Auburn News : Kids & Family

Auburn Brownies help feed injured owl

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 19:15:00 GMT

BY TOBY HENRY

A local Brownie troop proved that they really “give a hoot” about one of the Audubon Center’s shyest but most popular residents as they donated $200 to help take care of a barred owl.

Along with a jet black raven, the owl living near the entrance to the Massabesic Audubon Center is one of the center’s star attractions, said volunteer coordinator Allison Dixon. For the next year, the owl’s meals of mice and chicken will be provided through the generosity of Brownie Troop 001, a team of 13 girls from Auburn who chose to donate their hardearned cookie money to the popular but somewhat reticent bird.

Brownie Madison Smith, 9, said it was a very close vote when it came down to deciding between “adopting” the owl or the raven, but the owl edged out the raven with a narrow 7-6 vote.

“I like owls. They can even turn their heads almost all the way around,” she said. “I went to an Audubon camp last summer, and I’d look at the owl almost every time I went in. But I actually voted for the raven. But I’m still glad it went to the owl.”

During the past three years, Troop 001, led by Michelle Demirjian and Madison’s mother, Kimberly Smith, has also raised and donated $700 to the Griffin Public Library.

Regarding the owl, Dixon said the unnamed creature is apparently a female, and she tends to be very private, despite the fact that most people want to take a look at her as they tour the center. The bird came to the center after being injured several years ago, and she was eventually rehabilitated by ornithologist Maria Colby at the Wings of Dawn facility in Henniker.

Although the bird is no longer in the wild, Dixon said captivity at the center is probably the only way for the owl to survive because its injured wing prevents it from flying. On its own, it would probably never be able to get food on its own, which makes the troop’s donation an especially meaningful one for the owl.

“We’re very thrilled because it’s an expensive venture to keep the birds fed,” Dixon said.

Dixon said the barred owl is native to New Hampshire, and is known for its distinctive call which is said to sound like “Who cooks for you?” While many children’s stories, including the Harry Potter series of books, have created new interest in owls among children, Dixon emphasized that the animals belong in the wild and do not make good pets.

Even the center’s owl tends to avoid people when it can, she said. “She gets upset and stressed when a lot of people go up to her cage, and it’s something we have to be very careful about,” she said. “When she clicks her beak, that’s a sign to get away.”

Madison said her troop has already decided that the raven will be the recipient of their fundraising efforts next year.

Residents to vote on both middle school and public kindergarten

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 20:48:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

Auburn residents will vote on two major school warrant articles this year, with the statemandated public kindergarten decision added to a planned joint middle school bond.

Auburn is one of 11 school districts in the state without a publicly funded kindergarten program. Given a decision made at the state level in the spring, the town must now deal with offering kindergarten.

The 10 other districts without public kindergarten are Chester, Litchfield, Salem, Windham, Derry, Pelham, Milford, Lyndeborough, Hudson and Mascenic Regional.

The legislation called for the 11 districts to comply with the state mandate by September 2008. Earlier this month, state Education Commissioner Lyonel Tracy called for an extension of that deadline to September 2009, which may or may not be realized.

SAU 15 Superintendent Phil Littlefield, in charge of the Hooksett, Auburn and Candia schools, said Auburn is fortunate in having good models for the program in Candia and Hooksett. The problem, he said, is going to be finding space.

Littlefield said they are looking at a variety of possibilities to house kindergarten classes based on projected enrollment figures, which predict that the town will need three daily kindergarten sessions that would require three classrooms.

Auburn School Board members said space will be made at Auburn Village School to house the classes rather than installing additional portables on the school’s property.

“If we do something within the building, it squeezes another program in the building,” Littlefield said. “We have to look at that.”

Auburn School Board members unanimously voted to support public kindergarten at a recent meeting, said board member Kathleen Porter, but rejected an initial idea to squeeze Auburn kindergartners into Hooksett or Candia schools.

“It was on our list of potential possibilities,” said Auburn School Board Chairman Elaine Hobbs, but space issues in those two districts made that option virtually impossible.

Space issues have been an ongoing theme with Auburn Village School and Moore School in Candia, prompting the collaboration of the two school boards to look into planning for a joint middle school.

Both Candia and Auburn voters will see warrant articles this March to weigh in on the joint middle school, Auburn’s for a 20-year $29 million bond and Candia’s for a tuition agreement covering about 38 percent of that bond based on enrollment figures.

The Auburn School Board will also go with a warrant article for the kindergarten funding, but nothing has been set yet in terms of costs.

Auburn board members Porter, Hobbs and Bob Hayes agreed they would not delay the joint middle school bond until next year’s election.

At this point, it is unclear how big a monkey wrench the mandated public kindergarten funding will throw into the mix.

Auburn and Candia residents have added their input on the joint middle school, designed by the Manchester-based Team Design Inc., in numerous public information sessions over the past months.

State aid is available for both projects which would help fund any construction costs which would minimize the blow to taxpayers.

The joint middle school qualifies to be reimbursed for 40 percent of the total project cost, which comes to $25.7 million. That reimbursement is already factored into the cost breakdown, reducing the project cost to the $14.8 million. Candia’s share of that cost would be $5.9 million.

In the second year of the bond payments, the most expensive, Auburn taxpayers will see a tax increase of $1.91 per $1,000 of assessed value. In the same year, Candia’s tax increase will be $2.13 per $1,000 of assessed value. For residents owning $250,000 homes, this amounts to an additional $477.50 on Auburn’ tax bills and $532.50 on Candia’s in that year.

When the Auburn School District determines a solid figure on public kindergarten funding to bring to voters, the effect on taxes will come to the forefront.

Littlefield said he expects the Legislature to resume in the spring and come up with additional funding techniques for the 11 school districts affected by the public kindergarten mandate.

“I think the Legislature certainly has been made aware of that September 2008 deadline and the burden that’s placing on communities,” Littlefield said.

Littlefield said he intends to aim for the September 2008 deadline despite talks about a yearlong stay of that deadline, adding that he sees the mandate as the state’s natural reaction to a national trend in education.

“It’s something that has to be on our radar screen,” Littlefield said, referring to public kindgarten as a national issue.

He said that although Auburn has several highly rated private kindergartens, and admitted that he was surprised at the deadline, he thinks the state’s decision will benefit Auburn’s children.

“I think once we get over that initial shock, and we see how we can make this happen because it’s in the best interest of the youngsters, I think it becomes doable,” he said.

Middle school gets second OK

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 19:26:00 GMT

BY NICHOLAS BROWN

A request for $146,009 for engineering studies for a new Auburn Middle School passed after about 500 residents swarmed to the town’s annual School District Meeting on Saturday, March 24.

School board members repeatedly said the architectural and engineering money represents the next step toward getting a “true” middle school atmosphere for Auburn’s sixththrough eighth-grade students, who currently go to Auburn Village School along with elementary students.

“(AVS) is an elementary school with a middle school in it,” said school board member Kathleen Porter. “We all know we’re going to have to do something – we’ve been talking about it for 10 years.”

Voters ultimately approved the expense 251-194 after a secret ballot vote.

Earlier this month, Candia voters narrowly approved spending $91,791 to round out the studies.

The two school boards will spend the next year negotiating a tuition contract to send Candia’s students to the school, slated to sit on 58 acres of Auburn school property by Hooksett and Dollard Roads, near Route 101’s Exit 2.

If the boards can agree on the terms of the tuition deal, it will be presented to voters next year along with a bond proposal for a new school, school board members said.

“If we can’t hammer out a deal with Candia next year, then we wouldn’t have a partnership,” said Porter.

Despite the 194 “no” votes, nobody overtly spoke out against the idea of collaborating with the neighboring town for a middle school, which would be owned and operated by Auburn with a tuition contract.

But some residents questioned the scope of the project.

Connie Schofield suggested some of the lingering issues with AVS – originally built in 1941 – wouldn’t necessarily disappear because of new school construction.

“How many millions would it be to bring this building up to code?” she asked.

Auburn Planning Board Chairman Stoney Worster suggested enrollment projections could be rendered meaningless with the potential expansion of Interstate 93.

“I-93 is the 800-pound gorilla,” he said.

School board members repeatedly said the warrant article was strictly to move the plan forward toward a more complete school proposal next year.

“This is not a vote for a school.

This is a vote for answers,” said Auburn School Board member Robert Hayes. “We’re going to be able to come back with firm numbers based on actual costs.”

Several residents said they liked the plan simply since it could improve the learning environment for the district’s middle school students as they prepare for public high school in Manchester.

Resident Everett Harriman described himself as a “highly qualified empty-nester,” the kind that would typically reject a new school proposal.

But, said Harriman, “I have an obligation to pass on to the school-age citizens in this town that which I had given to me.”

School officials estimate this year’s warrant article will add about 22 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation to the tax rate, meaning the owner of a $300,000 home would pay an additional $66 for the studies.

Voters almost unanimously approved the only other money article on this year’s school warrant – a school district operating budget of $9,973,105 – after no discussion from the public.

The meeting was so well attended about 40 residents spilled out of the AVS gymnasium into the cafeteria to watch the proceedings on television.

Fifteen minutes after the 1 p.m. start time, a line of residents waiting to check in stretched from the gymnasium entrance to Eaton Hill Road.

A public informational session on the new school plan is scheduled for Thursday, April 19, at 7 p.m., at AVS.