Auburn News : Kindergarten

Auburn’s first public kindergarten opens

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 20:09:00 GMT

BY TOBY HENRY

An important local milestone was reached on Aug. 27 when the first public kindergarten in town history debuted before a crowd of enthusiastic children and parents.

“Auburn has waited so long, and I think it’s just a wonderful thing to finally have kindergarten here,” said local mother Heather Graves, whose 5-year-old daughter Caitrin is among the more than 40 students registered for the Auburn Village School’s first kindergarten.

“They’ve done a great job putting everything together and I think they’re just going to have a great year.”

More than 70 people were at the afternoon ceremony to hear new Principal Ron Pedro announce that the kindergarten was “officially open” after only a few months of work by contractor Pidella Construction. The two kindergarten rooms had originally been an industrial arts area for older students, but all traces of that former room seemed to have vanished beneath a new floor and fresh paint.

“This is an exciting day, isn’t it?” said Pedro to the crowd of parents, prospective students and their siblings. “I just came in, and I get to start the first kindergarten. I feel very, very lucky.”

Following his brief speech, Superintendent Dr. Charles “Phil” Littlefield announced that the kindergarten is “a wonderful opportunity” for some of the youngest students in his district, noting that the kindergarten has been an issue that Auburn has been struggling with for years. Previously, Auburn was one of about 10 school districts in the nation that did not offer public kindergarten, and as of today, Milford and several other New Hampshire school districts still do not have kindergarten.

After the ribbon-cutting, parents introduced themselves to Pedro and kindergarten teachers Cheryl Kaake and Melissa Tanguay while some of the incoming kindergarten students took the opportunity to get more acquainted with the classroom that they’ll be spending many days in over the next nine months. For the most part, the historical significance of being part of the town’s first-ever kindergarten class was lost on the 4- and 5-year-olds, who were much more interested in the classroom toys and books.

“It’s good. I like the puppet show the best,” said 4-year-old Ian Algozzine.

Officials and residents both expressed thanks to town voters, who approved the $382,833 renovation project to create the kindergarten by a 4-1 margin in March. Ultimately, the project wound up costing local voters slightly under $100,000 after the district was given a state aid package of $287,125.

School Board members also received praise, and Littlefield hailed board Chairman Elaine Hobbs as “a warrior” for the project which finally brought kindergarten to the last School Administration Unit 15 town which did not offer it. The opening day event was also a personal one for board member Cathi Porter, whose own daughter Katherine is among the kindergarten’s first students.

“I couldn’t make kindergarten happen for my older (children), and I think this kindergarten is a real blessing,” she said.

School officials said the kindergarten was scheduled to begin on Sept. 2, and as of Aug. 27 some 42 students were registered.

School Board also considers Auburn-only middle or elementary school

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:00:00 GMT

BY TOBY HENRY

Auburn school officials report good progress on the construction of a new kindergarten area while plans to address building a new school facility are on hold.

School Board Chairman Elaine Hobbs said that, in all likelihood, the lack of space at the town’s only public school will still persist this year as staff tries to find a way to make do with the space in the building they have. Although Hobbs and other school officials had hoped for a new two-town, 100,000- square-foot middle school with neighboring Candia, the latter town’s voters shot down the 20- year tuition contract needed for the project to continue, and the project was subsequently pulled from the agenda before it came to Auburn’s voters earlier this year.

“A lot of the people who were in support of it were very disappointed, because it would have been a very good educational benefit to our students,” she said. “My sense is that ... it was a significant defeat; no gray there, it’s all black and white. We’re kind of looking at where we go from here, because we’re basically back to the drawing board.”

Hobbs said that, given the current economic climate, 2009 won’t be the year for a new school proposal in Auburn either. At a recent retreat, Hobbs said the board decided not to start working on another project to present to voters in early 2009, and instead the board’s focus for the next year will be the facilities master plan.

She said the most likely scenario for the coming years is that the town will look at Auburn-only solutions, which could eventually include looking at a new elementary school. Hobbs noted that despite the vote in Candia, Auburn officials still have their architectural drawing for the 101,000-squarefoot school building, and they also plan to retain ownership of the land near Route 101’s Exit 2 where the middle school would have been built.

While concerns about the school’s space needs persist, Hobbs and new Auburn Village School Principal Ron Pedro said a bright spot on the horizon is the progress being made on the town’s first-ever public kindergarten. Pedro, who took the helm at AVS following the recent retirement of Principal Anita Johnson, said he has only been to two construction meetings so far but added the project is proceeding as planned.

According to the plan, a former industrial arts area in the school will be turned into two kindergarten rooms, and Pedro said two walls and some window frames have been put up by Goffstown contractor Pidella Corporation. The $382,833 kindergarten project was approved by voters in March following a piece of legislation which mandated kindergartens in the remaining New Hampshire towns which do not yet have them.

Although another piece of legislation recently approved by the governor gives towns an additional year to start kindergarten classes, Pedro said Auburn still intends to have its kindergarten start in the fall. As of late June, there were roughly 45 children in three classes signed up for the first year of public kindergarten.

Auburn chooses firm to build kindergarten

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 07 May 2008 18:32:00 GMT

BY TOBY HENRY

School officials have selected a Goffstown firm for the renovation job to build Auburn’s first kindergarten.

Auburn School Board Chairman Elaine Hobbs said the board picked the $204,000 bid put forward last month by the Pidela Corp. Hobbs said the firm has a good track record and came highly recommended by architectural consultant Dan Bisson.

“This is a good contract, and it actually came in a little under what we’d projected,” she said. “We feel good that the company can complete the project on time, and we’ll be ready to go with the first round of kindergartners in the autumn.”

Located on Back Mountain Road, Pidela has a 25-year history of building projects throughout southern New Hampshire, including recent family housing developments in Nashua and Hillsborough. More than $280,000 in state aid is available to the town for the kindergarten project.

Hobbs said that kindergarten registrations are already underway, and a May 23 deadline has been set for parents who wish to take part in the lottery for morning class assignments, which are typically more sought-after.

At least three half-day classes, two in the morning and one for the afternoon, are expected for next year, and 55 students are expected to attend the town‘s first public kindergarten.

Registration for kindergarten will still be available for all kindergarten- aged students whose families move to Auburn at any time after the deadline, Hobbs said.

Auburn says ‘yes’ to public kindergarten

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 20:33:00 GMT

BY TOBY HENRY

Residents approved the town’s first public kindergarten and town budget of $4,218,251 during the final annual Town and School District meetings March 14 and 15.

The voters’ decision to approve the SB2 official ballot voting system on March 11 means the traditional meetings held on Friday and Saturday were the last Auburn will have. Discussions on a failed two-town middle school was the focus as the school meeting began Friday night.

School Board member Kathi Porter said she’d wished she would have been kicking off the talks for Auburn’s vote on the project, but the new school effort ultimately evolved into a $62,000 budget increase.

Candia’s rejection of a 20- year contract had killed the project three days earlier before Auburn’s voters could take up their own vote on the two-town school. Porter said the additional $62,000 would be used to “research solutions for space and programming needs” for local students, and an overall budget of $10,133,854 was approved.

Residents also approved a kindergarten with a total construction cost of $382,833, with some $287,125 in state aid expected. State sources will also provide $95,040 toward the $111,060 needed to staff and supply the kindergarten next year.

Although some residents said they were concerned about financial difficulties for the many private kindergartens which have been teaching Auburn’s children, many residents said they felt establishing a kindergarten program was unavoidable.

“The fact of the matter is if the state tells us we have to do this, it’s like my 10-year-old arguing with me about going to bed,” said Chris Trickett. “Sooner or later she has to go to bed. They (the state) is telling us we have to do it.”

According to school officials’ plans, more than 50 students will attend the kindergarten when it opens next year, and a technical education classroom will be converted into two 1,000-square-foot classrooms. The kindergarten passed by a vote of 298-94, easily meeting the required simple majority vote.

Later, during the Town Meeting on Saturday, residents OK’d an additional $150,000 for extra winter road maintenance as well as $3,400 to cover increased costs for groundskeeping equipment. The final budget totaled $4,218,251 without warrant articles.

Voters also shot down an article to have the governor reject the longstanding pledge against having a state tax, and more than $300,000 in various town road projects were approved. Voters also supported a $75,000 request for wastewater planning.

‘Yes’ after all to kindergarten

Hooksett Editor — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 00:47:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

Two Auburn Budget Committee members have changed their minds and are now recommending a warrant article that would fund state-mandated public kindergarten. They changed their votes upon getting new information from the state the day after their decision.

The Joint Legislative Committee on Costing an Adequate Education released its final report on Friday, Feb. 1, on the costs associated with an adequate education, which the Legislature redefined in June 2007 to include requiring half-day kindergarten for 11 districts in the state without it.

While those towns are already slated to receive 75 percent of the building and renovation costs for starting up kindergarten, the report also offers an incentive for first-year operating costs for those districts that start kindergarten in September 2008.

Making that deadline would give Auburn taxpayers an extra $95,040 in kindergarten aid on top of the 75 percent state aid already promised, according to the report, information that caused Budget Committee members David Dion and Jim Headd, the selectmen’s representative to the committee, to change their votes to “yes.”

The Joint Legislative Committee came up with a figure of $3,456 to educate one student for a year under the state’s new definition of educational adequacy.

Auburn kindergartners will each get half of that amount, or about $1,700, as half-day students. The $95,040 incentive represents the total Auburn will get for the projected 55 kindergartners.

At a meeting on Jan. 31, the Budget Committee voted 5-2 not to recommend the article, which called for $382,833 for renovation costs and $111,660 for first-year operating costs. The Joint Legislative Committee’s report came out the next day.

At the Budget Committee’s next meeting on Thursday, Feb. 7, the vote to recommend passed 4-3. The 75 percent reimbursement for the building costs plus the $95,040 the state would commit to Auburn brings the taxpayers’ burden down to about $112,328 total, provided kindergarten is in place by September 2008.

Both Headd, a state representative, and Dion said they are still against public kindergarten, calling it an unfunded mandate, but both also said they realized it was still a mandate and didn’t want to miss out on the funding. Headd said he is still against kindergarten because it may put Auburn’s three private kindergartens out of business and creates long-term burden on taxpayers, adding he plans to speak on the House floor this spring to get all costs for kindergarten funded.

“I am dead set against the state mandating that we have any kindergarten at all,” Headd said. “I am going to ask the Legislature, when the time is proper, that they fund 100 percent of the obligation they have forced upon us.”

While some of the 11 affected districts will not be able to open up kindergarten in the coming school year, Dion pointed out the others will be going for the funding at the same time as Auburn.

Headd said his vote only secures some first-year funding, and it’s now up to the voters to decide whether kindergarten is successfully established.

“The big issue is the people still have the right to turn it down,” he said. “I don’t like anyone forcing anything down my people’s throats. If the people of Auburn say we want it, the people’s wishes should be granted.”

Kindergarten, new school rejected by Budget Committee

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:58:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

Public kindergarten and a joint middle school may have a hard time becoming a reality now that the Auburn Budget Committee has come out against them.

At the Auburn School Board’s hearing before the Auburn Budget Committee on Thursday, Jan. 31, the committee voted not to recommend those two articles.

The Budget Committee split 4-3 against the $25 million joint middle school bond with Candia, and 5-2 against the costs for state-mandated public kindergarten.

The prospect of building a 102,000-square-foot middle school for Auburn and Candia students, and the $25 million bond that comes along with it, has been highly contentious in both towns for the past year.

In Auburn, discussions have taken an important turn with the state Legislature’s decision in September to require public kindergarten for all the cities and towns in the state.

Auburn is one of 11 school districts in New Hampshire without public kindergarten. Currently, students attend one of three private kindergartens or are homeschooled.

While at least one of those districts appears to be dragging its feet, said School Board Vice Chairman Kathleen Porter, Auburn picked up the pace to draft a warrant article for the coming elections on Friday, March 14.

At a recent roundtable discussion scheduled to get citizen input on the joint middle school, the discussion quickly turned to kindergarten, Porter said. “We had a great discussion about kindergarten and how enthusiastic people were,” Porter said.

The finalized kindergarten article asks for $382,833 for costs to renovate and furnish a 2,000-square-foot space in the Village School that formerly housed technology education classrooms. Those classes were moved to another area of the building, Porter said. The article also asks for $111,660 in operating costs for the first year of the program.

The kindergarten project would be reimbursed for 75 percent of the building costs, bringing the actual cost falling to taxpayers to $398,785, including first-year operating costs. “It comes down to maybe $47 per household,” Porter said.

At their warrant article hearing, said Budget Committee Chairman Lewis Theos, members voted according to what they felt the community wanted.

Public kindergarten and a middle school have been voted down in townwide majority votes several times, he said, even when the student population at the Village School peaked about a decade ago to more than 600 students.

There appears to be no set penalty by the state if public kindergarten is not started, despite the mandate to have it in place by September 2008.

Theos said he advised the Budget Committee, after the vote, to reconsider the kindergarten article because of the state’s legislation, and worried the town would lose the 75 percent reimbursement for building costs if the warrant article doesn’t pass. The committee chose not to revisit their decision, he said.

“At least it still goes to the town and the town can make that decision,” said Theos, who as the chairman is not regularly a voting member of the Budget Committee but does vote when there is a tie on a particular issue. While he participated in discussion on the warrant articles, he did not vote.

Discussion on the joint middle school in Auburn will come to a head at the official public hearing on the bond at Auburn Village School on Tuesday, Feb. 12, at 6:30 p.m.

Auburn pushes kindergarten

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 20:58:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

With a state-mandated kindergarten deadline looming, the Auburn School Board has drafted a preliminary warrant article for building and operating costs associated with opening public kindergarten facilities in time for the state Legislature’s September 2008 deadline.

Kathleen Porter, vice chairman of the School Board and representative to the Auburn Budget Committee, said a few of the other 10 districts without public kindergarten in the state are waiting on implementing their kindergarten programs, but that it is important to the Auburn School District the deadline is met.

“We don’t think we’ve been offered the option of waiting,” Porter said.

The draft school district warrant article asks for $375,975 to cover capital costs for opening two kindergarten classrooms in the Village School and $111,660 in operating costs for the first year of the program.

School district Business Administrator Karen Lessard pointed out the draft article contained only preliminary numbers that would likely be tweaked a bit before the Budget Committee sees it on Jan. 31.

Capital costs include renovations as well as furnishings and classroom equipment. The state will reimburse $281,981 in kindergarten aid, which would bring the town’s share of to $93,994.

Depending on the state Legislature’s decision upon reconvening in the spring, aid may also be attributed to the $111,660 in start-up costs, which include the salaries for one full-time and one part-time teacher for a total of three classes.

Porter said public kindergarten will make things easier on first-grade Village School teachers who now deal with children from many different private kindergartens or who were homeschooled.

Currently, Auburn has three private kindergartens: Tiny Tots Preschool and Kindergarten, the Village Children Center and the and the Montessori School.

The technology education class was relocated to make room for the kindergarten classes, which required 2,000 square feet.

The Auburn School Board will host a public hearing on this and other articles on Tuesday, Jan. 29, at 7 p.m., at Auburn Village School.

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.

Auburn may have to offer kindergarten

Hooksett Editor — Thu, 03 May 2007 14:12:00 GMT

BY NICHOLAS BROWN

When Auburn Village School Principal Anita Johnson moved to New Hampshire from the Midwest in 1978, she was shocked to find Auburn had no public kindergarten. The possibility that a public program didn’t exist had never occurred to her.

“It’s like if you’re buying a house. Do you ask if there’s a bathroom? No,” she said, “No. You ask ‘How many?’”

In 1978, New Hampshire and Mississippi were the last states in the union to require public kindergarten.

Fast-forward nearly 30 years.

Mississippi has long since followed suit with the rest of the 48 states, and Auburn is one of about a dozen communities in the state – including nearby Salem, Pelham and Windham – without public kindergarten.

But the New Hampshire House has proposed a court-ordered definition of an “adequate education” that includes a mandatory half-day kindergarten.

While the definition still must survive the scrutiny of the New Hampshire Senate and Gov. John Lynch, public kindergarten may be on Auburn’s horizon, whether voters there like it or not.

“I’d love to see it,” said Johnson.

“It’s been very slow coming in New Hampshire. It’s just part of the culture.”

In the mid-1990s, a majority of Auburn voters denied proposal to add a half-day kindergarten program to the district. Current Auburn School Board Chairman Elaine Hobbs remembers being a part of a kindergarten committee then when her son was 4 years old. He’s now a freshman in high school.

Hobbs said there haven’t been any formal proposals for kindergarten since the mid- 1990s vote because of another lingering issue – overcrowding at Auburn Village School.

“(Kindergarten) kind of took a spot on the back burner at that time,” Hobbs said. “The thinking was if we can alleviate the overcrowding at AVS, then we could think about public kindergarten.”

But several new school or joint school proposals have since fallen by the wayside, leaving the prospect of kindergarten stranded on that “back burner,” Hobbs said.

The board has recently been focusing on its partnership with neighboring Candia for a middle school, whereby Auburn would build a new school which Candia students would attend based on a long-term tuition agreement.

The Auburn School Board hopes to have a bond proposal for a new school at the 2008 annual School District Meeting.

Hobbs said the board hasn’t even had time to project the costs of a new kindergarten, though the state would cover 75 percent of initial kindergarten construction costs.

“We haven’t spent a whole lot of time and money studying that right now,” she said.

For some residents, Auburn’s lack of public kindergarten continues to be a black eye.

“I think it’s a disgrace to be one of 13 towns in the nation without it,” said Deb Cheetham, the mother of an AVS student.

Cheetham said many area parents can’t easily afford spending several hundred dollars a month to send their children to kindergarten, plus the added costs of day care either before or after the half-day programs available at several area private preschool and kindergarten providers.

When children finally do start first grade, she said, “You could have a child that’s been in preschool three years, and a child with no school.”

Cheetham and Johnson both praised Auburn’s private kindergarten providers – the Auburn Village Children’s Center, Tiny Tots Preschool and Kindergarten and the Auburn Montessori School – for the quality of education they provide, but Johnson said she gets several incoming students each year who’ve had no classroom experience. She also said first-graders come in from as many as 25 different area kindergarten providers.

Auburn Village Childrens Center Director Marjorie Fowler said the center currently has 19 kindergarten students, and in the fall will be expanding its half-day kindergarten sessions to a full-day program, a move that’s becoming more common in public kindergartens throughout the country.

The full-day program will cost $390 a month, she said.

Fowler said she’d hate to lose the business if public kindergarten was forced on Auburn by the state, but also said it would be a “great thing.”

Fowler also said kindergartners make up only a fraction of the business – 71 children attend preschool at the center – and said if that segment is lost, the center could focus more on preschool programs for younger students.

“I would miss my kindergarten teacher,” she said.

Hobbs, who was initially drawn into Auburn school affairs because of the kindergarten issue, said the School Board now is heavily in favor of instituting a public kindergarten program.

And if the House’s definition of an adequate education is altered to remove kindergarten, or if it fails at the hands of the Senate, kindergarten would still be a vital issue locally, Hobbs said, especially if voters approve a new school proposal that would take sixth- through eighth-graders out of Auburn Village School.

“(Instituting kindergarten) would be a board decision, and then, ultimately, a community decision,” she said.