Auburn News : School board

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.

School Board prohibits drinking in building at community events

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:00:00 GMT

BY TOBY HENRY

Questions over prohibition of alcohol at Auburn’s only public school continue to be raised after the School Board’s recent decision left one local charity without a place to hold its popular open-bar dances.

On June 10, the Auburn School Board voted 4-1 on a policy revision which bars alcohol from being inside Auburn Village School, mirroring a policy that was set in place years ago regarding cigarette smoking.

Local policy had previously allowed alcohol to be served in the school gymnasium after 7 p.m. on Saturdays if no minors were present at the event.

Norm Bouley, head of the Auburn-Candia Lions Club, said the new policy curtails much of his group’s fundraising endeavors in town, including the openbar dances in the school’s gym, which Bouley said have been taking place for nearly 40 years without incident.

While School Administrative Unit 15 Superintendent Dr. Charles “Phil” Littlefield and School Board Chairman Elaine Hobbs say the prohibition decision has children’s interests at heart, Bouley said the gymnasium -- as Auburn’s only large place for the community to gather -- falls under the jurisdiction of the community at large.

“There’s no negative effect on children if we hold a dance here, with alcohol, on a Saturday night when there’s no children around,” Bouley said on June 12. “A lot of people have been telling us that the gym was built to be used by the community ... and we’re investigating all avenues to regain use of that building.”

The board’s decision comes in the wake of an April incident in which a Manchester resident allegedly fell asleep during an April Lions Club dance and then awoke hours later, believing himself to be locked inside the building. Auburn police say Michael Coakley allegedly ran instead of asking to be let out of the building after being spotted by police, and he was charged with two counts of criminal mischief. His trial is scheduled for Aug. 6.

Although the Lions Club and any other nonprofit group can still use the school’s gymnasium as long as they adhere to the alcohol-free policy, Bouley said alcohol has traditionally been a part of many of the Lions community fundraisers. But during the June 10 meeting, Hobbs and School Board member Robert Hayes said they’d long been thinking about whether or not it is appropriate to have alcohol in the building, and Littlefield later said that he and other school officials need to have a narrow focus when considering the welfare of children.

“This has been a policy that we’ve grappled with as a board for seven years ... and it seems to me that for 39 years, or even 10 years, the philosophy behind alcohol use in a public building is something that does not sit well,” Hayes said. “Alcohol does not belong in a public school.” “I’m an advocate for children -- I have blinders,” Littlefield said. “We don’t teach children how to ‘drink responsibly,’ we teach them about the health issues surrounding alcohol. I don’t believe alcohol and kids mix.”

Ultimately, board member Alan Villeneuve was the only one to speak out against the board’s policy change on June 10, and he branded the move as a “prohibitionist” gesture that did little to recognize the AVS gym as a community center.

“This was put up as a community facility,” he said. “I don’t think (the policy change) tells anyone in our community about the proper place for alcohol ... and I don’t believe that’s the way to go.”

On June 12, Hobbs reiterated her earlier sentiments that the policy change is not a punitive measure toward the Lions or anyone else, stating that it is a “philosophical change” that came about after a consideration of what is in the best interests of children. But Bouley said the children his group provides for -- the Lions have given two pairs of eyeglasses and a Braille reader, among other things, to AVS students in recent years -- may be the ones who lose out in the end.

Without the dances, Bouley said his group’s losses could top $10,000 annually.

“We may have to move things to Manchester, because there’s nothing available in the area, but what we’re looking at right now is if they (the School Board) really do have the right to regulate it,” he said. “We’re going to explore all the avenues.”

Alcohol policy questioned after fundraiser at school

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 28 May 2008 19:14:00 GMT

BY TOBY HENRY

School officials said a vote on prohibition may be in their future following a recent incident involving a man who allegedly fell asleep in the Auburn Village School following a community dance.

As it now stands, Auburn School Board Chairman Elaine Hobbs said the policy allows alcohol to be served in the town’s only school after 7 p.m. on Saturdays when the building is rented out. Hobbs said an alcohol policy has been in place since at least 1990, adding that it may be time to consider an outright ban on alcohol.

The subject of whether or not it is appropriate for alcohol to be served in the building which is used by more than 500 children every day was raised following an April Lions Club fundraising dance. At the event, which had an open bar available to all adults, Manchester resident Michael Coakley reportedly went to sleep at an area near the school stage during the dance and later awoke to find himself alone in the building.

According to court records, Coakley allegedly caused between $100 and $1,000 damage to a door in his attempts to get out of the building. Coakley is scheduled to go to trail in August on two criminal mischief charges. Regardless of the eventual outcome, Hobbs said the incident is a good opportunity to take a close look at whether alcohol should be in a school building.

She said local parents have not lodged any concerns yet to the board in the wake of the incident.

“But it’s really more of a philosophical discussion on the question of: Is it a good idea to have alcohol in a building that is used mostly by children?” she said on May 23. “What would have happened if (Coakley) had been found by a student returning the next morning for recreational basketball? Those are the things we’re thinking about.”

Neither Hobbs nor Norm Bouley, president of the Candia- Auburn Lions Club, the dance host, could ever recall a similar incident like this occurring in the past.

Bouley said his group has a three-decade-long history of using the school, which is one of the only suitable spaces to host dances in Auburn, and he said a prohibition on alcohol would be devastating. “It would cripple us,” Bouley said. “That last event, between the Lions Club and the Breast Cancer Foundation, raised about $4,800 in that one evening. They (the dances) are our major fundraiser.”

Bouley said the open-bar policy is an appropriate one in his opinion because the events are only open to adults and are held at times when no students are scheduled to be in the building.

The club took many precautions to prevent drunken driving and other potentially dangerous situations, he said.

“It was a Saturday night with no children around. We hired an Auburn police detail to supervise, and we also offered a free van for people to ride home in,” he said.

But Hobbs said she “had some reservations” about the alcohol policy several years ago when it was revised, and she said that “times have changed” since then.

“I understand that it is good for them (the Lions Club) to have something local, and they can continue to have dances there - they just can’t serve alcohol,” she said. “Our primary responsibility is to the students who use that school.”

Bouley and the board will discuss the issue at a June 10 meeting.

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 considers switch to SB2

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 20:36:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

Auburn’s Board of Selectmen and School Board are holding public hearings for two citizens’ petitioned warrant articles asking whether the town’s voters would embrace converting to the official ballot law form of town and school elections, often called SB2.

In such towns, voters can only amend warrant articles at the town and school district deliberative sessions; they don’t actually vote on the articles. The vote comes through the ballot boxes on a separate date.

The School Board’s public hearing on the warrant article will take place Thursday, Feb. 21, at 7 p.m., in the Auburn Village School cafeteria.

The public hearing for the town will take place Monday, Feb. 25, at 7 p.m., during the regular selectmen’s meeting at Auburn Town Hall.

School Board Chairman Elaine Hobbs said the school board voted unanimously not to recommend because the traditional School District Meeting and Town Meeting format has worked well for Auburn in the past.

“We are afraid that, with SB2, voters will make uninformed decisions,” said Hobbs, adding that many more Auburn residents will likely show up to the polls than will attend the deliberative sessions to modify school and town warrant articles and budgets.

Selectmen Chairman Harland Eaton said the board has not yet taken a formal stance on the question of SB2, but will do so in the near future.

While he would not comment on whether he favors going to SB2, he noted pros and cons of a growing town like Auburn making the change, such as more people showing up in voting lines rather than getting acquainted with the issues at Town Meeting.

“I guess what I see here is a change in the era,” he said, noting the more passionate arguments for or against warrants that often come out at Town Meetings.

The latest population study for Auburn shows the town’s 2006 population to be just over 5,000.

Auburn’s neighbor, Candia, has a smaller population of about 4,000 and switched to the SB2 form of voting for the town two years ago. This year is Candia’s first year voting on school articles as an SB2 town.

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.