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West faces future without Bedford students

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:49:00 GMT

By MATT SCHOOLEY

After the final Bedford student walks across the stage during Manchester High School West’s graduation ceremony on June 20, a new era will officially begin at the school.

What that era will consist of remains to be seen.

With Bedford students no longer filling the hallways and classrooms at the school, West administrators will meet challenges, but also find new benefits for their students.

“It is going to impact the whole school,” said Manchester School Board member Art Beaudry. “I think aside from the social part of it, I think the major impact will be in sports. We may be eliminating several sports because of low numbers.”

Beaudry said he believes the best solution would be to move Hooksett students from Central to West, but he knows it is an option that is made complicated by the city’s contract.

“That would make things better for the city of Manchester as a whole,” said Beaudry. “Central is getting overcrowded while West will struggle because they don’t have enough students. The way the contract is drafted we would have to renegotiate it.”

Hooksett School Board Chairman Paul Cournoyer said a high school study committee will gather data on the new West setup, but he believes most questions won’t be answered until the school year begins again this fall. “West will certainly have a new identity, but the Hooksett students will continue to strive, I am confident,” said Cournoyer.

“A smaller school can be a better environment, but that remains to be seen.” After multiple years of having an under-capacity building, the new Bedford High School’s classrooms will finally be full when the new school year kicks off.

Bedford High School Principal George Edwards said administrators expect to fill the building with 1,250 students and about 90 teachers, hosting seniors for the first time.

While Edwards, who recently resigned as the school’s principal but is finishing out this school year, said he is excited about the prospect of Bedford having a full school, he is also aware of the impact that will be felt in Manchester.

“The number of students West has lost is really significant,” said Edwards. “From an academic standpoint, many of the top students have been Bedford students, so when you start to lose a good number of academically talented students, it leaves a hole.”

In Bedford, the first day of school this fall will be a monumental day for the town, and Edwards said the school will benefit from the experience of students who have been in the building since the door opened.

“I think that having the leadership of a senior class next year will be one of the things the students will feel that’ll be different and positive,” said Edwards. It’s been simultaneously exhilarating and exhausting. It’s been professionally rewarding to have the opportunitiy to work with the community and staff, but it’s also been a lot of work.”

While the low numbers and potential impact on programs is a concern, there are also positive ramifications of the loss of Bedford residents.

“There will be less students in the class, so the teachers will have more one-on-one education time with students,” said Beaudry. “Also, classes that may not have been available before because they were full will now be available. That’s a big plus.”

Cournoyer agreed that the smaller numbers could lead to a better learning environment, and also said the board is constantly monitoring the situation to find what is in the best interest of the Hooksett students attending West.

Edwards said there will be opportunities for the remaining West students to step up and fill roles they previously hadn’t in order to keep programs and classes running as they previously had.

“There will certainly be some significant changes at West,” said Edwards. “Hopefully the city will be able to implement some strategies to offset the loss of so many students and continue running the school successfully.”

City budget cuts worry Hooksett School Board

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:05:00 GMT

By Lauren Sausser

Hooksett School Board members are concerned about the kind of education the town’s high school students will receive given budgeting problems in the city of Manchester.

At the School Board meeting on Tuesday, June 2, they did not publicly speculate on whether legal action would be necessary surrounding budget cuts to Manchester schools, but did meet in a nonpublic session after its regular meeting with Hooksett district administrators to discuss legalities of the situation and if the budget cuts have the potential to jeopardize the long-term tuition agreement between the districts.

The Hooksett School District sends its high school students to city high schools in Manchester through a tuition contract. Members of the public and the Hooksett School Board spoke during the public session at the June 2 meeting about concerns they have with the proposed Manchester cuts and the impact of those cuts on local Hooksett students.

Joanne McHugh, a former School Board chairman, urged current board members to send a strongly worded letter to both the Manchester School Board and the city’s aldermen, expressing concern about the budget cuts.

“I think it’s high time we put them on notice,” McHugh said.

Maura Ouellette, another former Hooksett School Board chairman, said the Manchester budget process is starting to play like a broken record.

“It seems that every year we’ve watched the Manchester budget process holding our breath, wondering what will make it and what programs or staffing will fall by the wayside,” Ouellette said. “It’s time for Hooksett to flex its financial muscle and demand that Manchester live up to its end of the agreement.”

Hooksett sends about 500 students to Manchester schools each year at a cost of about $7,000 per student per year. Additionally, the Hooksett district is obligated to contribute about more than $900,000 a year to the Manchester district to help pay off old renovation loans.

Local parents said at the Hooksett board meeting that the Manchester district is not holding up its end of the bargain to provide all students with adequate education and extracurricular opportunities.

Marie Papp, a parent of a Hooksett sophomore at Central High School expressed her worry that program cuts and staff layoffs will jeopardize her child’s education. “They will be absolutely slaughtering the music programs.

A concert band without concerts? A marching band without marching? What’s the point?” Papp said. “Please on behalf of our district, on behalf of our kids, be vocal. The cuts that have been proposed are huge. They are deep and they are wide.”

Hooksett Superintendent Charles “Phil” Littlefield said he is in daily contact with Manchester Superintendent Tom Brennan about the status of the Manchester budget.

“On Thursday, we thought the (Manchester) aldermen might be convinced or receptive to changing that budget number. As a result of an opinion of the city solicitor … the aldermen cannot amend that amount even if they wanted to. The only way to add money would be through a supplemental budget appropriation,” Littlefield said.

Littlefield emphasized that administrators are keeping abreast of the situation and would deal with issues as they arise. “We need to reassure the public that we’re keenly aware of what the provisions of the tuition agreement are and all of us are committed to making sure the provisions of that agreement are enforced,” he said.

School on Memorial Day? It’s possible

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:54:00 GMT

BY LAUREN SAUSSER

The Hooksett School Board is bouncing around the idea of dipping into spring holidays to make up for the lost instructional time if Hooksett students miss more than two more school days for weather-related cancelations.

Currently, Hooksett students have missed four school days due to winter weather, including the December ice storms, and are scheduled to be released for summer on June 26.

That leaves administrators with only two more days – Monday, June 29, and Tuesday, June 30 – to complete the required 180 days of classroom instruction before they will either be forced to request a waiver from the state government or make up the missed days with scheduled vacation time.

“I’m not a fan of requesting a waiver for days,” said Superintendent Charles “Phil” Littlefield. “We have a lot of work to do with youngsters in 180 days. I’m a fan of delivering what we said we’d deliver and that’s 180 days.”

At the School Board meeting of Feb. 17, board members and administrators discussed the possibility of converting the Memorial Day holiday into an instructional day before dipping into the April vacation period, which is scheduled for April 27 to May 1.

School Board Chairman Maura Ouellette said she would prefer using Memorial Day as a school day rather than take away days from spring break.

“It’s kind of late to be telling people this now,” Ouellette said. “We have a lot of staff that go away in April. How do you require staff to be in if they are flying out and have already made vacation plans?”

Board member Becky Berk said she wants parent input before making any decision. “I would just be uncomfortable making that decision for all parents,” Berk said.

An up-to-date version of the current school year calendar is accessible online at hooksett.k12.nh.us.

DeLuna finds music brings joy to all

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:13:00 GMT

BY SUSANNA HARGREAVES

In the heart of Hooksett is a genuine Renaissance woman named DeLuna.

In her music studio, DeLuna surrounds herself with various unique instruments from the Renaissance era and from all over the world. DeLuna plays the harp, recorder, flute, bowed psaltery, hammer dulcimer, percussion, bells, singing bowls and many other instruments.

DeLuna, her name inspired by her childhood mentor, said she moved to Hooksett five years ago after growing tired of her gypsy travels of playing concerts and performing in various fairs and festivals throughout the United States.

“This place just opened up for me, as if it were waiting for us,” she said. “I love that I am close enough to the ocean and the mountains. Hooksett is a very mellow and friendly place to live.”

There is something truly magical and uplifting about DeLuna’s music, and beautiful just doesn’t seem a strong enough word to describe it and her kindhearted personality.

When asked about her music, it is easy to see DeLuna is passionate about it, for her blue eyes shine and she smiles like someone who truly enjoys their work. She is very enthusiastic about playing, stopping in the middle of the interview to play a song or to show an instrument.

DeLuna, 56, said she was born in Malta and moved to America when she was 10 years old with her parents and sister. Her father was a British Navy officer and her mother was from Malta. During her childhood travels, DeLuna discovered that art and music were her passions.

“During my youth, the art room was the place that made the most sense to me,” she said. She was able to use her creative talents and imagination to be a painter, fine artist, textile designer and freelance artist. She also branched out to design jewelry and clothes. She said being an artist made it possible for her to be home to raise her son, who has since grown and has three children.

Then, when DeLuna turned 40, her life became all about music. A self-taught batik artist, painter and musician, DeLuna said she fell in love with the harp after breaking up from a relationship. The man she loved gave her a harp as a parting gift. With a broken heart, she packed her belongings and drove to see a friend in Virginia.

“My friend had a little place tucked between two mountain tops with a creek across the street. I thought to myself ‘I can really create here,’ so I unpacked my car and started playing the harp. I couldn’t put it down. It entranced me. The sound of the vibrations brought solace to my soul that I had never found before, and it was so healing for me. During that period of time, the harp and my music really started to talk to me and it was a real comfort.”

DeLuna learned not only time, but music heals the broken heart. She said she always had a musical heart and creative imagination. “The birds taught me,” she laughingly shared, but really she is self taught and believes it comes from within her soul.

DeLuna said she enjoys encouraging people interested in music and telling stories through the art of music. “I don’t need to speak because the music does it for me.”

Now a certified music practitioner, DeLuna plays the harp to help promote wellness and healing. She performs in hospitals and nursing homes during various stages of life. The experience of playing the harp for individuals in hospice has been especially powerful, she said, because music helps provide healing on so many levels and brings joy during a very difficult time.

“There are so many therapeutic benefits to it,” she said. “The vibrations of the harp are totally harmonious. By offering the sounds and harmony of the harp, their bodies absorb it and it brings harmony to their whole body, so during their transition they can leave harmoniously. With the help of the music, they feel more support and less pain,” DeLuna said. “It is meaningful to help bring joy to someone who is in the middle of suffering and to be a part of their journey.”

DeLuna plays the harp most Fridays at Catholic Medical Center in Manchester. She plays in the ICU, in the lobby and in patients’ rooms. She has a broad repertoire of music which includes soulful early music, Renaissance, world folk, holiday, classical, popular music from 1900 to today, and many romantic ballads. She also writes her own music and is currently working on a CD toward the inspiration of healing and joy.

According to Sister Andrea McDonald, director of pastoral care at CMC, DeLuna’s music helps bring comfort to patients and their families.

“She is wonderful for patients, especially those who are going through the dying process,” she said. “Her beautiful music has a healing effect on the patients, families and staff. When she plays, we notice a change in the monitor patterns. Patients become more relaxed, blood pressure and the heart rate decreases.”

McDonald said the hospital has received many letters and phone calls from patients and their family members saying how much they appreciate how calming the music was to them and their loved ones during their stay.

“She really is an asset to the staff because her music has a welcoming, calming effect, which helps make the hospital visit more pleasant when normally it may be difficult and stressful. DeLuna also plays for our memorial Mass on the last Wednesday of every other month for the families who have had their loves one pass away at the hospital.”

De Luna is also available for corporate Wellness Programs, which she said offers employees an opportunity to reduce stress in the workplace. Along with her concerts, DeLuna teaches individuals of all ages and abilities.

“I love playing for myself, but I love empowering other people to play even more,” she said. “I would like to convey how the harp sounds beautiful at whatever level you play it, so it is a very encouraging instrument. You also get to enjoy the beautiful vibrations while you play.”

For more information on De- Luna, visit www.delunaharps. com, or call 647-0622.

Schools face enrollment ‘bubble’

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 18:56:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

After just about a year of studying the elementary levels of the Hooksett School District, the School Board’s Long Range Planning Committee came back with the conclusion that the town would need another school in the next 15 to 20 years, according to enrollment projections.

They also concluded the district would need to do something to alleviate a projected first-grade enrollment bubble in the next few years.

At a School Board meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 19, the committee presented its 70-plus page report and findings.

The committee came up with a computerized data model using factors including yearly certificates of occupancy that come through the town planning department, birth rates, average number and age of children per household, and move-in to moveout ratios of homes in Hooksett to closely project the amount of growth or decline in enrollment over the next 20 years.

They used the same numbers for each kind of housing unit that planning consultant Bruce Mayberry used when he extensively studied the town’s growth last year.

“Going into something like this, I think a lot of people on the committee had some perceptions of what we needed in town,” said the committee’s chairman, Matt Comai. “Once we really looked at the data, we found ways which that data was speaking to us differently.”

The committee recommended reassigning students in the district to prepare for a projected 2010-11 enrollment increase that could max out Underhill’s capacity. The school is already approaching the standard 90 percent capacity rate.

The bubble would be passing, Comai said, and would not justify the need for a new building at this point. The committee also advised the School Board to continue working with Manchester Sand and Gravel to obtain a suitable future school site.

The committee emphasized enrollment’s direct correlation to housing construction, and encouraged the board to keep a close eye on those factors to update the multipliers periodically and re-project enrollment.

They also compared the current grade-span configuration model for the district to a neighborhood schools model, which if implemented would require some redistricting. They presented several options for both types of models for the future, including keeping it as and building a preschool and kindergarten facility that would change the grade spans for Memorial, Underhill and Cawley.

The district’s newly formed High School Study Committee will use the same sort of data to explore and make recommendations on the district’s future high school facility needs.

New buildings planned for SNHU campus

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 19:46:00 GMT

BY GRETA CUYLER

Southern New Hampshire University is gearing up for a nearly $20 million construction project to include a new academic building, dining hall and parking lot on North River Road.

If approved by the town, the university plans to break ground this summer; construction will last 16 to 18 months, SNHU President Paul LeBlanc said. “I think this set of projects is a dramatic start to our second 75 years,” LeBlanc said. “These are dramatic, state-of-the-art buildings that reflect the latest in sustainability. I think they reflect a level of confidence and maturity in the institution.”

Both the dining hall and academic building will be “green,” using environmentally friendly features such as low-flow plumbing.

Money for the project -- three years in the making -- will come from the university’s cash reserves, plus up to $16 million in bonds. Sen. Judd Gregg, RN. H., helped procure $2 million in federal funds for the academic building.

It’s a far cry from the school’s humble beginnings in the late 1960s, when it was housed on the second floor above the Palace Fruit Company on Hanover Street in Manchester, LeBlanc said.

The $6 million, two-story academic building will have nearly 33,500 square feet, five classrooms and 24 offices for the School of Community Economic Development. There will be a state-of-the-art case study room and the latest in multimedia features. The building will include a large cafe for students to enjoy coffee, sandwiches and salads. Nearby there will be study rooms and booths.

“It’ll be more noisy than the library, but quieter than the dining hall,” LeBlanc said.

The school’s growth has led to a need for space. In the last seven years, enrollment has jumped nearly 30 percent. There are now approximately 1,900 full-time undergraduate students. Over the past two years, more than 100 full- and part-time faculty members have been hired.

SNHU owns 230 acres east of North River Road and recently built four new dorms -- adding 550 beds -- and a new academic building there. The latest building project continues that expansion, LeBlanc said.

“This is in accordance with our campus master plan to shift the center of gravity to that side of campus,” LeBlanc said.

The two-story, 47,700-squarefoot dining hall will seat 632 and will be located next to the academic building. It will cost $13 million to build the dining hall and install the necessary equipment. This will replace the school’s existing dining hall, which will be given a new use, not yet determined.

Also included in the construction project is a 150-space parking lot for nearby dorm residents with a price tag of approximately $350,000.

The plan is a scaled-back version of a previously proposed joint dining hall/student center, a school representative told the Hooksett Planning Board.

LeBlanc said next up is building a new student center on campus, one that would be nearby or attached to the dining hall. But he said that won’t happen for at least another five years.

Although the college is nearly at capacity for its undergraduate program, LeBlanc hopes to expand the school’s evening and online continuing education.

SNHU is also planning to spend $3.3 million on various deferred maintenance projects on campus, including new roofs, windows, siding and repairs to kitchens, bathrooms and dorms. Tuition will rise 7 percent next fall to $24,624, an amount that still leaves the college’s annual price tag below that of its peer schools, LeBlanc said.

Report card grading systems not just A, B, C

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 21:10:00 GMT

BY NICHOLAS BROWN

Kindergartners, don’t fret.

You may still get into Harvard even if your report card shows that you need to improve your ability to name geometric shapes, plan and control your body movements or recite the alphabet. But your report card will be changing, and becoming more stringent, at almost every level of your education.

There’s no one model for report cards in New Hampshire’s public schools. They vary in length and detail, and may be completely different from one school or grade to the next.

But that may be changing, according to some local education experts.

“What I’m beginning to see emerge as different states are adopting standards-based curricula, is that these report cards reflect those standards,” said SAU 15 Superintendent Charles Littlefield, who heads the Hooksett, Auburn and Candia school districts.

Hooksett’s Fred C. Underhill School, which serves kindergarten through secondgrade students, is one school that has moved towards a “standards-based” report card.

The idea, said the school’s assistant principal, Ralene St. Pierre, is that the specif- ic skills for a certain grade are listed on the report card.

What’s then measured is the students progress toward mastering those skills, which are continuously coordinated with state standards known as grade-level expectations, or GLE’s.

“It’s not like it’s ‘You’re good or bad;’ it’s ‘How close have you gotten to these goals?’” she said.

St. Pierre said a standards-based report card works well for very young students, since they’re at an age when they’re making some of the most rapid and varied developmental gains.

“We really try to de-emphasize any kind of hierarchical thing here,” she said. “At this age they move a lot. The kids can change from one level to another very quickly.”

A first-grade report card at Underhill, for example, measures abilities in core subjects like reading, writing, math, science and social studies. It also evaluates abilities in topics like art, music, physical education and behavior.

For each question under those topics, students receive a letter – E, G, S, P or W – which represent the grades of excellent, above expectation, meets expectation, progressing and working toward. There’s also a key that translates those definitions.

For example, “working toward” translates to “needs improvement.”

But in most high schools, including Manchester West, Central and Memorial, good old-fashioned letter grades – beginning with A – are still the norm.

“It could be that way for a while,” said Central Principal John Rist.

Rist said fiddling with the traditional high school letter grades would be like asking Americans to switch entirely to the metric system.

“It just doesn’t work,” he said.

“This is just a system that everybody is accustomed to,” he said.

Manchester high school report cards show letter grades for each course, and provide semester and cumulative grade point average totals. A weighted grade-point average is also included, and is used to determine class rankings, from top to bottom. The high school report cards also note the number of times a student misses a school day, or is tardy for the start of school.

Teachers can also choose from a key of more than 70 prescripted comments to add to the report cards.

High school students may have a keener interest in the details of their report cards than do much younger students, said Rist.

“They all know their grade,” he said. “Whether they care or not is another matter.”

In Auburn, at Auburn Village School, for students in the intermediate grades, teachers fill out report cards that contain traditional letter grades, but also have numeric measurements for things like conduct and effort.

For example, in a fourth-grade report card, a student may earn a B-plus in spelling, but their conduct and effort toward the subject may be deemed either “commendable,” “satisfactory” or unsatisfactory.”

Conduct and effort for work habits and social development – including things like listening, following school rules and showing respect for others – are also measured by those three terms.

While the report card hasn’t changed much in each of AVS’s first through eighth grades in the last six years, Principal Anita Johnson said it may also soon shift to reflect “standards-based” curricula.

But Johnson and other educators stressed report cards are only one way of communicating a student’s academic and social progress.

Report cards are supplemented by regular progress reports at most schools.

An Allenstown Elementary School progress report, for example, updates parents on academic progress in areas like writing, math and science, but also behavioral and social progress in categories like playground behavior, listening and the ability to work cooperatively.

Johnson said perhaps the most effective means of conveying a student’s progress is through direct contact between teachers and parents.

“Communication with parents is ongoing,” she said, even if its the quarterly report card that’s going to make the cut into the student’s permanent file.

And report cards being filed away for a kindergarten student now may well be dated by the time that student graduates high school.

“This is an ongoing process as the standards change and as the GLE’s change,” said St. Pierre. “Just as the world we’re preparing our children for is ever-changing.”

High school changes - Manchester proposes shifting Hooksett, Candia and Auburn students to West High

Hooksett Editor — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 13:44:00 GMT

BY NICHOLAS BROWN

Several Manchester parents told a committee considering the future of West High School – which will see an exodus of Bedford students over the next two years – that a simple solution would be to send all students from Hooksett, Auburn and Candia to the West Side school.

“I think the most practical solution is to change the bus routes,” said Kathleen Kirwin, a Manchester schools librarian.

“I do feel bad for them, but we can’t make (this) decision based on who wants to be on the football team at one school.” Said Manchester parent Tracy Gallagher, “All the kids from Hooksett and wherever else they come from, they go to one place, they make friends as well.”

Rerouting Hooksett, Candia and Auburn students – who are currently dispersed throughout the three city high schools as part of a long-term tuition contract – was just one of several options suggested by the group of about 60 Manchester parents attending a forum hosted by the committee on Tuesday, March 27.

At a separate Manchester Board of Schools committee meeting that night, a group of Manchester school board members said they favored moving all Hooksett’s students to West, according to Union Leader reports.

The Manchester school board will likely decide on a solution for West’s future at a special meeting some time in April, said David Scannell, a member of the future of West committee.

Parents at the meeting berated the group for not providing any concrete information on any of the options it’s exploring and questioned why plans for West’s future have taken so long to develop, since Bedford residents voted for their own high school more than two years ago.

Scannell did outline several options for the schools including a redistricting that would create new grade configurations for Manchester’s schools, housing “academies” within the school for students with specific academic interests, turning empty space at West into Manchester School District administrative offices and redistricting by moving around the Hooksett, Auburn and Candia students.

Bob St. Jean, one of two families representing Hooksett at the meeting, stood up for the smaller towns, and said many Hooksett families have a strong emotional attachment to Central High School, which is the default school for Hooksett students on the east side of the Merrimack River.

St. Jean also said Candia students, who now typically go to Central, could would have even longer bus commutes to and from school.

“I suggest that you consult carefully with the school boards in those other towns,” St. Jean said.

Manchester Central parent Susan Berry said she thought any type of redistricting would be disruptive for students who’ve grown accustomed to their current schools.

“My (child) has made a lot of friends this year, even with students from Hooksett and Candia,” she said.

Scannell said his guess is that the Future of West Committee won’t present Manchester’s school board with a recommendation, but will rather lay out the multiple options for the board’s consideration.

“I don’t see a critical mass of people behind one option,” he said.

Scannell said no changes will likely occur at West until September 2008, when three grades of Bedford students will have left. All the town’s students will be out by the 2009-10 school year.

SAU 15 breakup favored

Hooksett Editor — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 16:23:00 GMT

BY NICHOLAS BROWN

HOOKSETT – A committee formed after the annual School District Meeting voted unanimously to pursue withdrawing the district from SAU 15, the central administrative unit it shares with the school districts in nearby Auburn and Candia.

The SAU 15 withdrawal committee said branching out alone would allow SAU staff – which at SAU 15 is nine members and includes a superintendent, an assistant superintendent and a business administrator – to focus specifically on the needs of Hooksett’s growing community.

School board members in Auburn and Candia, meanwhile, said losing Hooksett would mean more burden to taxpayers in the smaller towns, and potentially less money to directly benefit student education.

The Hooksett withdrawal will be up for a town vote at the town’s next School District Meeting, provided the state board of education is satisfied the with drawal committee did the proper research.

If voters approve the withdrawal, the Hooksett-only SAU would be in action beginning July 1, 2008.

The withdrawal committee estimates a new Hooksett-only SAU will cost about $74,000 more annually than what Hooksett will pay next year for its share – which is 58 percent – of maintaining the joint SAU.

Those estimates don’t include one-time costs for some expenditures – for things like computers and office furniture – to get the SAU up and running, said withdrawal committee Chairman Dana Argo.

In a 23-page report issued by the withdrawal committee, there are repeated references to the SAU 15 staff, which the group said has become increasingly stressed to meet the demands of each of the three towns.

“With Hooksett growing, we believe our needs are going to be much greater,” said Argo.

Argo attributed the high turnover in superintendents – SAU 15 has had five in the last five years – in part to an overbearing workload.

“(Superintendent Charles “Phil” Littlefield) made the comment that it’s not the hardest job he’s ever had, but it’s the most time-consuming,” said Argo.

Argo also said the move to a Hooksett-only SAU could give the school board more control over the SAU budget, which for SAU 15 is under the auspices of school board members from each of the towns.

Though Hooksett school board members have weighted votes at SAU 15 board meetings, Argo said the SAU board can make budget decisions that don’t necessarily best suit Hooksett.

For example, he said, the SAU budget has increased in recent years, though the Hooksett School District has been dealing with default budgets.

“If the SAU budget goes up, we have no choice,” Argo said. “We have to find the money.”

Candia School Board Chairman Karen Smith and Auburn School Board Chairman Elaine Hobbs each said Hooksett’s withdrawal would mean more costs for the smaller towns, which would still have to maintain SAU 15 to some capacity.

“A financial impact will trickle down to have an educational impact,” said Hobbs. “We’ll be asking voters to contribute more money to things like administration.”

Smith and Hobbs also each said their boards have never felt as though the SAU 15 administration was too busy to meet their needs – even lately as the two boards have been discussing the possibility of a joint middle school arrangement.

“I’ve never felt like they were paying more attention to Hooksett or Auburn,” Smith said. Said Hobbs, “If they’re saying the SAU doesn’t have enough time for them, hire more people.”

Smith and Hobbs also said they hope not to lose SAU-wide collaborations for supply purchases and professional development that have become more frequent in recent years.

But Argo said he perceives some “philosophical differences” between the three boards that he said have prevented SAUwide progress in recent years.

As an example, he said, “They have an archaic IT system (at the SAU 15 office). I think it’s that way because the three districts can’t agree on what to do.”