Hopkinton Superintendent resigns

Goffstown Editor — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 20:21:00 GMT

BY SARAH LEBRUN

While the Hopkinton School Board and administration crunch numbers during this busy time of Town and School District Meetings, one more task has been added to their agenda – finding a new superintendent.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Brian Blake has resigned from his post, effective at the end of the school year, June 30. The School Board officially accepted his resignation Jan. 20.

“The Hopkinton School Board is looking forward to working with the educational leaders and members of the community as we work to find our next superintendent,” said School Board Chairman David Luneau. “At the moment, we are meeting with internal candidates. Depending on what we find, we’ll either make a selection or open the process to outside candidates.

Blake is currently making $101,000 per year.

“We’re interested in getting a candidate that fits with the educational priorities we have in Hopkinton, and we want to pay that candidate a competitive salary,” said Luneau.

Blake was not available for comment as of press time.

District strives to meet school needs

Bow Editor — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 15:16:00 GMT

By Ryan O’Connor
Staff Writer

Several weeks after the Hopkinton School Board received a report on 18 months of facility needs and adequacy findings, a recent tax increase may have thrown a wrench into the district’s plans to pursue building improvements.

Although the school budget increased from $12,040,575 in 2005 to $13,012,247 in 2006, the total tax rate for the town actually went down 2.5 percent.

It was a reassessment, however, which brought property values up 22 percent, that has Hopkinton residents upset.

“I think that the landscape is potentially changing as a result of the tax bills that came out (on Oct. 10),” said Superintendent Brian Blake. “But part of my reasoning for being here is my experience with buildings.”

When Blake was hired in May, after serving four years as the head of the Farmington School District, Hopkinton School Board Chairman Marshall Rowe said Blake’s experience in budgetary restrictions helped set him apart from a dozen other candidates.

“Brian is well-grounded and experienced in the areas that are particularly important to Hopkinton,” Rowe said in May. “This includes experience with facility planning and construction, fiscal management and special education.”

While in Farmington, Blake was faced with a situation where voters cut $1 million from an already tight district operating budget.

“He carried out the process and decision-making in a manner that maintained the respect of district employees,” said Rowe. “He then worked very hard in very innovative ways to educate voters in terms of the services they lost and convinced them to restore the funds back to the budget.

“School is so different now than when most of us were children,” he said. “We can really use (Blake’s) expertise and experience to help us present and relate to voters why the district needs make these improvements.”

It didn’t take long for Blake to be confronted with such a task in Hopkinton, as he and the school board were presented a comprehensive facility needs report in September.

Included in the assessment were recommendations concerning student population trends, air quality and energy efficiency, fire and safety codes, handicapped accessibility, and capacity to sustain district guidelines for class size over the next decade.

To research and discuss these subjects and trends, more than 60 community members were retained and the Mariance Architects firm was hired to assist the district in defining implications.

Though former Superintendent Dr. Richard Ayers initiated the project, Blake said he feels obligated to push forward with the recommendations.

“I think, for a variety of reasons, this whole facilities project has been around for a number of years and they’ve been discussing concerns with heating and ventilation systems since 2003, so a lot of the issues have already been identified and been around for awhile. It’s a matter of bringing some closure to it all,” said Blake. “It’s all been in motion long before I arrived here, so it’s not necessarily my place to say ‘No, we’re not doing it.’”

Blake also said he feels strongly about many of the issues addressed in the report and, after hearing a follow-up presentation from the facility needs committee on Oct. 25, he hopes to work with the school board to create sensible and cost-efficient options for the district.

Although the school board has yet to decide how to proceed, Blake said the board will work with selectmen and should have a definitive plan in place by the end of November.

“I think we’re going to try to address some of the issues dealing with life safety this year,” he said. “In terms of the bulk of the projects, that has yet to be determined as far as how we’re going to roll those out.”

The report

The construction and life safety subcommittee broke down needs based on subject and priority.

For health and safety issues, the committee ranked a new heating, ventilatiion and air-condtitioning system (HVAC) and single-pane windows at Harold Martin School as its highest priority.

Because of mold buildup, access issues and improper ventilation, the committee ranked improvements to or construction of a new SAU office and more storage space at all three schools as a medium to high priority.

Medium priorities include a new HVAC system for the high school, a bathroom for the Harold Martin nurse’s office, a more secure entrance to the high school, and asbestos abatement for Maple Street School’s tiles.

Asbestos abatement for pipes in Maple Street’s janitors’ closet is listed as a low priority.

Other issues highlighted in the facility needs report include access problems such as increasing handicapped access and door security at all three schools, which is listed as a high priority.

Medium priorities include elevator improvements at the high school, a handicapped lift at Maple Street, handicapped access to the auditorium at the high school and parking and traffic flow improvements at all three schools.

Securing the locker area near the cafeteria at the high school is listed as a low priority.

As a long-range consideration, privacy screens at the nurse’s office at Maple Street School is listed as a low priority.

As far as student population is concerned, based on projected employment in Merrimack County, the district’s student population could jump to more than 1,100, although the data analysis subcommittee’s report hypothesized that enrollment would most likely range from 986 to 1,046. The October 2005, the student population was 1,048.

Even if Interstate 93 is widened, the committee advised that the effects on enrollment likely would not be seen for nearly 10 years.

Moreover, the committee shrugged off the possibility of school improvements bringing a rapid population increase, as was the case with the Bow and Campbell (Litchfield) high schools because those districts built new schools rather than renovating, as Hopkinton is discussing.

The report stated, “Hopkinton is already perceived as a desirable school district; and renovation or expansion is not likely to have a significant impact on the rate in which people move here to attend our schools.”

The community partnership task force recommended a full-sized gymnasium seating more than 750 people be built somewhere in the school district, possibly as part of an expansion at Maple Street School.

Other recommendations included a multi-purpose community room, a full-sized high school athletic track, and combined office space for school district and town offices.

Hopkinton News : Education

Hopkinton Superintendent resigns

District strives to meet school needs