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This week's stories: (click on the headline
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We have listed the warrants and candidates
in advance of elections on March 9 so you can see them before
the vote. Election results will be posted as soon as we get them
on the night of March 9. See your town's warrants here:
Hooksett
School, Hooksett
Town (for May elections), Allenstown,
Auburn, Candia,
Epsom and Pembroke.
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School
Funding
Claremont fails students
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By RUSS CHOMA
Staff Writer
rchoma@yourneighborhood
news.com
In a noisy hallway, a boy tries to read.
He leans over his book and studies it closely. A teacher is by
the student's side and attempts to help him.
Just a few yards down the hall, two dozen chatty students finish
up their art class, held in the cafeteria,
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and stream into the hallway to make
room for the 100 or so eighth-graders heading to lunch.
Betsey Stebbins, the principal of Allenstown's
Armand R. Dupont School, does not like scenes like this, but
she doesn't seem to have many options. At both Dupont and Allenstown
Elementary School, there are enough classrooms for the core classes;
but, with as many as 18 percent of the student population coded
as special education, many of whom need additional instruction
or reading tutoring, every inch of space is put to use.
As for the students meeting for art class in the cafeteria, Stebbins
sees that as a minor victory of sorts. She's just pleased there
is an art class. There are no music classes here, and health
education does not exist in the Allenstown schools. Providing
all three subjects is, in fact, one of the minimum requirements
for a school district if it's to keep its accreditation from
the state.
"Oh yeah, but nothing here meets minimum
standards," Stebbins says ruefully when asked about the
requirements. "The state usually will write you a letter,
they will tell you that you are not in compliance with minimum
standards, and they will do that year after year after year."
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MAKING DO Allenstown
Elementary School art teacher Tammy Colby oversees the town's
other art teachers as well as classes of her own. Her office
was once the school janitor's storage closet.
(Eric Baxter Photo)
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The problem persists in Allenstown
because there's a perpetual lack of funding. It's not that the
town doesn't want to support education, but with virtually no
commercial tax base and low residential property values, the
tax revenue simply isn't there.
The Claremont ruling
Allenstown is not alone.
Dozens of other communities across the state with low property
valuations, including Weare, have struggled to fund their schools.
At the other end of the spectrum, towns considered wealthy, like
Bedford and Hopkinton, have gained a windfall from the state's
funding formula.
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In the 1990s, the New Hampshire Supreme
Court issued a pair of rulings that were intended to bring equality
to the way school districts across the region are funded.
But there are few who believe that equality has been achieved.
The Supreme Court rulings known as Claremont I and II held that
the state constitution "imposes a duty on the state to provide
a constitutionally adequate education to every educable child
in the public schools in (this state) and to guarantee adequate
funding."
The Claremont School District and four other towns Allenstown,
Pittsfield, Franklin and Lisbon brought the original suit
in 1991.
In 1997, the court upheld earlier decisions and, two years later,
a new statewide property tax was introduced as a way to provide
all districts with "adequacy" funding.
Under the new system, the funding was distributed on the basis
of "assessed valuation per pupil" or the value
of taxable property divided per pupil.
July 1 will mark the fifth anniversary of the statewide property
tax.
But did it help?
To many, however, the situation in the schools has not changed
a bit.
Allenstown Elementary School Principal
Theresa Kenny was an assistant principal at the time the original
suit was filed, and testified in the case.
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NO HOME ROOM Dupont School French
teacher Tammy Gladu has no classroom, so she uses a hall table
to correct papers and tests and prepare for her next lesson.
(Eric Baxter Photo)
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"I think our students in Allenstown
deserve to have as much money spent on their education as any
student in Rye or Bow," she said, referring to two so-called
property-rich towns.
Kenny made her comments while giving a tour of her school. She
pointed out a locker room complete with showers now
being used for occupational therapy classes. She showed a classroom,
divided by temporary partitions, that is used by as many as six
teachers at once to tutor special-education students.
"This is a good school," Kenny said. "We do a
lot with a little. We become magicians when it comes to money
and finding grants otherwise, we don't get any."
Last year, Allenstown received $3 million in adequacy aid, but
for the 2001-02 school year, it spent only $5,994 per student
far below the state average of $7,227.
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Growth strains some schools
Five years after the Claremont decision, Allenstown and other
school districts in the state are still falling short when it
comes to adequacy funding.
Take, for example, Weare, which received $4.8 million in adequacy
money last year. Weare School Board Chairman Matt Thomas said
the money is welcome.
"It's a significant amount of money," he said. "Anything
that helps in the education budget is very much needed. We spend
considerably less than the state average on students."
Thomas said Weare schools don't have trouble providing curriculum
but they are nevertheless bursting at the seams.
"We're a community that's growing
extremely quickly, so our schools have grown," he said.
"And so we find ourselves at a point where our middle school
is outdated, and it's bordering on unhealthy. We're over what
the state allows for total population in terms of square footage,
property acreage and classroom size."
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POOLSIDE? This pool ladder is used as
a fire escape from a basement special education classroom at
the Dupont School in Allenstown. It does meet code. (Eric Baxter
Photo)
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Like Allenstown, Thomas doesn't see
the community necessarily unwilling to support education
but it can't always provide what the district asks for.
"From a curriculum standpoint, that's actually an area where
we've had success. We've kept up," he said. "I guess
I would say we've been fortunate, because the town has been willing
to spend there. Where they haven't is in the areas of additional
staff and updating technology. We've had some default budgets
and we've had to make some hard choices."
School funding vs. tax relief
One complaint made by officials in both Allenstown and Weare
is that the money they are receiving in state aid is not necessarily
going toward education.
According to the final Claremont decision in 1997, "the
record demonstrates that a number of plaintiff communities are
unable to meet existing standards despite assessing disproportionate
and unreasonable taxes."
If property-poor towns were not burdened by unreasonable tax
rates, those communities could better determine how to fund their
own school systems. Therefore, the adequacy money could be used
by towns to alleviate the overall tax burden.
School district officials say both Allenstown and Weare residents
saw a precipitous drop in their taxes. Unfortunately, they say,
neither school system felt much of the windfall.
"We had almost a 30 percent drop in the tax bill in our
first year, but the decision was made to not spend the money
on education," Thomas said. "So now it's a battle to
try and get it back (for the schools.)"
School district officials
in the poorer towns weren't the only ones irritated about how
the adequacy money was being used.
A number of towns, such as Rye and Moultonborough, had become
so-called "donor towns." Residents contributed millions
each year through the state property tax, but their school systems
didn't see any money coming back.
The 2003 fiscal year was the final year of the old system. New
legislation created a revised formula to determine adequacy aid.
Although a plan has been put into place, half a dozen major amendments
have been proposed to the revision. Each variation divvies up
the pot of money for state aid slightly differently, but a few
things are constant in all of them: The overall state tax rate
will be cut, donor towns will be eliminated and the needier towns
like Allenstown will receive more aid.
Other towns, like Bedford wealthy by Allenstown's standards
but still the recipient of $2.9 million in adequacy money last
year will lose. |
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NOT MUCH TO LOOK AT Dupont
Principal Betsy Stebbins surveys the locker room at the school,
where chicken wire fences off equipment and paint peels in the
shower area. The room is used by the girls basketball team. The
boys' locker room is similar. (Eric Baxter Photo)
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Bedford does not yet know what the
long-term implications of a change in the formula will mean for
the district. But School Board Chairman Sue Thomas still worries
about where the money will be spent.
"I have no problem with Bedford losing money and having
it going to another town as long as it's going towards
education fixing the schools, improving the curriculum,"
she said. "But not if it's just going to another town to
lower another town's tax rate and keeping the (needy) schools
where they are. If they get more because they need more, and
they can use it to improve the school system, then it's a good
thing."
Still have problems
Inside the walls of the Allenstown schools, almost a decade and
a half after the original Claremont lawsuit was brought
there is still a sense that things are very wrong.
"We should be able to say kids' futures are worth funding
no matter where you live," Kenny said as she pointed out
another undersized classroom. "Claremont was supposed to
solve that, but we've yet to see any change. You still see a
lot of inequity."
Funding
Will it stink?
Neighbors say yes, officials no; composting
at issue March 9
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By KATE BENWAY
Staff Writer
kbenway@yourneighborhoodnews.com
Sewer officials plan to build a composting
facility in Hooksett no matter what the vote turns out to be
on a warrant article asking for land for that facility.
After its defeat at the polls last year, a proposal to bring
composting to Hooksett has been revamped, now featuring an enclosed
building that officials said will prevent odors from wafting
over nearby neighborhoods.
Sewer commission officials said they will build the composting
facility on either the seven-acre parcel next to the Hooksett
Memorial School or in the rear of the wastewater treatment facility
on land it already owns.
A lawsuit, combined with last-minute anti-composting campaigning
last year, spelled the end of the 2003 warrant article giving
seven acres of school-owned land to the sewer commission.
But an aggressive campaign by the sewer commission aimed at answering
residents' questions and making assurances is in full force this
year.
Officials have mailed informational brochures to residents and
hired a public relations firm to help pitch the idea.
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JUST DIRT Sewer Commission
Sid Baines holds the result of composting. (Kate Benway Photo)
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"We have heard the complaints
and that's why our plan is to build an enclosed facility and
put in a bio-filter," said Sid Baines, chairman of the sewer
commission. "I honestly believe that the stench won't be
a problem."
Neighbors say it stinks
Residents whose homes sit across the river from the wastewater
treatment facility have been particularly vocal, even filing
a lawsuit in an attempt to bar the composting project from going
through.
"Composting doesn't belong next to a school and within 1,200
feet of us across the river," said Joan Bailey, one
of the organizers of CACO (Citizens Against Composting Odor).
Bailey said she has been frustrated that town councilors have
not been helpful and that sewer officials, like Baines, believe
the odor can even be controlled.
Three pilot programs conducted over the last three summers have
produced unbearable odors, said Bailey, forcing her indoors.
"Even with odor controls, it still stunk as bad," she
said.
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Plans to keep odors in check
But Baines said those pilot programs were done without an enclosed
facility and do not reflect the benefit of the new proposal.
Composting consists of any number of "recipes" that
combine biosolids or sewage with wood chips, wood
ash or other natural materials.
Baines said the composting facility will combine 25 percent sewer
sludge, 50 percent wood chips and another 25 percent in wood
ash, leaves or brush in heaps.
A batch takes 28 days to completely break down and under the
proposal, piles of compost would sit on the floor of the enclosed
building, stirred every so often.
The result, which is trucked out of the building onto surrounding
land, is essentially dirt; a loam that can be used as fertilizer
and would be generally free for residents' taking.
No stopping it
And while officials said housing the building on the seven-acre
parcel is ideal,
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HERE OR THERE? This aerial view
shows the Hooksett sewage plant by the river. The two white blocks
show where the composting facility could go. The one closer to
the plant is where the facility will go if the land transfer
from the school (in the bottom right corner) is not approved
March 9. Neighbors across the river have complained of odors
from composting. (Courtesy Photo)
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the reality is that without those seven acres, there is a Plan
B: Put the same enclosed facility, though a bit smaller, behind
the wastewater treatment plant, on sewer-owned land.
But Baines doesn't want to resort to Plan B. He believes the
new proposal will restrict any odors from wafting across the
river or anywhere, for that matter.
"When we initially started this thing, it was an open-sided
building," he said. "Everything we've seen indicated
it could be done with that kind of a building, but we wanted
to enclose it to appease the worries of the people across the
river."
Another new addition to the proposal is a bio filter, suggested
by a bio-engineering firm the sewer commission hired.
"The bio filter is very effective. It creates negative pressure,
sucking the air out of the building and into the bio filter.
Even when you open the door, it increases that vacuum effect," said
Baines.
The filter sucks air from the enclosed facility and pumps it
into a hole in the ground that's filled with wood chips. The
wood chips absorb the odors, said Baines.
Questions about plan
But Bailey said she and other CACO members have consistently
questioned Baines and other officials about the costs of the
building and bio-filter.
Baines has said money for the project is already in his budget,
but Bailey said that's misleading.
"They have not been able to give us any specifications,"
she said. "And really, they say they're going to have an
enclosed building with state-of-the-art things, but go to Merrimack.
People two to three miles away complain of odors. That place
stinks to the high heavens."
The composting, she said, not only presents an inherent odor,
but, when using sludge, results in bacteria-laden product.
"I agree to composting to some extent, but not when it's
coming from a sewer and when you have heavy metals and household
detergents being disposed of," she said.
But in the face of those challenges, Baines holds his ground.
Financial savings
Besides boasting odor-controlling elements, ratepayers will see
a sizable savings because of the efficiency associated with composting,
he said.
Officials said the move would save ratepayers $175,000 annually
in the disposal of biosolids and estimated a $100 savings on
the average ratepayer's annual sewer bill.
"It'll also help out the transfer station because they can
dump their grass and brush here rather than truck it offsite,
which costs $300 to $400 per truckload," said Baines.
But the talk of benefits doesn't nullify the pending lawsuit
that aims to shut down the composting idea forever.
"If this goes through and we don't win the vote, that plant
will be closed down," said Bailey. "CACO members and
residents cannot live with those odors, but if (Baines) wants
to spend all the taxpayers' money on a building that will be
closed down, more power to him."
Allenstown
Aging fire trucks costly to maintain
or replace
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By RUSS CHOMA
Staff Writer
rchoma@yourneighborhoodnews.com
Pulling into the firehouse driveway last
summer, the steering on Allenstown Fire Engine Number Two
went.
Literally.
Part of the steering apparatus simply fell off the truck.
Allenstown Fire Chief Everett Chaput has nightmares about that
kind of thing happening.
"Had that happened on the way to a call when the truck was
rolling down Route 28 at 55 mph, the truck would've gotten in
an accident and injured or probably killed somebody," he
said.
The truck was able to be repaired a "pricey repair",
says Chaput. But it took weeks. The truck, a 1976 American LaFrance,
was bought used from the Natick, Mass., Fire Department and refurbished
in 1987.
Chaput says the truck is simply aging and
in need of replacement.
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28 YEARS OLD Lt. Keith Lambert
leans against the Allenstown Fire Department's oldest fire truck.
This past summer, a steering mechanism fell off as it was pulling
into the garage. Parts are difficult to find for such old vehicles
and it took weeks to fix that problem. (Russ Choma Photo)
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"Basically it's just been a bunch
of ongoing problems," he said. "We've had pump
problems, we've had brake problems with it, we've alternator
problems.
"It's an antique, so finding parts is incredibly hard to
do," Chaput said. "And when you do (find parts),
you pay more and normally they are in some remote place
so you pay to get them there."
Chaput said the estimated trade-in value of the truck is about
$5,000, so the cost of maintaining the truck seems out of proportion.
For example, he said the $1,200 he plans to spend on new tires
doesn't make financial sense.
Chaput is optimistic that if approved, Article 12 would address
the situation. The article asks voters to approve $649,000. The
money would not only allow the department to replace Engine Two,
but also Engine One, a 1981 American LaFrance model.
"The average lifespan (of a truck) is 20 years," Chaput
said. "Two have exceeded that and one is about to hit
it. So the trucks are in poor shape, and what's happened is we've
just put it off too long."
Fire officials say that putting off new purchases any longer
would simply be a waste of money.
Chaput said the current Rescue One truck, which serves as a "rolling
toolbox" carrying the Jaws of Life and other rescue equipment,
was purchased new for $28,000. The current estimate for the price
of refurbishing it is $28,500. Chaput also points out that the
department paid $33,000 for repairs on the whole fleet last year
an amount that makes him question the fiscal sense in keeping
the old trucks.
"There comes a time and a place where you need to play catch-up
and we're at that point," he said. "And the reality
folks, is that it's not going to be any cheaper to wait. No matter
how long you put this off, you're never going to make this a
cheaper expense."
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