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School Board sends city scathing letter

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:08:00 GMT

By Dan O’Brien

Fed up with a lack of communication and funding issues with Manchester public schools, the Hooksett School Board has sent a scathing letter to the mayor of Manchester and is talking about building a new high school here.

Hooksett has a 20-year tuition agreement to send its public high school students to Manchester and has had such an agreement for generations. On Tuesday, Oct. 20, at the Cawley Middle School, members of the Hooksett School Board and volunteers on a study committee will hold a forum to take ideas from the public on the high school issue.

The letter, which represents the consensus of the board and was signed by Chairman Paul Cournoyer, says Hooksett will “use all legitimate tools available to launch a forceful protest” against Manchester’s lack of school funding.

Among several allegations, Hooksett says Manchester used $10.6 million paid by the town of Bedford to offset the city’s tax rate when the money was supposed to be used for schools. Bedford paid the money to relinquish its contract with Manchester after Bedford built its own high school.

The letter also criticizes Manchester for not using money from school impact fees in the school budget, raises concerns about pay-to-play sports programs, says Central High School has continually not been brought up to state maintenance codes, and raises concerns about a low student population at West High School as a result of Bedford’s pullout.

The letter was dated Sept. 8, but several School Board members said they have not gotten a response from Manchester Mayor Frank Guinta, who also serves as the city’s School Board chairman, and said Manchester School Board members were not made aware of it.

When reached on Oct. 6, Guinta’s public affairs adviser, Mark Laliberte, said the mayor planned to discuss the letter at the next School Board meeting.

“This letter will be addressed at the School Board meeting on Monday,” Laliberte said. “We’ll put it on the agenda.”

At the Oct. 6 Hooksett School Board meeting, members of a voluntary high school study committee discussed building a new high school in Hooksett. The committee, which includes Bedford High School Assistant Principal Gary Dempsey, cited several studies showing student populations between 500 and 800 are optimal. Hooksett had 588 high school students last year.

Board members stressed that building a high school in town is not Hooksett’s only option. There could be a restructuring in Manchester or talks with other communities.

“I don’t think the public knows what we’ve done as a School Board about our dissatisfaction with Manchester,” School Board member Todd Dumont said. “We sent a letter and haven’t received a response.”

“We’ve had umpteen conversations with the superintendent of Manchester,” Dana Argo, vice chairman, said.

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.

No high school decision yet

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 19:56:00 GMT

BY LAUREN SAUSSER

If you’re wondering if Hooksett will ever construct its own high school, don’t ask any of the members of the Hooksett High School Committee.

Because they don’t know.

The committee has made no hard decisions yet about whether the town needs its own secondary school but will continue to review enrollment projections as it anticipates the district’s future needs.

Members of the committee met Feb. 26 at Cawley Middle School and discussed results from a recent long-range planning report as well as data collected from two other high school exploratory committees in the 1990s.

In 1991, a Hooksett committee reviewed several different high school scenarios, one of which would have constructed a cooperative high school with students in Auburn and Candia.

In 1996, a measure to build that school failed at town meeting. John Pieroni, Budget Committee chairman and a member of the current Hooksett High School Committee, said he remembers at the time the vote was taken in 1996, most people were satisfied with sending Hooksett’s high school-aged students to public schools in Manchester.

Gary Dempsey, chairman of the committee, said the group is still several months away from drawing its own conclusions. “Right now we’re collecting information,” said Dempsey, a Hooksett resident and a vice principal at Bedford High School.

“Every year is so different. Every year projections are so hard to estimate. There’s always something that gets thrown in there that changes it.”

Charles “Phil” Littlefield, superintendent of the Hooksett School District, said before the group makes any firm decisions about a future high school, it needs to determine what type of high school is even viable in the area.

“The numbers really tell it all. We’ve really got to look at those projection numbers,” Littlefield said. “I wouldn’t want to spend a lot of time, effort and energy researching a (cooperative high school) if there aren’t any other districts in a 50-mile radius that are interested in a co-op. And there might not be.”

The committee will meet at 4:30 p.m. on March 2 at Cawley Middle School.

Land available for possible Hooksett high school

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 20:29:00 GMT

BY LAUREN SAUSSER

Hooksett may not need a high school right now, but – just in case – the School Board already has its sights set on a spot.

An 80-acre parcel off Route 3 just south of Head’s Pond has been offered by Manchester Sand and Gravel as a site for a potential school. The area has been deemed ideal because state law mandates that a high school needs a minimum of 60 acres to accommodate the buildings and surrounding facilities.

“Manchester Sand and Gravel has been great to work with,” said School Board Chairman Maura Ouelette. “We have looked at many sites and think this is our best option. But we don’t want people to panic and automatically assume we’re moving forward with a new school.”

In fact, the board hasn’t even begun to debate whether a high school is necessary. Currently, the district buses about 500 Hooksett high school students per day to high schools in Manchester.

A high school exploratory committee will convene its first meeting later this month to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of building a new school in town.

“(The new site) is taking care of our future needs,” said Superintendent Charles “Phil” Littlefield.

He emphasized that even though a site parcel has been selected and that the new high school committee is meeting this month, the two events are not necessarily related.

“I want to be very clear,” he said, “these things are very independent of each other.”

Representatives from Manchester Sand and Gravel were on hand at a Hooksett Conservation Commission meeting on Oct. 1 to lay out the site plans for the potential school and to request – if the School Board decides to move forward with plans – a change to one of the town’s environmental easements.

Attorney David Campbell told commission members the school district would need to run an access road through one of the town’s current designated open spaces, but that in exchange for that access, Manchester Sand and Gravel is willing to donate an extra 30 acres of green area strictly for land conservation purposes.

“We’re not asking to put condominiums up here,” Campbell said. “We’re offering a school, which has an obvious public benefit.”

The conservation commission voted unanimously to support the plans.

The Hooksett High School Exploratory Committee will hold its first meeting at 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 20, at Cawley Middle School.

Hooksett again considers high school

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:58:00 GMT

BY LAUREN SAUSSER

The Hooksett School Board does not know if the town needs a high school. But they are ready to find out.

A newly formed committee – which has not yet held its first meeting – includes elected officials and community members.

The Hooksett High School Committee is charged with considering whether a new high school is a viable option. School Superintendent Charles “Phil” Littlefield said he is not sure what the findings of the committee will be, but is certain the investigation will take the better part of a year, if not longer.

“We really need to study the issue and what are all the factors that go into answering that question,” Littlefield said. “I think the board and I genuinely feel this is a community study and it’s something we should take sufficient time, energy and effort and our position on it should be a data-informed position. It may come out ‘yes,’ it may come out ‘no.’ We have the obligation to study it.”

Regardless of the findings of the committee, the school district is already looking into potential sites should the town eventually need another school. Littlefield said the board is in preliminary discussions with Manchester Sand and Gravel, which has expressed an interest in donating land for future school use.

“People should not make the inference that we’ve decided to build a high school,” Littlefield said. “What we’re doing is in the event sometime in the future this community needs a school, we want to have a site identified and available. It would be a gift. We’re looking at several sites. We haven’t really come to an agreement on a specific site. Hopefully we will. (Manchester Sand and Gravel has) been so good to work with and extremely responsive to what our future needs might be.”

Currently, the Hooksett School District sends its students to Central and West high schools in Manchester and reimburses the Manchester School District for the costs of educating each student. Hooksett, Candia and Auburn have an agreement with Manchester for the city to provide high school services through June 30, 2023.

During the 2007-08 school year, Karen Lessard, business administrator for the Hooksett School District, said 497 Hooksett high school students attended school in Manchester and the estimated tuition bill totaled more than $3.5 million, or about $7,100 per student.

In addition to tuition, the Hooksett School District is obligated to contribute about $930,000 a year to the Manchester School District to help pay off old renovation loans. When the Manchester high schools were renovated a few years ago, Lessard said, various school districts that send students into the city for high school, agreed to contribute a proportional amount toward the loan based on the numbers of students sent.

Although the financial obligation to the Manchester School District – which last year totaled about $4.5 million – is a good reason to consider building a high school in town, Hooksett Town Council Chairman Dave Dickson said he anticipates it will cost much more to operate a new school.

“I think we have to explore it,” said Dickson, who will represent the Town Council on the high school committee. “I’m going in with an open mind. It’s going to be a long process and it’s ultimately going to be up to the taxpayers.”

High school options

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 19:25:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

The Hooksett School Board is looking for members of the community to sit on a newly established committee devoted to studying future high school plans for the school district.

Superintendent Charles “Phil” Littlefield said two parents of Hooksett students and two community members at large are needed to fill four seats of the 13-member committee.

Anyone interested in applying should send a letter of interest addressed to Littlefield at School Administrative Unit 15, 90 Farmer Road, in Hooksett. Littlefield requested that those interested do not call or send e-mails.

The new committee, established through a vote at the School Board’s meeting on Tuesday, June 3, would be an offshoot of the Long Range Planning Committee already in existence.

That committee, which will deliver its final report sometime in August, focused more on the kindergarten-through-eighth grade needs of the district.

“The High School Study Committee is probably part B of the long-term plan for the Hooksett School District,” Littlefield said. “It’s a natural outgrowth of that.”

In addition to the two community members, and two parents, the committee would include both school and town officials: Littlefield, Assistant Superintendent Gail Kushner, School District Business Administrator Karen Lessard, two School Board members, one Budget Committee member, one Town Councilor, one Planning Board member, and either Town Administrator David Jodoin himself or someone he chooses to designate as his representative. “This seeks to involve all stakeholders in the study,” Littlefield said.

School Board Chairman Maura Ouellette said School Board members Paul Cournoyer, the board’s vice chairman, and Becky Berk will represent the School Board on the committee. She added that Town Councilor Dave Dickson and Acting Budget Committee Chairman Tom Keach are also on board.

The study committee would gather data on population and growth to make recommendations to the School Board about the future needs of the Hooksett School District, exploring every option from continuing to send high school students to Manchester schools to possibly constructing a new high school.

Also on the table is possibly redistricting the Hooksett students who are currently split between West and Central high schools, as well as looking at all kinds of cooperative agreements with other communities.

“I don’t want the community to be alarmed. We still have 15 years on the (Manchester) contract,” Ouellette said. “We have to look at all our options.” She added the School Board has had plans to establish such a committee for a while now, but said she could not deny that the recent troubles over the Manchester school budget gave the board a nudge to do so. “We knew we had to look at this, but it’s playing a role,” Ouellette said.

Currently, Ouellette said, Hooksett sends 547 students to Manchester high schools. That number will increase over the next few years, she said, particularly given the current enrollment bubble in the seventh grade at Cawley Middle School.

According to the statement approved by the School Board, the High School Study Committee will use facilities analyses, enrollment and population projections, and the Long Range Planning Committee’s findings to analyze the feasibility of building Hooksett’s own high school, cooperating with other towns and reorganizing a tuition agreement, either with Manchester or another town.

The current tuition agreement with Manchester allows the Manchester School District to cut ties with Hooksett, Ouellette said, but not vice versa.

Littlefield said the hope is that the committee would have an initial meeting in August, after the Long Range Planning Commitee’s final report, to firm up the charge and expectations of committee members, with a tentative goal of having a final report ready before the start of school in 2009.

“We’re more interested in doing a thorough job of studying the issues than a due date,” Littlefield said.