About EdOpt | Helping NH Families Find the Right School & Education Resources

Man with short-sleeved shirt and shorts sits talking with two scouts in uniform at indoor education expo

Our Mission

Our mission is to facilitate and encourage connections between families and providers of the full range of education options.

To do this, we hold fairs in different regions around New Hampshire, connect people to the resources that will help them, and support families in their efforts to educate their children.

EdOpt is a 501(c)(3) non-profit education organization. We accept tax-deductible donations to help us with our mission.

2024

Year Founded

15

Expos Hosted

1000+

Providers Indexed

5+

Upcoming Expos

Smiling man posing with a group of young scouts in uniforms at an indoor event.
An indoor fair is taking place in a sunlit room with tall windows. Various tables are set up with displays of books, pamphlets, handmade crafts, and food. In the foreground, a woman with gray hair, wearing a dark sweater and holding a small snack, stands near a table draped with a white and blue cloth. On the table are a laptop, crocheted items, magazines, and informational flyers. To the left, a woman in a red jacket sits in a power wheelchair, engaging with a young person with green hair behind a nearby table. In the background, adults and children interact with vendors, including a booth with a red-striped tablecloth. Signs and displays throughout suggest an educational community event.

Our Leadership Team

Our work is powered by a passionate team of parents, educators, and community members. We share one goal: helping every family find the educational options that fit them best.

A woman with curly, shoulder-length gray hair and glasses is speaking into a microphone. She is wearing a light-colored jacket over a dark top and is positioned in front of a neutral background with vertical panel lines. The image captures her in profile, mid-sentence, suggesting she is giving a speech or presentation.

Jody Underwood, Ph.D

President/Chair

Jody Underwood has spent almost all of her life involved in education. Retired in 2023, she’s a learning scientist — she designed and produced software to help students learn or be assessed. For many years she worked for the Research Division of Education Testing Service (ETS), the people who bring you the SAT, NAEP, and other standardized tests.

She served on the Croydon NH School Board from 2010-2023, serving as chair much of the time.

She’s a founding board member of the non-profit School District Governance Association (SDGA), whose mission is to help school board members discover their lawful powers.

She has been involved in bill review, focusing on the vast number of education bills proposed each year, for the NH Liberty Alliance and for the SDGA.

Along with a small team, began the process of starting a charter school in the Upper Valley area. We found that the law wouldn’t allow us to do the type of school we wanted. But we learned a lot about the process along the way.

Jody worked with the founders to set up Micah Studios, a learning center, in Newport NH, which started in September 2024.

She has a Ph.D. in Science and Technology Education and a B.S. and M.S. in computer science, with a focus on artificial intelligence. Jody’s dream has always been to revolutionize learning environments to engage individuals to move ahead at their own pace. She and her husband moved to NH in 2007.

A portrait photo of an older man with a white beard and glasses, wearing a plaid shirt over a gray undershirt. The background features a scenic outdoor setting with green grass, trees displaying autumn colors, and a partly cloudy sky during sunset or sunrise.

Kevin Tyson

Vice Chair

Kevin P. Tyson is a retired computer scientist, polymath, and autodidact who has served in various civic roles in Claremont, including the City Council Policy Committee, CCTV Board of Directors, and Shop Lead in Claremont Makerspace, since moving to NH in 2020. He is also a past candidate for the Claremont City Council and serves as the vice-chair of the Sullivan County GOP Committee.

Rachel Goldsmith

Secretary

Secretary of EdOpt and keeper of all things organized (including four homeschooled kids), I bring my MBA and a background in nonprofit marketing to the mission of expanding educational options in New Hampshire. I’m passionate about creative problem-solving, clear communication, and finding where strategy meets heart. When I’m not writing meeting minutes or lesson plans, I’m probably hunting for coffee or reading about the next big idea in education.

Louis Calitz

Treasurer

Louis Calitz is a seasoned Software Engineering leader whose dynamic career has spanned Silicon Valley, startups, Fortune 100 companies, and Big Tech. His interest in education started with his mother, an educator with a radically flexible student-focused approach born from her frustration with the rigid, one-size-fits-all model we still have today. An understanding of economics and the inevitable failure of Socialist systems, and being aware of the way special interests are abusing taxpayers in the name of education, inspired him to join the board of Education Options.

He’s served on the boards of several New Hampshire-focused volunteer organizations, including the NH Liberty Alliance and the Free State Project. He is currently serving on several boards focusing on neighborhood-scale projects to improve local communities.

Tom Luther

Director at Large

I read John Taylor Gatto in high school, followed Alliance for Separation of School and State after graduate school. Claremont exposed me to the self-destructive equity of Volinsky-Tobin, the Claremont/Conval lawsuit, and the 30+ year damage they inflicted on NH. Exposure to the Unschooling movement in Vermont, the NH EFA program; the willful damage by public sector unions during COVID was the last straw. In a world where the education content is virtually free, NH pays more and gets less. Education Freedom is legal and affordable. Parents define accountability, not bureaucrats. It is time to end Horace Mann’s social experiment on children.

Special Ed evaluations for both my sons showed each possessed a high intelligence quotient, yet they could barely read. This is why we made the decision to find education options that better equipped our sons and aligned with our beliefs.

– New Hampshire Mom

You Have More Education Options Than You Think

Whether you need a different environment or a flexible program, there’s a solution that fits your child’s needs. Discover a variety of schools and support networks in your area with our interactive map.

Find Providers Near You