobes is just silly; it’s just silly,” Michael Fournier, the superintendent of the Bedford School District, said in an interview. “I think politics should be out of schools.”
Noble’s comments came after a left-wing news site reported that she had privately advocated for “segregated schools” in a chat among Republican lawmakers on the House Education Policy and Administration committee, which she chairs.
Noble later issued a public statement claiming her comments referred to political, rather than racial, segregation.
“Republicans have been self-segregating out of the leftist indoctrination centers for decades,” Noble wrote, apparently referring to public schools.
“If Democrats had their own schools, and we had our own, families wouldn’t need to avail themselves of the wildly successful education freedom account program,” she added, referring to the government funding some families receive to spend on private school tuition or homeschooling expenses. “It’s a win / win proposition.”
Fournier said he questioned whether Noble’s statements were really about political party rather than race.
“I understand that that’s her position now,” he said. “I’m not convinced that’s what it was initially.”
Regardless of whether Noble was advocating for racial segregation — as the term “segregated schools” typically refers — or political segregation, he said her vision conflicted with the values of Bedford schools.
“We don’t see diversity as a hurdle,” he said. “We see it as a strength.”
The essence of public education, Fournier said, rests on educating everyone, regardless of background.
“When kids feel valued and included, the entire district is elevated,” he said.
Fournier, who has served as Bedford’s superintendent since 2018, said he has had “a good working relationship” with Noble in recent years that has included collaborating on a bill that altered the graduation requirements related to the completion of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, in 2024.
However, he said Noble’s incendiary characterization of public education was fundamentally inaccurate. Noble wrote in her statement that public schools have “libraries full of porn, biological males in girls sports and bathrooms, and as much DEI curriculum as their hearts desire.”
“It just isn’t true,” Fournier said.
“We are not teaching kids ideology in school,” he added. “We are teaching them reading, writing, math and science.”
Noble’s description of public schools follows a familiar approach adopted by some in the Republican Party, who have increasingly focused on what they argue is the intrusion of a left-leaning approach to social issues in public education.
The party has responded in part by supporting policies that facilitate the privatization of education, such as through the state’s education freedom account program. Enrollment at independent Christian schools, many of which offer a conservative approach to social issues, has boomed during the five years the program has existed, a Concord Monitor analysis last year found.
Fournier said descriptions like Noble’s misrepresent what happens in public education. He encourages those who question how students are taught in Bedford to reach out.
“By and large, the families that have kids in our schools are very happy,” he said. “Kristin Noble doesn’t have kids in the Bedford School District, and so she doesn’t really have firsthand knowledge of what’s happening in our schools today.”
In a statement provided to the Monitor on Tuesday, Noble wrote that her family withdrew their daughter from Bedford schools in 2021 “to pursue a classical education with a strong emphasis on academics.”
“Over the past three years, I’ve gained deeper insight — beyond my own firsthand experience — by speaking with parents across New Hampshire about the realities in their local schools,” she wrote in a text message.
Noble declined a request for an interview for this story.
In the leaked messages, she purportedly argued that separating schools by political party would improve test scores for her community.
A person labeled as “Kristin Noble” wrote: “imagine the scores though if we had schools for them and some for us”.
The public schools in Bedford, an affluent town outside of Manchester, have some of the highest test scores in the state. Last year, 79% and 71% of students scored proficient in reading and math, respectively, according to data from the Department of Education.
Noble is one of seven House lawmakers who represent Bedford. Five are Republicans and two are Democrats. Residents of the town narrowly supported Kamala Harris over Donald Trump in the most recent presidential election.
Fournier said he has strong relationships with lawmakers from both parties. He urges the elected representatives to communicate with school administrators when they consider bills that will affect public schools — at times, in unintended ways.
As of late last week, Fournier had not spoken with Noble about her comments.
If he did get the opportunity to talk to her, he said he would give her an opportunity to clarify what she meant in the messages. Fournier characterized the statement she released subsequently as a “strategic political response” which might differ from what Noble feels privately.
“Using culture wars to defend statements you made — it’s just not the way I would have approached it,” he said. “A preferred approach would have been to own the statements, indicate that they’re not really how she feels, if that’s the case, apologize, and move on, instead of doubling down.”