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This week's stories: (click on the headline
to jump to story)
 Greetings
from Japan
Chief
wants safety upgrades near common
Town
hopes manual's a guide for sportsmanship
Riffing
on the Bard at GAHS
New Boston
Greetings from Japan
Teacher exchange brings Kyoko Sakakibara
to New Boston
By LARA SKINNER
Staff Writer
lskinner@yourneighborhoodnews.com
An art room full of young talkative students
was a bit more chaos than Kyoko Sakakibara was used to on a Monday
morning. She introduced herself to the class in Japanese, and
hands went up all across the room as eager minds filled with
questions and information to share.
For a political science major from a university in Tokyo, this
was quite an introduction into the American education system.
For the next month, Sakakibara will teach origami and Japanese
calligraphy to the students at New Boston Central School. She
is exploring the world of teaching through a government-sponsored
teacher exchange in Japan called the International Internship
Program. They accept just about anyone, she said.
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It may seem like a far cry from political
science, but Sakakibara is a natural student.
"I love to learn everything," she said.
Learning the English language was something she started in junior
high, along with the rest of her classmates. Reading and writing
are easy to teach, she said. Finding someone to talk with in
English is a different story.
The students in Candy Brenner's Readiness class were more than
happy to talk with her. Tyler Ruggerio asked right up front what
they could do to help her with her spoken English. Two other
boys offered up their Portuguese heritage as a bit of information,
and questions about the weather in Japan billowed like the clouds
around Mount Fuji.
Before the class escalated into an all-out gab fest, Keefe brought
everyone's attention to the origami lesson for the day.
Folded paper tulips were the goal.
Instead of speaking the instructions, Sakakibara
held the colored paper up and started folding in the air. Simple
petals emerged from four easy folds in pink, orange, yellow and
blue pieces of paper. Stems and leaves were a bit more complicated,
and she moved around the room from table to table to show the
folds to each student.
It was rarely quiet in the room. Boys made
airplanes out of the green stem paper, and accented their play
with propellor noises. Girls chatted with each other about choosing
the same flower color.
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FRIEND FROM AFAR: Exchange teacher Kyoko
Sakakibara, in the back, was surrounded by beautiful flowers
and students in Candy Brenner's readiness. She taught the students
how to fold the colored paper. (Lara Skinner Photo)
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By the end of the class, Sakakibara almost looked dizzy.
"It's very hard to know what they are interested in,"
she said.
She learned origami from her grandmother and her classmates.
School was a time for pencils, desks and eyes front.
During school vacation, she visited different schools in the
state with art teacher Judy Keefe and Principal Rick Matthews.
Keefe and Matthews are on the committee of educators judging
for the School of Excellence Awards this year.
Everything is different from what Sakakibara is used to in a
Japanese elementary school, she said. Students stay in one classroom
for the whole day, and the desks are always in rows facing the
teacher and the lesson board. Different teachers rotate from
room to room during the day, bringing their subjects with them
to teach.
The dynamic between students, teachers and parents is friendlier
in America, she said. In Japan, each teacher will visit a student's
house for about 20 minutes to meet with the parents. They share
the basics of a child's education, and the parents don't normally
ask anymore about it.
Morning snack was another surprise. In Japan, Sakakibara said,
they only eat lunch at school, and that is usually some rice
or bread with peanut butter. Portions are smaller too.
One reminder of home that Sakakibara keeps with her at all times
is green tea.
"I drink tea like water," she said with a smile.
Her home in Shizuoka, Japan, is famous for its tea fields, and
its proximity to Fujiyama, or Mount Fuji.
Origami and calligraphy are far from the only pieces of Japan
the Sakakibara has to share with the American students. Keefe
said many teachers in the school are working with different Japanese
lesson plans, and Sakakibara will visit the different classrooms
to talk about life on the island country.
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Sakakibara is the first
foreign exchange teacher the school has ever taken in, Keefe
said.
"We just thought it would be a really neat way to end the
year," Keefe said.
At the end of Sakakibara's first teaching experience, many of
the students tried to say good-bye to her by saying "konichiwa,"
which means something like "good afternoon." She smiled
and corrected them by waving and repeating "sayonara." |
Origami is one way to create
a beautiful field of tulips
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They have a few more classes with Sakakibara before she leaves.
She is looking forward to teaching calligraphy to the students,
she said. It is much more relaxing.
Dunbarton
Chief wants safety upgrades near common
Federal grant of $271,000 would help pay
for sidewalk, road fix, antique-style lights
By LARA SKINNER
Staff Writer
lskinner@yourneighborhoodnews.com
It's possible to set a clock by the traffic
at the town common.
Can't get through Robert Rogers Road to get a cup of morning
coffee? That's because it's 7:45 a.m., and the school day is
just about ready to begin.
At 2:15 p.m., it's the same clog of parents and students leaving
the school grounds.
What's more, townwide events create the same surge of cars and
people near the school and the common.
Though there haven't been any serious accidents in the area for
the past three years, Police Chief Jeffrey Nelson can only see
the potential for an accident increasing.
And that's why Nelson has applied for federal grant money that
would help make improvements, including the installation of sidewalks
and a redesign of the area's main intersection.
"As this area gets used more, you're going to find more
people accessing (the town center) on foot. And if that's the
case, I'd rather see a sidewalk," he said.
Dunbarton is one of two New Hampshire towns being considered
for a grant through the state Department of Transport-ation's
Transportation En-hancement Program.
Nelson submitted the grant application last year, and he answered
questions about the grant during a public hearing on Thursday,
April 29.
If Dunbarton is approved for the grant, the town would get $271,000
in federal money, and have to raise matching funds of $67,000.
The total grant of $338,000 would pay for a sidewalk between
the school and the town common, a sidewalk around the common,
antique-style light fixtures around the common, and would pay
to turn the Y-shaped intersection at Robert Rogers Road and Route
13 into a T-shaped intersection.
If the grant is approved in the next few months, Nelson hopes
to start working on a presentation for the 2005 Town Meeting.
But at least one public hearing is necessary before that can
happen, he said.
"We'll keep refining the project the further along we go,"
he said.
People at Thursday's hearing had some pretty strong suggestions
as to how Nelson could refine the plan he presented.
Brian Pike said he understands the chief's safety concerns, but
doesn't think the proposed changes are the best option.
Sidewalks and a T-shaped intersection could create too much of
a downtown hub and take away the town's rural feel.
"In all honesty, it's about the character of the town,"
he said after the meeting.
Dark night skies with an abundance of stars to look at is part
of that character, and some people were concerned that lights
on the common would wash the scene away.
A T-shaped intersection isn't as "traditional" as a
Y-shaped one, and resident Larry Cook said he doesn't think the
town is dealing with traffic that's heavy enough to justify the
change.
Sidewalks would mean extra maintenance, particularly during the
winter. Eric Hodgeman, who lives at the corner of Robert Rogers
Road and School Street, said he tried to create a "green
sidewalk" around his yard for people to use.
Instead of bringing granite in, perhaps the town should try the
same approach, he said.
Feedback was what Nelson said he wanted, and he ended up with
plenty to think about after the public hearing. His challenge
is to take the comments and try to apply them to the next planning
stage if the town is awarded the grant.
"It's hard to argue traditional values and aesthetically
pleasing design with safety," he said.
Reducing the potential for any kind of accident is why Nelson
started looking at the grant and project in the first place.
Accidents might not be a problem near the common now, but he
doesn't want work on the town common to be a reaction to an accident.
"I see my responsibility as being a little more preventative
than that," Nelson said.
Additional public hearings will be scheduled depending on whether
the town wins the grant.
Dunbarton
Trail in Dodge Forest gets rough treatment
Forestry committee restricts ATV access
By LARA SKINNER
Staff Writer
lskinner@yourneighborhoodnews.com
Tire ruts in an old logging road leading
into the Lydia Dodge Forest are the result of someone gone muddin'.
While it might have been a fun time for the drivers, Forestry
Committee Chairman Kim DiPietro said the trail is trashed and
at risk of soil erosion.
Fixing the damage done by four-wheel-drive vehicles is beyond
the financial control of the forestry committee, she said. Legal
action against whoever damaged the road isn't an option, either.
"We didn't have any signs telling them not to do it,"
DiPietro said.
Instead, the committee has decided to close the road to any type
of off-road vehicle use until someone, like the members of an
ATV club, comes forward and offers to maintain the trail for
use.
Closing the trail is a temporary measure until committee members
can talk to Robert Spoerl of the state Bureau of Trails, DiPietro
said.
At some point, the committee will also schedule a public hearing
about the trail.
Spoerl said in a separate interview that there are a few things
the committee should keep in mind when it considers closing a
trail to vehicle use.
If the road is a Class 6 road, which is usually an unpaved but
dirt-packed road maintained by a town, then there isn't much
the committee can do to stop people from using it for any purpose.
"Commonly, Class 6 roads are open to vehicles anyway,"
he said.
If the area in question is an actual trail, however, towns can
establish rules about how people can use the trail.
Most of the towns that Spoerl works with will designate a few
trails specifically for ATV use, he said. In those cases, there
is usually a local riders' club that assumes responsibility for
the trail.
Putting the responsibility on a group that is actively using
a trail is a pretty good way to ensure the area won't get trashed,
Spoerl said. Once riders take ownership of an area, they want
to see it safe and fun to ride on.
"That's why we try to work with the groups," he said.
"That's the best way to get the message out and to get help."
ATVs and off-road vehicles aren't the same type of fun, though,
Spoerl said. A trail suitable for an off-road truck or jeep should
be at least 20 feet wide, so if there are any people walking
along it, they have space to get to the side when a truck comes
through. The state doesn't offer trails that wide because of
the liability involved, he said.
Signs describing what is allowed, like hiking or horseback riding,
and what isn't allowed, like camp fires or motor-driven vehicles,
are the most effective way to control trail use, Spoerl said.
If someone is caught going against the rules posted on the signs,
then the town will have some legal ground to stand on.
Signs and a gate to block motorized vehicles were put up at the
trail head in the Lydia Dodge Forest, DiPietro said. A few people
have already come forward to complain, and the committee has
given out at least one permit to a man who rides his ATV on the
trails on a regular basis.
Damage to the Lydia Dodge trail is the first problem the committee
has encountered from people tearing up a trail with a four-wheel-drive
vehicle, DiPietro said. Because it is the only trail that's damaged,
it is the only trail the committee has restricted for use.
The committee is organizing a public hearing on the trail's use,
she said, and they will talk with Spoerl about all of their options
before any hearing.
Dunbarton
Town hopes manual's a guide for sportsmanship
By LARA SKINNER
Staff Writer
lskinner@yourneighborhoodnews.com
Sportsmanlike behavior has always been
one rule from a list of unspoken ones used by members of the
Dunbarton Recreation Committee, coaches, players and parents.
Conflicts between parents, coaches and the committee over the
past year, however, has prompted the committee to look at its
policies again.
"You have a wide spectrum of expectations," Linda Morse
said about the parents and the committee.
Her children play on the town's basketball league. Last fall,
according to letters filed in the minutes of a selectmen's meeting,
a parent and a coach got into a shouting match between practices
because of some overlap in practice times.
It was the latest in a string of tense moments, Morse said.
Morse started working with the committee to develop a policy
manual and a code of ethics for the town leagues about the same
time as the shouting incident.
A written policy should help to ensure that everyone has the
same expectations of each other, she said.
The recreation committee met for a workshop session on the morning
of Sunday, May 2, to revise a draft of the policies it intends
to adopt.
Sections of the manual draft addressed how to discipline coaches
and players for inappropriate conduct, and parent responsibilities
when their child is a member of a town team.
Selection methods for coaches and assistant coaches for the teams
could include a criminal background check, and the committee
members discussed putting a minimum age limit on a coach's position.
If the committee needs to terminate a coach from his or her position,
there will be a policy for that, too.
Parents and players will also have to read and sign a code of
conduct agreement before they are accepted on a team.
Assistant softball coach and committee member Kim Vaillancourt
said the Sunday workshop was the third draft the committee has
worked on.
Putting the policies on paper will help to clear up a few different
things.
"If you have a question (about the program's policies),
it's very difficult to answer it if you don't have something
written to fall back on," she said.
Parents started attending the committee's meetings after a few
different conflicts, Vaillancourt said. They had discussed developing
a policy manual before, but the fall shouting incident made a
policy manual a first priority for the committee, she said.
Parents were willing to help the committee develop the manual
and a code of conduct. Morse said she searched for sports conduct
rules online, and passed her findings on to the committee.
She also researched turnover terms for coaches and committee
members. All of the recreation committee members are volunteers
appointed by the selectmen, and Morse said there aren't any terms
for the appointments.
A policy manual will also bring Dunbarton up to par with recreation
committees and departments in other towns.
Vaillancourt researched policy manuals from at least 11 other
towns, she said. Dunbarton, it seems, was the only town that
didn't have a written manual. It is also one of the few towns
that organizes a recreational sports program through a committee
of volunteers. Most towns have a department and a director, Vaillancourt
said.
"Fortunately, there are a lot of great people out there
willing to sit down with me," she said.
Developing the manual and code of conduct is a true group effort,
she said, because there are committee members and parents involved.
A copy of the final draft of the policy manual and the code of
conduct should be available at the next committee meeting on
Thursday, May 20, at 8 p.m.
Vaillancourt said she is going to ask about holding another public
hearing after the draft is available. A final draft should be
done by June, she said.
Goffstown
Riffing on the Bard at GAHS
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By RUSS CHOMA
Staff Writer
rchoma@yourneighborhoodnews.com
As anyone who has taken high school English
knows, Shakespeare can be daunting.
Now imagine having to not only get a handle on his entire body
of work, but turn around and present it to your classmates in
40 minutes.
Yet, somehow, the handful of students who make up the Goffstown
AREA High School Drama Society accomplished that very feat
sort of.
For the past several months, three student actors and a supporting
cast of student technicians and GAHS teacher Lee Mannion, have
been busy practicing, prepping and finally performing a 40-minute,
three-person rendition of "The Complete Works of William
Shakespeare (abridged)."
As the name implies, the play touches,
very briefly, on all 37 of Shakespeare's plays and adds spice
to the various story lines.
Tim Ahern, a GAHS junior and one of the three cast members, explained
that while the production stayed true to the original works,
for every bit that was left out, some sort of new twist was added.
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TAKING A STAB Angela Smith,
Anna Rothman and Tim Ahern put their unique spin on the Bard's
work in a performance of the Goffstown AREA High School's Drama
Society. (R. Choma Photo)
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As if Shakespeare isn't challenging
enough for most high school students, this trio decided to add
a few wrinkles to the master's works.
"It's kind of like a parody of Shakespeare," said Ahern.
"We do 'Hamlet,' but very quickly. Then we do it again.
And then we do it backwards."
But instead of confusing or irritating audiences, the production
has impressed and wowed them.
The Drama Society performed the production four times for fellow
students at GAHS, and according to Mannion at each performance
students were actually sneaking in to catch some Shakespeare.
Ahern credits the show's lighthearted take on some of the weightier
works.
"We really make Shakespeare more goofy and more fun for
teenagers who might not usually like it," he said.
After the success with their peers, the students took their show
on the road first to John Stark and then onto the New Hampshire
Education Theater Guild's Regional Festival, where the group
won "Best Performance."
This award was repeated at the statewide level, granting the
students the opportunity to perform one more time at the New
England Theater Conference in Fairfield, Maine, over April vacation.
Ahern and his two fellow actors, Anna Rothman, a junior, and
Angela Smith, a senior, also earned individual awards for Excellence
in Acting.
Supporting the three cast members in their task of performing
37 plays in 40 minutes were Nicole Ainsworth and Jerry Craven,
both juniors, who helped manage set design, construction and
costumes.
Both the actors, who each had to play dozens of characters, and
the tech crew, which had to help them through a mind-boggling
43 costume changes, said they found the production to be challenging.
"It was very intense," Smith said. "There were
only three of us and we had more lines than we probably every
had before."
But when asked if it was worth it, all members cast and
crew don't hesitate to say it was.
For his part, Ahern said, participating in the production created
new situations in theater that he hadn't encountered before.
"There was a lot more physical comedy," he explained.
"Obviously, we didn't usually do five or six character changes
in two minutes."
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