Allenstown News : Auburn

Hooksett, Allenstown added to schools in need of improvement

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 14 May 2008 22:03:00 GMT

Hooksett Memorial School and Allenstown Elementary School have joined the list of schools in need of improvement following state testing results.

Several local schools were either added to or maintained their positions on the New Hampshire Department of Education’s “school in need of improvement” list after failing to make adequate yearly progress in either math or reading based on statewide testing.

To be on the list, a school must fail to meet adequate yearly progress, measured by state testing results in grades 3 through 8 and grade 11, in the same content area, reading or math, for two years in a row. To exit the “school in need of improvement” (SINI) designation, schools must meet adequate yearly progress standards in the same content area for two years in a row.

The Department of Education’s 2008-09 adequate yearly progress (AYP) results were compiled based on the state assessments New Hampshire students took in October 2007.

Doing well

Auburn Village School and Epsom Central School made AYP in both content areas this year in all subgroups. Auburn Village School also surpassed the state’s benchmarks for 2007- 08.

After failing to meet AYP for the 2007-08 year, Epsom Central students rose to the performance level of Auburn Village and attained AYP in both reading and math for the 2008-09 year.

“They put a lot of work into trying to emulate the benchmarks in state standards and to match themselves with what the state indicates they should be doing in areas of curriculum,” SAU 53 Superintendent Thomas Haley said.

Dropping down

Test results showed Hooksett Memorial School students missed AYP standards for the second year in a row, getting them a spot on the preliminary 2008-09 SINI list for math.

Memorial students also scored below AYP in reading, and will earn a SINI designation in that subject if they do not show improvement in reading after the next round of testing.

Cawley students missed AYP in math this year, but it was their first year doing so. They are not on the list yet, said Superintendent Phil Littlefield.

Candia Moore School missed AYP in reading but made it in math based on the testing. Having been on the SINI list last year for math, the school must maintain its scores in math in the next testing round to exit that status.

Littlefield said the poor results of the special education subgroup brought the overall schools’ scores down to below AYP standards at both Moore and Memorial.

“As a school, each did fine. In both cases, the issue that they have is the performance of a subgroup and in both cases that is youngsters with an educational disability,” Littlefield said.

After missing AYP in math and reading for the 2007-08 year, Allenstown Elementary students made AYP in reading for 2008-09 and missed it again in math, earning them the designation of a new SINI in math for the 2008-09 year.

Armand Dupont School went into the October testing with a 2007-08 designation of SINI in reading and also having missed AYP in math. After the latest test results showed they missed AYP in math this time around but made it in reading, Dupont is now listed as a SINI in both content areas for 2008-09, and will exit their SINI status for reading if they meet AYP next time.

Three Rivers School in Pembroke missed AYP in math and reading, and will go into the third year of its SINI designation for 2008-09.

Pembroke Hill School made AYP in reading and missed it in math for the 2008-09 year, but is not on the SINI list. The results for Pembroke Village are not yet available because, being designated by the state as a small school, it is subject to a different review of the results.

Haley said the educationally disabled subgroup hurt Pembroke and Allenstown schools, and said those districts might consider appealing the SINI designation after looking more closely at the results.

“The good news is that we made AYP in both areas of the full school and in every subset except for educationally disabled,” Haley said. “We don’t know if we missed AYP in educationally disabled by eight or 10 students, or if we missed by one.”

High schools struggle

Pembroke Academy will enter its third year as a SINI in math and also missed AYP in reading this year. If Pembroke Academy students miss AYP in reading during the next testing cycle, they will go onto the SINI list for reading as well.

Both Manchester Memorial and Central high schools are entering their fourth years on the SINI list for both content areas for 2008-09.

West High School attained AYP in math based on the October testing results, but remains on the SINI list until the next round. Making AYP in math next time will get them off the list for that subject.

West students missed AYP for reading and the school will enter its fourth year on the SINI list for that subject.

According to statewide statistics from the Department of Education, 282 schools in the state failed to make AYP in either reading or math. A total of 175 made AYP in both content areas, based on the October test results.

Proposed middle school gets state OK

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 20:55:00 GMT

By JENN McDOWELL

The state Board of Education has officially approved the tuition agreement for a proposed joint middle school between Candia and Auburn.

School Board members from both towns attended the state board’s meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 12, at which the board voted unanimously to approve the tuition agreement with the condition of obtaining voter approval.

In March, Candia will vote on the tuition agreement to cover 38 percent of the school’s project and operating costs, based on enrollment figures. Auburn will pay 62 percent, and those figures will adjust each year depending on enrollment in both towns.

If the tuition agreement passes with Candia voters, Auburn will vote on a $29 million 20-year bond for the project’s costs, including interest over the bond’s life.

The project is expected to get 40 percent state aid reimbursement, which will bring the project cost down to about $15 million for residents. Based on the 38-62 enrollment ratio, Auburn would pay about $9 million and Candia the remaining $6 million over 20 years.

Elaine Hobbs, chairman of the Auburn School Board, said the state Board of Education’s approval shows that the contract is fair and viable.

Soft costs have not been revealed yet, but Hobbs said the Auburn School Board will present those costs to the Candia School Board on Tuesday, Jan. 8.

Questions and concerns about operating costs for the school have surfaced as Candia’s deliberative session approaches in January.

“I think people are concerned. They want to know what’s going to be in the building,” said Hobbs, adding that a specific operating cost breakdown is vital to voters’ understanding of the school’s overall costs to both towns.

Some concerns

Candia School Board member Ingrid Byrd voted not to ratify the tuition agreement with the rest of the board, and said the state’s approval is a formality along the way.

Byrd pointed out that the school’s operating costs would likely increase each year with little say from Candia.

The tuition agreement provides for an advisory board of Candia parents and teachers and one school board member, but the governance of the school would fall under the Auburn School Board’s control.

No Candia representatives will have a vote in governance, she said, meaning Auburn could increase the school’s budget with no official input from Candia.

She also pointed out that Candia residents would not have the voting power to oust members of the Auburn School Board if they felt they weren’t running the school correctly.

Another issue that has arisen is the first consideration clause in the tuition agreement, which states that Candia teachers would be considered for positions at the new school first.

Many tenured teachers will lose that distinction upon going over to the joint middle school in 2010, which would lessen their job security, Byrd added.

“This is not a win-win situation. People are looking at where they’re at, and saying this is not necessary,” said Byrd.

The proposed 102,000-square-foot school would sit on a site Auburn’s School Board already purchased in July 2006 after voters authorized the acquisition of the land on the corner of Hooksett Road and Old Candia Road.

Auburn voters allocated $650,000 for the land purchase in 2006 and last year voted for $137,000 to fund engineering and design studies for Team Design, Inc. Candia raised $91,000 for those studies.

Storm wreaks havoc … again - 5 arrested in Allenstown

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 20:31:00 GMT

BY NICHOLAS BROWN

Roads closed, bridges washed away and hundreds of residents were forced to abandon their homes to find safer ground once again as a spring nor’easter ravaged the state.

And in Allenstown, in a low-lying neighborhood that’s been perpetually abused by flooding, five people were arrested by press time for disorderly conduct.

For many people in southern New Hampshire, the recent floods – which peaked on Monday, April 16 and Tuesday, April 17 – were eerily similar to last May’s Mother’s Day floods.

“It’s an instant replay of last year,” said Auburn fire Lt. Linda Wilking.

Wildlife biologist Eric Orff, who lives on the banks of the Suncook River in Epsom, said, “It’s another 100- year flood. It’s probably the fourth 100-year flood we’ve had in a year-and-a-half.”

Just like last year, one of the hardest-hit communities in the state was Allenstown, where more than 60 homes, mainly in low-lying areas near the Suncook, were subjected to mandatory evacuations. People in 40 other apartments and homes also heeded a voluntary evacuation.

Several residents in the Riverside Park Drive area, which was largely submerged by the Suncook River, defied orders to evacuate, police said.

First arrested was Evelyn Bernard, who police said refused to abandon her home.

“She was asked to leave numerous times and refused,” said Police Chief Shaun Mulholland.

Around 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 17, police arrested Arthur Gelinas and David Leach, who, with a dog, were surrounded in their car by rushing floodwaters.

Safety officials spent several hours rescuing the pair and the pup, and crews from Hooksett and Pembroke were called in after the motor on Allenstown’s water rescue boat burned out while fighting the current, said Town Administrator Kelley Collins.

Edward Faye was arrested after he was rescued from his family’s home, which he got to on Tuesday afternoon launching a canoe from upriver, said Collins.

The canoe was lost in the currents, and a rescue boat was again summoned.

As of press time, Noreen Lockwood, who police contend drove around an Army National Guard barrier in the Riverside Park Drive area, represented the last flood-related arrest.

All five of those arrested will go to Hooksett District Court, Mulholland said.

Collins said many people had tried to pass through barricaded roadways including Mount Delight Road, Jasper Drive and Riverside Park Drive.

Town officials condemned a home on Hillside Drive after a 12-foot section of a tree cut through the home, Collins said.

In Hooksett, a town-wide emergency was declared on Monday, and 20 Army National Guard troops assisted by keeping traffic out of flooded areas.

“We had, at one time, 13 roads closed,” said Murray.

“That’s 26 barriers.”

Two roadways, including Pleasant Street, where surging waters from a brook washed out a section of a bridge, were still closed at press time.

“There’s some major damage down there,” Murray said. “That’s going to be closed for a while.”

Hooksett Highway Department head Dale Hemeon summed up the damage to the town’s roadways.

“A lot of the roads we had problems with last year are some of the same roads we’re having problems with now,” he said.

The Route 3 RK Plaza, anchored by a 94,500-squarefoot Kmart store, was one of the first areas to flood in town.

The plaza’s owners, RK Associates of Dedham, Massachusetts, are putting up the money to temporarily fix a Benton Road drainage problem that has perpetually caused flooding to the Route 3 commercial plaza for decades. Construction was underway at press time.

Auburn’s Wilking said virtually all the roads that closed last year were submerged by floodwaters again this year. Adding to the trouble is that 566 homes lost power on the first day of the flooding.

Hooksett Road, Raymond Road, Manchester Road and Spofford Road all closed for a time, she said. And bridges on Tower Hill Road and Depot Road that were either shored up or rebuilt after last year’s flooding were again washed away by powerful floodwaters, said Wilking.

“Basically all of our low-lying areas are underwater,” Wilking said during the worst of the deluge.

Candia Fire Chief Rudy Cartier said the town was hit hard by the floods after faring well compared to surrounding towns last year.

“In Candia, it was absolutely worse than last year,” he said.

“We’ve had a lot more damage.” Sporadic losses of power and phone services only augmented problems caused by closed roadways and bridges.

A large tree fell on a power line, knocking out power to residents in spots near North Road.

A Raymond switching station, which provides phone service to hundreds of Candia, was at one point submerged in four feet of water, Cartier said.

“There’s still little to no phone service in parts of Candia, even right now,” Cartier said late Tuesday morning.

For some safety officials, late-season snow and pounding rain are making for a long spring season.

“The only thing I like about ice and snow is that I can eventually put my boat in it,” said Murray.