NASHUA – The Special Municipal Election for the vacant Board of Education seat is today. Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Sandra Ziehm, longtime board member is running against Susan Porter, a recently retired elementary school teacher.

Ziehm said her experience would be needed on the board now that three of the current eight members, Glora Timmons, Heather Raymond and Raymond Guarino are new.

“The learning curve is humongous,” she said, “there are so many areas you need to be well versed on … We have 2,000 teachers, 22 buildings, 500 homeless families and more than 50 languages.”

The board and school district are currently in the midst of budget season.

She said that she believes her real estate experience would also help with deciding issues related to the Brentwood program and the proposed renovations to Elm Street Middle School.

They also could use someone familiar with parliamentary procedure and proper decorum, she added.

Porter, however, could bring an entirely different set of experience to the board: 34 years as an elementary school teacher.

Porter retired in June after 28 years at Mount Pleasant Elementary School and before that, six years in Lowell, Massachusetts.

“I’m a firm believer that public education is the backbone of our society,” she said.

One of her focuses if elected, she said, is looking at the whole child.

“Children are children, not data points. Test scores are not the only things that matter,” she said.

Having a teacher on the board, especially one who only recently retired, could offer valuable insight to what it is like on the “front lines,” she said; someone who knows firsthand what happens after policies are enacted.

“We all bring different skills,” Ziehm said. “What are the skills we each have vs. the skills most needed in the district?”

The two candidates are looking to fill the seat of Robert Hallowell, who retired from the board after more than a decade of service, citing frustrations with current administration. There were still two years left of his four-year term.

The Nashua Transit System will offer free transportation to and from polling locations.

Locations are as follows:

Ward 1: Broad Street Elementary School, 390 Broad St.

Ward 2: Charlotte Avenue Elementary School, 48 Charlotte Ave.

Ward 3: Amherst Street Elementary School, 71 Amherst St.

Ward 4: Ledge Street Elementary School, 139 Ledge St.

Ward 5: Main Dunstable Elementary School, 20 Whitford Rd.

Ward 6: Fairgrounds Middle School, 27 Cleveland St.

Ward 7: Dr. Norman W. Crisp Elementary School, 50 Arlington St.

Ward 8: Bicentennial Elementary School, 296 East Dunstable Rd.

Ward 9: New Searles Elementary School, 39 Shady Lane

For more information visit www.nashuanh.gov.

Hannah LaClaire can be reached at 594-1243 or hlaclaire@nashuatelegraph.com.