BY JENN McDOWELL

Candia and Auburn residents raised some concerns about plans for the proposed Candia-Auburn middle school at the first of two public forums.

Kathleen Porter, vice chairman of the Auburn School Board, and Dan Bisson, the building’s designer with Team Design, Inc., ran the forum on Tuesday, Sept. 11, at the Auburn Village School.

Auburn residents made up most of the audience, but a few Candia residents showed up to voice their concerns on handing over their middle school students to another town.

Those who missed this forum can catch the next one on Tuesday, Sept. 25, at 7 p.m., at Auburn Village School.

Building plans

Bisson showed a PowerPoint presentation of the plans for the building, which, at around 100,000 square feet, will accomodate about 600 students.

Constructed with masonry, plans for the exterior of the building feature a main entrance with columns, with a view of the library in the center of the building on the second floor.

“It’s nothing overly fancy, but very commercial. It’s a very New England type of setting,” Bisson said.

Specialty areas, including family and consumer science, music, art and computer classrooms, will be located on the lower level of the building.

According to Bisson, the building will be equipped with various security devices, including locking doors for each wing of the school.

He is looking into additonal measures such as security cameras at major entryways that can be accessed remotely from the town’s police department.

Other features of the school include several community spaces, a high school-sized gymnasium and sports fields. An entrance to the school grounds will come from Hooksett Road, Bisson said.

Not much was said in the way of cost, which raised some questions from the audience, but Bisson assured them the building has been designed to meet the financial needs of both towns.

“At this point, we’re not getting into cost, we’re just talking about design. We’ve been asked to be very prudent with the design,” he said.

Within the next few weeks, he added, costs will be added to the discussion.

“The next three weeks is kind of like testing the waters. We want different perspectives, as many as we can,” Bisson said.

Porter agreed, saying that a meeting at the Village School on Oct. 18 will reveal cost projections for the plans.

Candia resident Herb Tardiff expressed concern that the gymnasium and cafeteria would not accomodate major increases in student population. “We need to look down the road 20, 30 and 40 years,” he said.

Bisson said the proposed designs leave much room for future improvements and additions to areas in the school, inlcuding the adjacent gym and cafeteria, should population growth warrant such action.

Tuition agreement

Porter presented the draft proposal for the new school’s tuition agreement, which Candia’s school board had already reviewed and made suggestions for at a meeting on Thursday, Sept. 6.

While total cost estimates for the school plans have yet to be revealed, breakdowns for what each town will pay comprise the tuition agreement draft.

“This is a time when we can make changes to things,” Porter said. The agreement, copies of which were distributed to audience members, covers both towns for an initial period of 20 years.

At 15 years into it, both towns will need to decide whether to extend the agreement for an additonal five years  after the initial 20-year end. Every five years after that, board members will need to revisit the issue and either extend the agreement again or terminate it.

If Candia backs out of the agreement at any point, it will receive none of its money back.

If Auburn backs out, Candia will be reimbursed for “the depreciated value of its cumulative capital contributions,” a yearly payment calculated by taking the total money Candia paid and reducing it by 2.86 percent each year for 35 years, according to the agreement.

During the first year of the school’s opening, Candia will be responsible for 38 percent of the school’s total operating cost, which directly coincides with the percentage of Candia students who will attend the school.

Each year after that, Candia’s portion of the bill will adjust according to population.

The draft also states that the new school will be completely run by Auburn’s school district, and that “voters of the Auburn School District will retain ultimate authority in the governance of the Middle School.”

In an attempt to balance that, provisions are included in the draft to involve input from Candia residents. For example, Candia and Auburn school boards will meet at least once a year to discuss middle school issues and Candia School Board members will attend Auburn School Board meetings when topics involve the middle school.

An advisory committee composed of three middle school teachers, one parent from each town, one school board member from each town, an SAU 15 administrator and a middle school administrator will also be formed to report to the Auburn School Board on the middle school.

What about teachers?

The tuition agreement also includes information about supplying the school with teachers., an issue that raised a few eyebrows among Candia residents present at the meeting.

Kathleen Porter, vice chairman of Auburn’s school board, announced at the meeting that since the school is an Auburn school, run by Auburn’s school district and school board, middle school teachers currently
working in the Village School will automatically be moved to the new school.

Candia school teachers, she said, would not automatically be moved to the new school but would have first consideration in the interview process under the draft agreement.

Porter added she anticipated needing just about all of the Moore School’s sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade subject teachers.

Currently, there are 425 middle school students in Candia and Auburn combined. Judging from those numbers, speciality teachers – such as those teaching  art, music and gym classes – may be out of jobs come the school’s anticipated opening in ****2010***, some residents pointed out. Porter did not dispute this at the meeting.

Candia resident Brian Beauchamp suggested that since the school will be split with students from both towns, a certain percentage of the teachers should come from Auburn and a certain percentage from Candia.

Porter said contractual obligations with their own teachers prevented  ideas similar to Beauchamp’s from being considered.

“I’m just surprised the union’s not here representing them,” Beauchamp said, referring to Candia’s teachers. “I know you guys have to do what’s best with what you’re given to work with, but I just don’t think it’s fair.”

With teacher contract negotiations looming ahead, teachers in general have been tight-lipped about the issue.

Candia School Board member Ingrid Byrd said she expects that many Moore School teachers are worried about their futures, but added that with their contracts in flux, they may be hesitant to advocate for themselves when it comes time to apply to the new school.

“That might very well be a strike against that person being hired,” she said. “It’s a terrible uncertainty to face all year long. It’s got to be difficult for them.”

Passing the plans

None of these plans will be possible unless the warrant article passes with both towns at their School District Meetings in March.

“By the time we get to March, I want to be able to say this is as close a number as we can get,” Porter said.

The tuition agreement will go on Candia’s warrant at the election on Tuesday, March 11, and 51 percent of the votes are needed to pass it. Auburn will vote on the bond on Tuesday, March 14, provided the agreement passes in Candia.