It's been forever since I've posted. I have been watching the school board meetings from under my desk. There's a fair amount to report that I'll try to get in here.
School Board Candidates Declared
Two at-large seats on the ORCSD board are up for election this March 8. Five people have filed to run for the two seats:
- Matthew Bacon, Madbury
- Marie Therese D’Agostino, Lee
- Giana Gelsey, Madbury
- Debra Harmon, Lee
- Heather Smith, Durham
Voters in all three towns are given identical ballots; each may vote for up to two of the above (or write in). The top two vote getters win a three year term as an at-large school board member. The ORCSD school board consists of seven members, three of which are town-specific seats, one each from Durham, Lee and Madbury, and the remaining four are at-large members, and can be from any of the three towns.
This list is from Durham Friday Updates. When I talked to the SAU office I believe they said Ms. D’Agostino's name was listed as Therese-Marie; I suppose it doesn't matter.
Friday Updates also reported Rita Bartell Drum from Lee is a candidate. According to the SAU office, Ms. Drum has withdrawn her candidacy. Since she did so during the filing period her name will not appear on the ballot. It's going to be a less interesting race without her; she's also known as Penny Schlachter.
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| Candidate Statement Summaries from 9/16/2020 |
Detailed biographies of the candidates will have to wait until the campaigns get going, but I'll tell you what I know so far. Matthew Bacon, Heather Smith and Debra Harmon vied for a board appointment when member Kenny Rotner passed away in August, 2020; their statements (as summarized by the district secretary) are in the inset above. Ms. Harmon was chosen as one of the two finalists, but ultimately Yusi Turell was appointed, and then elected to a seat last March. Giana Gelsey, Heather Smith and Matt Bacon all serve on the Moharimet PTO Executive Council. Giana Gelsey serves on the Long Range Planning Committee, did a great job running Candidates Night last year, and has been a voice for science and sanity in response to the pandemic, presenting a petition in August signed by I believe 167 community members in support of mask mandates. Marie Therese D’Agostino appears to have been a business administrator for school districts in Somersworth and Wakefield.
Tom Newkirk and Al Howland to retire from ORCSD board
Neither of the incumbents, Tom Newkirk and Al Howland, are seeking reelection. They've each served on the board 10 years. Al is a Durham Councilor as well. They were both an integral part of the TEAM, Tom, Ed Charle, Al and Maria Barth, who all were first elected in 2012, successfully wresting control of the board from the tea partiers who had taken over. My involvement with the ORCSD school board, and this blog, got started to support their effort.
I'll need a much longer essay than I'm willing to write tonight to thank Tom and Al for all the great service they've done for the district over the past decade. The community owes them a great debt for rescuing the school system in 2012, and for all the work that followed. The new Middle School, the track and field at the high school, and the expansions of Moharimet and Mast Way are only the most tangible results of their long service.
Thanks Tom and Al for everything you've done for us all. Good luck in your future endeavors.
Deliberative Session this Tuesday, February 8
Unlike most NH elections, same day registration is usually not available at DS. So you need to be already registered to vote in one of the towns to be given a voting card at DS. As far as I can tell, there is no provision for remote voting -- to vote at DS you must attend. There will be a separate area set up for those who would like to participate without a mask.
Each warrant article (ballot question), except the ones that elect people, is read at DS, then explained by a board member. Many, such as negotiated contracts, cannot be amended. Some, like the main budget, can be. A majority of voters at DS can change those numbers, overriding the judgement of the board. In pandemic times a majority might not be very many, which is scary -- they can rewrite the budget for the entire district.
The end of this post from 2018 describes the rules by which the DS is run; I won't repeat them here. I'll review the warrant articles to be voted on in the next section.
That's an ominous lack of a number for the five (!) new positions. Doesn't the current middle school already have custodians?
These are supposed to represent the change in the Local School property tax line, which is really the only line the district partially controls. These changes in millages are always presented without context, namely the current rate. Let's look those up.
The predicted Durham increase is .85/15.37 = 5.5%, the Lee increase is .16/19.80 = 0.8% and Madbury decreases .06/16.29 = 0.4%. As the asterisk indicates, that's before changes to the property base in the three towns are incorporated. I believe it also includes predictions about state aid to the towns that may not be accurate.
The Warrant
The school board has approved the warrant for 2022; it's the ballot with the candidates and questions to be voted on.
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| 2022 Warrant, Articles 1-4 |
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| 2022 Warrant, Articles 5-6 |
Articles 1 and 2 elect the moderator and school board; these are ignored at Deliberative Session.
Article 3 is the main budget, which will be $52.5M (including $400K from the other warrant articles). The board set a goal of 4.1% increase this year, which is slightly higher than the usual 3%. This is a particularly tough budget year that includes initial financing of the second half of the new middle school. According to the superintendent's public hearing presentation, the major expenses that determined the budget are:
The Durham asterisk remains missing on the tax impact slide:
The predicted Durham increase is .85/15.37 = 5.5%, the Lee increase is .16/19.80 = 0.8% and Madbury decreases .06/16.29 = 0.4%. As the asterisk indicates, that's before changes to the property base in the three towns are incorporated. I believe it also includes predictions about state aid to the towns that may not be accurate.
The default budget (what we get if NO on Article 3 wins) is $412K less than the proposed operating budget, saving 1% (and causing a big fracas) should the budget be voted down.
Warrant Articles 4 and 5 are the ORESPA (office and custodial staff) and ORPaSS (paraprofessional and support staff) agreements, both four years long, which is unusual. The numbers listed are the total year on year increases, total raises essentially. They're again hard to assess without context relating the current sizes of the expenditures. I won't bother to look those up right now; negotiated agreements are not allowed to be amended at DS. Warrant Article 6 calls for $125K to be put aside for the eventual purchase of the middle school solar array.
Only Articles 3 and 6 may be amended at DS this year.
Middle School To Open
The new middle school is getting close to opening. The middle school students have February 17 off, I believe to allow the teachers to set up in the new building. Move-in day is scheduled for Monday February 28th. It's exciting -- I'm looking forward to coaching Mathcounts in the new building on that first day.
After the old building is vacated it will be torn down and athletic fields erected, with the project completing by summer. There are plans to give away bricks from the oldest part of the building, built in 1935, as souvenirs.
Principal Richard announced tours of the old building on (I believe) Friday February 11, 4-6 and Saturday February 12, 10-12. They'll be doing community tours of the new building Thursday Feb 24 10 - noon and 4 - 6, and middle school parent nights on Tuesday, March 1st for 5th & 8th grade and Thursday, March 3rd for 6th & 7th grades.
Catherine Plourde, Special Education Administrator of the Year
ORCSD's own Director of Student Services Catherine Plourde won the award for 2022 New Hampshire Special Education Administrator of the Year. The award is given annually by the New Hampshire Association of Special Education Administrators. Congratulations to Catherine and to all the ORCSD special educators and staff that make her look so good.
I was honored to be on the Zoom call with NHASEA, along with other district parents supporting Catherine's nomination. There were around ten of us on the call; the folks doing the interview said they never had so many parents supporting a candidate. It was very moving to hear the personal stories of how Catherine had helped so many district students. The award is richly deserved.
Parent Angry at School Board
Parent Angry at School Board
District parent Bruce Fenton has taken to using his three minutes of public comment time at school board meetings to express his anger to the school board about the mask mandate in school buildings. His initial, quite reasonable gripe is that his son, an ORHS freshman recovering from brain surgery, gets headaches from wearing of masks, so should be medically excused from the mandate. I'm surprised some post surgery accommodation couldn't be worked out between the district, the Fentons and the boy's doctor, but here we are.
Mr. Fenton generally goes on to accuse the board and superintendent of authoritarianism, bad faith and hypocrisy, building to a crescendo where he variously demands the officials resign, beat him, or hug him. Several times Mr. Fenton removed his mask during his public comment; a recess was called and the cameras were turned off, presumably while the police escorted Mr. Fenton from the meeting for violating the mask rule.
Enough commentary from me; I've tried to cue up some of the clips to the dramatic parts but I suggest watching the comments in their entirety. [I seem to have to click the box then click YouTube to start at the cued-up time; your mileage may vary.]
Lee Hires and Fires Bad Cop
There's a surprising story in which the Lee police chief hired a young officer who was fired in Dover for lying about initiating a high speed chase that resulted in two deaths. The Lee chief knew that the state had revoked the young officer's certification to be a police officer as a result of the incident, yet hired the officer conditionally. The chief let him go when the arbitration process concluded without restoring the officer's certification.
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