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This week's stories: (click on the headline
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Hooksett
High school
tuition still unsettled
Hooksett, Candia and Auburn get no answers
from Manchester on extra $500 per student
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By KATE BENWAY
Staff Writer
kbenway@yourneighborhoodnews.com
With budget deadlines looming, SAU 15 officials
are getting frustrated that a solution to the tuition hitch
one that demands about $500 more per high school student sent
to Manchester has not been found.
"We have expressed our misgivings with it, but it's still
sitting up in the air," said Candia School Board Chairman
William Zarges. "This is about the principle. This is exactly
the type of situation we've been trying to avoid."
The situation has been called a lot of things, including a miscommunication,
but boils down to one of the sending towns' prime assumptions
not panning out that there would be no financial surprises.
Auburn, Candia and Hooksett school officials calculated their
high school tuition costs based on the assumption that Manchester
would make a payment on the principal of the 20-year bond it
issued for the renovation of the city's schools.
Because that payment is not being made this year, the city will
not be eligible to receive state building aid that would grant
the city a 30 percent reimbursement on the principal payment.
The towns had expected that reimbursement to filter back, but
it won't, leaving the cost per student $500 higher than originally
planned.
In all, Auburn is looking at shelling out $150,000 more to cover
its students, Candia about $85,000 to $90,000 more and Hooksett
nearly $300,000 more. Officials had expected to pay about $8,200
per student; $1,500 of that is the capital cost estimate that
is now being affected by about $500.
Manchester negotiator Brad Cook noted that this coming budget
year is the only one that will be affected and that the city
plans to make a payment on the principal for the 2005-06 year.
"I don't think the sub-part of the details have anything
to do with next year's budget, to tell you the truth," said
Cook. "I fully expect this to be resolved well in advance
of their budget deadlines."
But local officials said those deadlines have arrived.
"We have just finished scheduling a Hooksett School Board
meeting immediately prior to our Thursday, Jan. 15, budget hearing.
The only item on the agenda is the high school tuition line,"
said Becky Berk, chairman of the Hooksett School Board. "In
my view, a hearing doesn't serve a very useful purpose if the
numbers that are being presented can't be finalized."
Berk, Zarges, Auburn School Board Chairman Elaine Hobbs and SAU
15 Superintendent Robert Suprenant all said they expected a meeting
with Manchester officials during the week of Jan. 12. As of press
time on Monday, Jan. 12, all said that meeting had not been scheduled.
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Auburn residents ask for input
By LARA SKINNER
Staff Writer
lskinner@yourneighborhoodnews.com
It may not have been a crowd, but some
residents are pressing the Auburn School Board for answers regarding
the city's high school tuition contract.
After making numerous calls to action, resident Everett Harriman
and other parents showed up at the evening meeting on Monday,
Jan. 12, and pressed the board for answers on the contract they
signed with the Manchester School District.
"I'm going to continue to call for improved dialogue between
yourselves and ourselves," he said.
SAU 15 Superintendent Robert Suprenant gave the board and parents
some preliminary tuition numbers, and then reminded everyone
that there is some good news. Even though Manchester isn't going
to start paying on the bond premium immediately, the schools
will start to receive the 30 percent capital costs deduction
through the state's building reimbursement funds in the 2005-06
school year.
School board members were having a hard time believing that this
was good news because of the immediate increase the school will
owe in tuition. Suprenant said he has told Manchester he needs
solid numbers on the increase by Thursday, Jan. 15, because Hooksett
needs the figures for its budget.
Not knowing the numbers seemed to please Harriman even less.
He asked Suprenant if the schools would continue to get the 30
percent in years 21 and 22 of Manchester's bond, and why the
board didn't know about the building costs sooner.
Estimates on the building costs wouldn't have come through as
soon as November without constant questioning from the superintendent's
office though, Suprenant said. But no one could have known that
Manchester would decide to hold off on paying the bond premiums
for the first two years before the Auburn School Board was done
planning its budget for the current school year.
"We knew all along there was going to be a significant boost
this year because there have been no capital costs before this
year," Suprenant said.
Auburn works on the school budget and submits it to the budget
committee by February if everything moves right along. Auburn
didn't sign a contract with Manchester until the end of June.
Harriman asked if Suprenant and the board had even talked to
the right people in Manchester regarding the capital costs.
School Board Chairman Elaine Hobbs had to intervene when Harriman
approached the meeting table. She asked him to refrain from being
argumentative, and Harriman answered that he was being "combative."
Throughout the back and forth, resident Crystal Marquis sat and
listened. She has one son at Memorial High School, and what she
wanted to know the most was how the increase would affect her
taxes. Without a definite number from Manchester, no one on the
board could answer her question.
"I understand that they don't really have solid information
for us yet, that they're still in negotiations," she said.
When the information does reach the board, Marquis said she hoped
it would quickly find its way to the taxpayers too.
The school board hasn't scheduled any public hearings on the
tuition increase, and Hobbs said school board members wouldn't
consider anything until they found out if there are going to
be significant increases to the school budget.
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"I'm certainly hoping for a meeting this week because I need
something for my budgets," said Suprenant, adding that he
made attempts to reach Manchester negotiators.
But Cook didn't seem as concerned.
"They've asked for a credit from the get-go and I think
figuring out how to do that without costing anybody a lot of
money is what we're doing," he said. "It's my understanding
that they have found a way to do that."
But if Manchester officials had found a way to grant the three
towns a credit, local officials had not been informed of that
at press time.
And all of them continued to hold the line.
"I think we have an interpretation of this contract and
we feel that the contents of the agreement need to be upheld
and that's our position," said Suprenant. "We expect
a tuition estimate based on the intent of the contract."
Zarges agreed.
"They did come back with something, but it was unacceptable,"
he said, wishing to not elaborate further on the negotiating
details.
"This is what we tried to avoid by putting language into
the contract," said Zarges.
But Cook said he has no doubt the issue will be smoothed over
and said the concern is about timing.
"We went and investigated a bunch of things," he said.
"It becomes a timing issue on who pays what when so it doesn't
have a disproportionate effect on anybody. I fully expect it
to be resolved."
Allenstown
A laptop for
every seventh-grader
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By RUSS CHOMA
Staff Writer
rchoma@yourneighborhoodnews.com
In the old days, it was easy to pick out
the teacher's pet it was the one who was early to school,
armed with perfect homework and a shiny apple on their desk.
But walk into a seventh grade classroom at Armand Dupont
Middle School, and every student has a shiny apple on their desk.
A shiny white iMac laptop computer, to be exact.
And though not every student armed with a laptop will have a
spotless attendance record and perfect homework, teachers and
school officials think the new computers might just give all
students the extra motivation and ability to become the teacher's
pet.
Principal Betsy Cox Stebbins said the laptops which every
seventh-grade student and teacher received as part of a pilot
program launched by Gov. Craig Benson were going to make
a huge difference.
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TODAY'S TECHNOLOGY Armand Dupont
School students Kaleigh Shaffer, Ashley Chevrette and Dominique
Pena explore the new possibilities that come with opening up
their newest "text book" a brand new Apple iMac
laptop. (Russ Choma Photo)
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"I think, first and foremost, we are
catching up to the level of technology that most of the kids
are already at," she said. "Instead of a kid walking
through the front door of a school and going back in time, they
will be where technology is today."
More than just catching up with current technical trends, Stebbins
said the computers will actually be a tremendous learning tool.
"This will excite them," she said. "It will
give them reason to be in school on time every day and to pay
attention in classes.
"And the knowledge they will gain, the vast amount (of information)
they will have access to will ultimately make them better prepared
for the future," Stebbins said.
And what was the reaction from the students who received the
new computers?
"Cool," said 13-year-old Kevin Carbonneau, not looking
up from his computer where he was exploring a multimedia encyclopedia
program. "We're not going to always use a textbook
we're going to use the Internet."
Asked what else he liked about his new computer, Carbonneau momentarily
pried himself from his computer to look up.
"It's cool because we can surf the Web without any wires," he
said.
According to seventh-grade language arts teacher Peter Letvinchuk,
those two aspects expanded resources on the Web and wireless
connectivity are two things he sees benefiting the students
the most.
"We will use these extensively in class, but we're not getting
rid of textbooks," he said.
Instead, the laptops will allow teachers to expand on what textbooks
already teach.
"Let's say I'm a history teacher and I'm teaching about
the Battle of Lexington and Concord," Letvinchuk said, offering
an example. "My textbook may only have two or three paragraphs
on it. On the Internet we can find all different versions
of it, maybe a British one. Now we'll have volumes available
as opposed to one edited piece in a book."
Stebbins said each classroom had been connected to the Internet
before, but every student having a computer now changes everything.
"We had one or two (computers) in every classroom, and the
problem with that is you can't teach to the class with only one
or two," she said.
Because each student has a computer and newly installed wireless
technology allows all students to participate, students are drawn
into the process, said Stebbins and Letvinchuk.
"That's why Angus King (the former Maine governor who developed
a similar program that Benson's is based on) got the brainstorm
from this," Stebbins said. "The only way to truly incorporate
technology into the classroom is for each kid to have one. And
it's true you have to have one at every desk for every
kid. Even two to one doesn't work."
The program, funded by corporate donations, gave laptop computers
to students at five other schools. For now, the students can
only carry their laptops from classroom to classroom, but Letvinchuk
said if students can prove themselves through good attendance
and homework records, they will be allowed to take the computers
home.
In launching the program, Gov. Benson said students are "pioneers
of a new educational world."
"Even though they are only kids, they are taking a very
grown-up approach," Letvinchuk said. "I think they're
taking their roles as pioneers pretty seriously."
Pembroke
Accident-prone
intersection
Residents ask for traffic light at Route
3 and Pembroke Hill Road
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By RUSS CHOMA
Staff Writer
rchoma@yourneighborhoodnews.com
Pembroke's selectmen and state legislators
have agreed to work together and pursue state funding to erect
a traffic light at a dangerous intersection on Route 3.
Recently awarded a "centroid" a monument designating
the population center of New Hampshire Pembroke also finds
itself becoming a regional crossroads and the victim of increasing
traffic congestion. The epicenter of traffic problems in town
is squarely focused on the intersection of Route 3 and Pembroke
Hill Road.
Over the past several years, as the area population has spiked,
and the number of drivers who daily cruise down Route 3 in Pembroke
increases, residents and public officials have watched with growing
concern.
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"We all knew it was only a
matter of time before a major accident happened. Probably a fatality.
And we don't want to see (another fatality) happen again."
Pat Fair,
Pembroke
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During peak traffic hours, drivers can
wait up to 14 minutes to get through the intersection. More disturbing
is the marked increase in accidents at the intersection, including
one this past November in which 81-year-old Avis Davis was killed.
"I think we had 21 accidents in total since the year 2001
(at that intersection)," said Pembroke Police Chief Wayne
Cheney. "Out of those 21, 10 were personal injury and one
was a fatality."
From 1998 to 2001, there were only nine accidents.
According to Pat Fair, a Pembroke resident who lives near the
intersection, what has changed is the sheer amount of traffic
going through the intersection.
"There's a lot of traffic, and, with the schools, it puts
additional traffic through there," she said. "We all
knew it was only a matter of time before a major accident happened.
Probably a fatality. And we don't want to see (another fatality)
happen again."
Fair and a number of her neighbors formed a committee to study
the problem and get a traffic light installed.
The group put together a memo, which they presented to the selectmen
at a Jan. 5 meeting, outlining some key facts about the intersection.
The group also included a number of traffic volume statistics
taken from a 2002 Central New Hampshire Planning Commission study,
which found daily traffic had increased by 132 percent at the
intersection. A study done by private developer REI Service
Corporation for a proposed development found that, on average,
15,000 cars per day travel through the intersection, with more
than 1,300 at peak evening communite hours.
The memo also noted that Pembroke Hill School and the Green Valley
School were both located near the intersection. The group estimates
that both schools have an increasing number of students being
dropped off and picked up by parents in cars.
The group also expressed concern that seven buses, each making
four trips through the intersection daily, are put at risk.
"We do not want to see the next accident be with a school
bus or involving children going to or from school," the
memo said. "Therefore, we ask the board to formally request
a traffic light at this dangerous intersection."
According to the memo, when neighbors made a December inquiry
with the state Department of Transportation, they were told the
traffic volume did not "warrant a traffic light there."
However, as a result of the residents' request, selectmen voted
to send a letter signed at the Jan. 12 meeting which
asked state legislators to aid in setting up a meeting with state officials
to rethink the situation.
Chief Cheney said he was optimistic about a meeting with state
transportation officials and said that in the meantime his department
and others are working to keep the situation safe.
"I think the main thing to know is that we'll sit down with
all the (town) department heads and sit down with the DOT,"
he said. "We've got everybody's involvement to keep our
roads safe."
Auburn
Kindergartners
learn what peace means
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By AMY FORTIER
Correspondent
Many of us express wishes for peace on
earth over the holidays, but at the Auburn Children's House,
a Montessori kindergarten on Rockingham Road owned by Connie
Mercier, 46, peace has been the topic of study since the start
of the school year.
Judi Lee, 54, of Goffstown, has taught Montessori kindergarten
for more than 20 years, but this year is a little different as
she has developed a special "peace curriculum" for
her kindergarten class.
Lee was inspired to concentrate on peace this year when she saw
many of her children exhibiting violent and distressing behavior.
She attributes this to increasing violence in the media and in
the world that children glean from watching hours of TV after
school.
Viewing violence on television greatly affects children under
the age of 6 because at this age they have a hard time differentiating
from fantasy and reality, she said.
Lee and teachers Mercier and Karen Leech-Dorius invited all the
parents to meet with them so that they could discuss the negative
effect of television.
They explained that children tend to mimic the behavior they
see on TV, and to see this behavior as normal. Children are also
bombarded with advertisements for unhealthy snack food, which
can cause them to overeat while remaining sedentary, thus causing
weight problems, they said.
After four months of the peace curriculum,
the children behave very differently, said Lee. The main creed
all the children in the school abide by is "Peace means
taking care of ourselves, each other and the environment."
Children are expected to try to solve their own problems by discussing
them with each other and finding a resolution that both can agree
on. Lee calls this a win/win solution as both children have learned
how to communicate, cooperate, and find a peaceful solution to
a conflict.
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PEACE POSTER William
McCarty, 5, of Auburn, points to his illustration on the peace
poster the kindergarten at Auburn Montessori Children's House
made together. Each child contributed an illustration that coincides
with their peace creed. (Amy Fortier Photo)
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The children have also been studying various
situations that can develop into conflicts and they term these
"walls." Walls divide us and interfere with communication
and positive interaction, thus causing serious conflicts, said
the teachers.
Together, the Montessori children built a wall on their classroom
wall. On each of the paper bricks, a child has written an act
that helps build a wall such as yelling, rudeness, hitting, and
racism. Yet this wall is slowly being dismantled because every
time a child does something that corresponds with the peace creed,
Lee removes a brick and uses it to build a bridge over the wall.
In addition to maintaining a peaceful classroom, the Montessori
children are working to promote peace in the outside world. They
have sent their artwork to local nursing homes to cheer the elderly
and they are currently collecting food, diapers and warm clothing
to send to Native American reservations in the Midwest.
Hooksett
Leaky Safety
Center may cost thousands to fix
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By LARA SKINNER
Staff Writer
lskinner@yourneighborhoodnews.com
Water stains are a common sight on the
ceiling tiles of the Hooksett Safety Center off of Route 3. Most
buildings get leaks from time to time, but Fire Warden Harold
Murray said the water stains started to show up soon after the
building was completed in 1997.
Fixing the leaks has become more of a problem than Murray anticipated.
Councilor Paul Loiselle said he tried to contact the builder,
Kelly Construction Co. Inc., while he was the acting town administrator
to see if they could come out and take a look at the complex.
No one at the company seemed very interested in the problem though,
he said, and the council had to get outside estimates on what
could be wrong.
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The Hooksett Safety Center shortly
after it was built in 1997. (File photo)
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Murray is left trying to work with what
he can see.
"The only facts are: When it rains, we've got leaks,"
he said.
A steady, straight rain doesn't find its way into the building.
But when wind blows the rain, the building leaks along the south
wall, which faces the visitor parking lot. Brown blotches develop
on the ceiling tiles about where the fire chief's office ends
and the second story of the main building begins. There isn't
a continuous line of water along the ceiling, but blotches show
up outside of the chief's office, in the front lobby and in the
meeting room. All of the spaces are located where the two-story
building meets the one-story extension.
Finding where a leak begins means that someone has to go up into
the attic space when it is raining. The vapor barrier put up
during the building's construction may even have to be removed,
said Murray.
Even if they go through these steps, Murray said water from a
leak usually travels along beams and ducts inside the building,
so even if he could find where the drip ends before it drops
to the ceiling tiles, he still wouldn't necessarily know where
the leak starts.
Windows on the second floor might be causing the problem, and
resealing the window frames is one option the council has considered.
The lowest bid to come in for a resealing project was $11,000,
but councilors had a hard time approving the funds.
"That's a lot of money to fix something that we don't even
know where it's coming from," Councilor George Longfellow
said.
Murray said he has a few theories as to where the leaks might
start. Windows on the second floor might not be level, or caulking
used to seal the frames could be falling apart. Metal sheets,
called flashing, that help to seal the connection between the
second floor and the first floor extension might cover small
drains, called weeps, installed in the brick wall. Water would
build up and eventually start leaking into the building because
it can't get to the outside.
Pictures taken by a contractor who has put in a bid on what it
would take to fix the problem help to support some of Murray's
theories. Without really getting into the building they won't
know for sure, he said.
Once they find where the leaks are coming from, then they have
to get the money for the repairs in the budget.
Longfellow said the council is considering putting $5,000 into
the repair line for the town budget, but that money covers repairs
to all of the town buildings. Repairs get prioritized, and the
safety complex hasn't come up to the top of the list yet.
Murray said he is concerned that the insulation in the ceiling
will start to lose its ability to hold heat in the building if
it keeps getting wet from the leaks. Wet insulation can also
grow mold and mildew, and that could get into the heating and
ventilation system.
"We have to find some money to fix what ever is wrong with
(the building)," Longfellow said.
Until a surveyor is brought in to find the water source though,
Murray said he doesn't think there's anything to do.
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