Dunbarton news : Goffstown

Assistant superintendent to retire

Goffstown Editor — Wed, 21 May 2008 18:58:00 GMT

BY STEPHEN BEALE
Kathi Titus, an assistant superintendent for Goffstown, Dunbarton and New Boston, is retiring at the end of this school year.

Her departure will coincide with that of Dr. Darrell Lockwood, the 10-year superintendent who is taking the top school administrative position in Tyngsborough, Mass., after this year.

The other assistant superintendent, Stacy Buckley, will take over as interim superintendent this summer.

As one of two assistant superintendents, Titus has oversight over curriculum and instruction for regular education in the school districts for the three towns — grouped together under School Administrative Unit 19.

The second assistant position deals with special education.

Keith Allard, chairman of the Goffstown School Board, said the SAU board will hire a one-year assistant superintendent for regular education and a permanent assistant superintendent for special education. If Buckley does not move from interim to permanent superintendent, Allard said she would take over as the assistant for regular education in a year. Titus earned $92,204 during the 2007-08 school year and Buckley earned $88,265, according to the state department of education.

Titus has been in Goffstown for five years, her latest stint in a 32-year career. Titus, who is 54, said she wanted to retire while she is still young.

“People don’t retire to play bingo these days,” she said. “We still have the energy and the time and the skills to create.”

She noted that she chose this year specifically due to the uncertainties surrounding the reform of the New Hampshire retirement system.

Titus got her start in 1976 as a high school teacher in Ludlow, Mass. About 10 years later, she shifted to more of an administrative role. Her latest was as a supervising principal at a grammar school in Methuen, Mass., before coming to Goffstown.

“I’ve loved every role I have ever had,” Titus said. “Each time I’ve ended up enjoying the next one a little bit more than the other one.”

She said she took the Goffstown position after remembering how much she respected Lockwood while working with him in the Exeter school system.

“He’s a fantastic superintendent,” Titus said. “It’s been wonderful working for him.”

For her first two years in Goffstown, Titus was the assistant superintendent for special education. She then moved over to regular education in 2005. One of the things she has enjoyed doing, she said, is sharing resources and combining various tasks — such as integrating teacher training with training of their supervisors.

Allard praised Titus for her work, saying she played an integral role in the advancement and development of the curriculum in the schools and credited her with guiding the expansion of the honors program at the high school.

“The fruits of Kathi’s creative thinking and devotion to our schools can be seen in the work of all our fine educators,” Allard said. “In just five years Kathi has earned the respect of the staff and has left a favorable imprint on our school district.”

As she prepares to leave, Titus said she will miss what she describes as a special school community.

“It’s a very special place,” Titus said. “All the school districts — the kids and the communities — really do support their schools.”

Titus said education has been the love of her life, adding that it is likely she will somehow be involved in schools even during her retirement. She is trying to think more about that — than the fact that she is leaving.

“I don’t think about the goodbye part,” Titus said. “I’m just focused on the next steps.”

Preschool options being weighed

Goffstown Editor — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 20:58:00 GMT

BY MICHELLE KIM

After considering a short list of options, the Dunbarton School Board decided Oct. 3 to remain with the current arrangement for integrated special education preschool programming until more specific information on an in-house program could be gathered.

Currently, Dunbarton sends its preschool-aged children requiring special education services to programs at New Boston Central and Glen Lake in Goffstown.

Board members had narrowed down a list of options generated by a Preschool Committee commissioned in the spring to explore the possibility of having such preschool programming at Dunbarton.

Most of the options on the short list addressed the issue of a lack of space. The five options discussed were to remain with the current arrangement, rent a classroom trailer, build a new room at Dunbarton Elementary, consolidate classes within a grade or consolidate grades.

The board members were unitedly unenthusiastic about renting a trailer.

There was some exploration of combining classes within a grade.

Board member Debra Foster, whose primary concern for Dunbarton preschoolers who went to Glen Lake or New Boston was the long ride at such a young age, said combining classes within a grade or building a room seemed to be promising options.

Vice Chairman John Herlihy also didn’t have a problem with combining classes within a grade, and said it had not been long ago that that was the norm.

Carl Metzger said that combining classes wouldn’t be a viable long-term solution for space, should the population grow.

Herlihy pointed out there wasn’t a need to pursue an option immediately, as originally thought earlier in the year, and the board members generally consented.

Board member Rene Ouellet said the board might use the time to begin financially preparing for the possibility of a preschool program.

The board also generally agreed that more specific information was needed regarding costs of building a room and starting a program and to ask for that information from the Glen Lake program faculty.

Goffstown grad settles in with Dunbarton PD

Goffstown Editor — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 19:38:00 GMT

BY DAVE CHOATE

John Levasseur is still in training, but he’s found a home with the town’s Police Department.

“The training has been awesome so far. The easiest part is dealing with and communicating with people, and I’m really enjoying that,” he said.

On July 31, Levasseur was sworn in as a full-time police officer with the Dunbarton Police Department.

Levasseur fills a position that was approved at the Dunbarton Town Meeting in March and will become the town’s third full-time police officer after he finishes his training.

Levasseur comes to the agency with four years of law-enforcement experience, having worked for the New Hampshire Department of Corrections prior to joining the Dunbarton Police.

He is a graduate of the New Hampshire Corrections Academy and is a certified field-training officer. He was also a member of the Special Emergency Response Team and was promoted to the rank of corporal with the Department of Corrections in April.

Police Chief Chris Connelly said Levasseur comes from a local background, having lived in Goffstown and graduated from Goffstown High School. He said the new officer has impressed him so far and is learning the ins and outs of small town policing.

“So far, he’s adjusting very well. He comes with some good experience from the Corrections Department that’s transferrable to what he’s learning now,” Connelly said.

He said Levasseur is also active in the community, providing time as a boxing instructor at the Police Athletic League in Manchester, where he currently resides. Connelly said the new officer manages to find the time despite a busy schedule that will keep him in training for more than a month.

Levasseur said that he has assisted on traffic stops, a suicide call and a fire call. He also said that being an officer in Dunbarton should be a more varied experience than working at a larger department.

“Here you do more investigative work, so I’m just learning the geography of the town. You really do the full circle because the department is so small. I definitely get to see all the aspects of the police work, each stage of it,” Levasseur said.

He has several weeks remaining between the police academy in Concord and training in Dunbarton, but he said he’s eager to get to his job.

“I’m looking forward to learning as much as I can and becoming a very well-rounded officer,” Levasseur said.

Byway may attract tourists

Bow Editor — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 00:13:00 GMT

BY ROD HANSEN

The hills and roadways of Dunbarton, Goffstown, New Boston and Weare have long been associated with Gen. John Stark and his family, and a new scenic byway could blanket all those towns with the Stark name.

A submission for a General John Stark Scenic Byway has already made it through the first cut of review by the state byways council, said Southern New Hampshire Planning Commission executive director David Preece.

If seen to completion, the initiative stands to increase tourist interest in the area that once served as home to one of the area’s most recognized families, Preece said.

“John Stark has played such an important role in the history of this state that we felt we should honor him,” said Preece.

“The idea is to showcase this area for its scenic beauty and historic significance.”

The planning commission’s application proposes the scenic byway take a circular route within Hillsborough County, running along Route 13 from Goffstown to New Boston, north along Route 77 and into Route 114 in Weare, a thoroughfare already known as the John Stark Highway.

The byway would then run east along Route 77 to Dunbarton, and finally south along Route 13 back to Goffstown.

Goffstown Town Planner Steve Griffin said he worked with the Southern New Hampshire Planning Commission on the proposed byway, which was also endorsed by selectmen and members of the Economic Development Council.

“It’s mostly a tourist-generating venture, and working locally with (SNHPC), we told them of things they should be aware of, such as historic structures and the best views of the Piscataquog,” said Griffin.

The byway route runs through the center of Goffstown Village, which is itself a registered historic district, Griffin said.

The scenic byway may find its strongest links to the Stark family in Dunbarton, said town historian Harlan “Bud” Noyes, who authored a book on local historic homes titled, “Where Settler’s Feet Have Trod.”

Dunbarton is still home to many structures associated with the Stark family, including the home built by Molly Stark’s father Caleb Page, now known as the Molly Stark House; as well as Stark Mansion, where John and Molly Stark’s son Caleb once operated a store.

Dunbarton’s association with the Stark family goes even deeper than Gen. John Stark, Noyes said. The town was once known as Starkstown after early settler Archibald Stark, father of the future general.

John Stark himself built a sawmill in Dunbarton on 100 acres of land prior to the Revolutionary War, Noyes said.

A number of other historic sites can be found along Routes 77 and 13, Noyes said, many of them relating to the Starks.

“There are a lot of historic homes in that neighborhood, and it’s beautiful country. Even if it just starts with getting people to talk about the Stark family, there’s a lot to see up there,” said Noyes.

Members of the state byways council will be touring the proposed route in the spring and will host public meetings in each of the towns before making its final decision on the application, Preece said.