Windham News : buget

Parents petition to have Windham high school open with just freshmen and

Salem Editor — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 20:06:00 GMT

Freshman Chris DiPersio likes going to Salem High School, where is he actively involved in the band program.

And he wants to stay there, even though his town will be opening a brand-new high school next year.

DiPersio was one of several students and parents who weighed in at a Windham School Board meeting on whether Windham High School should start with four grades – or as few as two – when it opens its doors in fall 2009.

More than a year ago, the School Board voted to have a full school – grades 9 through 12 – when the school opens.

But recently, several parents and students have asked the School Board to reverse its decision and open the school with only freshmen and sophomores and allow juniors and seniors to finish their careers at Salem High School before Windham High School becomes a full school.

They made their arguments late last year and aired them again at the board’s Tuesday, Jan. 22, meeting.

The last two years of high school are particularly important for students because that’s when they are gearing up for college, some of them said.

“Eleventh and 12th grades are where you’re taking the courses, applying to colleges and becoming integrated in a system that is going to move you into the college of your choice if that’s the field you want to go into,” said Renee Solomon, a mother of a freshman and a junior at Salem High.

Another mother, Lisa Van Berlo, said it was unconscionable for the School Board to move students out of Salem during those years.

“It’s like transplanting a tree in the middle of winter. It makes no sense,” said Van Berlo. “This does not just affect a class ring. It’s their future.”

School Board members did not make a decision that night. Some said they were receptive to receiving more information before doing so.

School Board member Barbara Coish, however, said she would not change her vote, and another member, Beverly Donovan, said she thinks the board should stick with its plan to open with four grades.

It’s a decision that is not easy for School Board members because they know some people will be unhappy with whatever decision they make.

“None of these solutions are terrific,” said Superintendent Frank Bass. “None of them solve all the issues. With each solution you propose, there are drawbacks.”

Currently, about 650 Windham students attend Salem High School, with Windham paying to send those students there through an agreement between the two communities.

Salem is willing to take Windham students as tuition students after Windham opens its own high school. Several people said they believe that if the Windham school opens for all four grades, there might be few upperclassmen there because many parents will opt to keep their children in Salem.

Those who do go to Windham, some said, may be those students whose parents can’t afford the tuition.

Several students told the board they’re unsure if Windham’s high school will provide the same opportunities they enjoy in Salem. And they don’t like the idea of leaving some of their schoolmates.

“We’ve met many people and met new friends,” said freshman Kim Movsesian, adding that students at Salem High, despite coming from two towns, think of themselves as one community.

“They’re part of a community. It’s extremely difficult for (them) to abandon that community and come to a new school,” Bass said.

About 40 people attended the meeting, and several speakers drew applause when they finished their remarks.

Not everyone, however, believes the school should have only freshmen and sophomores when it opens. Some parents have said they are concerned that the school will lack a “critical mass” of students to support a genuine high school experience for their children.

One parent, Patty Michal, asked the School Board to think about the students who are currently in middle school and will be in the new high school.

“There are a lot of (kids) who have to go to that high school who want a real high school experience,” she said. “A school with two grades, to me, is truly not a high school experience.”

Another mother, Cindy Hastings, said she worries about the message sent to the community at a time when the School Board is asking for more money to provide additional athletic facilities at Windham High School.

“To me, if you open a high school with just two classes, it says to the voters: We don’t need the facilities, we don’t need the fields and we can put off those things,” she said.

$11.6 million budget to be discussed

Salem Editor — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 19:56:00 GMT

By Darrell Halen

Voters will have an opportunity to let their voices be heard when they take up a proposed $11.6 million operating budget and 28 other warrant articles at Windham’s town deliberative session.

They will gather on Saturday, Feb. 9, starting at 9 a.m., at Golden Brook School.

If the $11,645,020 budget and all warrant articles pass and the town receives grants, donations and other funds, officials hope for, the net increase in spending would be $757,167 or 6.47 percent.

Voters will consider adopting a new blasting ordinance and a noise ordinance, and transferring 16 acres of recreation and conservation land to the school district, land school officials need to accommodate additional athletic facilities, as part of a land swap.

Other money warrant articles voters will look at include:

• $275,425 for increased salary and benefits to the police union, in accordance with a collective bargaining union with the town.

• $54,080 for a trailer for the Transfer and Recycling Department.

• $29,630 for increased salary and benefits to the firefighter’s union.

• Add $90,000 to a salt shed/highway facility capital reserve fund

• $70,000 for renovations to the Nesmith Library, including exterior painting and interior lighting repairs and replacements.

• $26,510 for increased salary and benefits to municipal workers

• $3,985 to replace two part-time maintenance workers with a full-time employee, beginning in June.

• $15,000 for a salt shed/highway garage engineering/feasibility study, and to authorize the withdrawal of money from a capital reserve fund.

• Voters are being asked to spend $182,230 to add four new firefighters and to apply for a $101,200 Homeland Security grant to help cover the costs.

If the grant is obtained, the town’s reimbursement from the government will diminish each year until 2013, when the town assumes the full cost of the employees. The article will be null and void if the grant is not won.

Voters will also see requests for money for three projects that have been on previous warrants: Castlehill Bridge, bike paths on Lowell Road and improvements to an old train depot area.

The town is seeking to spend $501,585 to replace the bridge, which crosses Beaver Brook at the Pelham-Windham border.

The state would provide 80 percent – $401,268 – in bridge aid, and a developer working on a subdivision in the area would pay a $89,000 donation. That would leave $11,317 to be raised by taxes.

Selectmen are putting forward an article to spend $73,200 to fund a portion of the town’s 20 percent share of the costs, including engineering, easement acquisitions, right of way, and construction expenses, to build bike paths along Lowell Road from Route 111 to Golden Brook School.

The state is picking up 80 percent of the cost, and is committing additional funds to rehabilitate pavement and drainage on the road.

Voters have already put aside $160,000 of the town’s share of the project.

Selectmen are asking voters to approve spending $33,000 to develop engineering and design plans to improve and renovate the Windham Depot area, and to accept $20,000 of this appropriation from the state.

The project’s total cost is expected to be $210,000, with the state paying 80 percent of the cost.

Some warrant articles will have no effect on the tax rate:

• Taking $12,000 from the Searles Special Revenue Fund to pay for marketing and maintenance costs at the town-owned Searles School and Chapel, which is rented out for functions.

• Using $12,560 from the same fund to pay on a loan taken to make renovations and repairs to the building’s west wing

• A warrant article by citizen petition calls for allowing juniors and seniors to continue attending Salem High School.

Because it was submitted to the town, selectmen felt obligated to put it on the town warrant.

But the legality of the article – whether a town vote can influence the school district – will likely be discussed at the deliberative session, said Town Administrator David Sullivan.º

Articles to enhance high school on this year’s ballot

Salem Editor — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 19:54:00 GMT

By Darrell Halen

This year’s Windham School District warrant includes several articles to provide money to Windham High School, which will open in 2009.

Those articles, and others, will be the subject of discussion and debate when voters attend the school district’s Friday, Feb. 8, deliberative session.

The session starts at 7 p.m. and will be held at Golden Brook School.

A majority of the School Board is supporting three bond articles to boost athletic facilities at Windham High: $3,819,980 for a multipurpose sports center; $900,000 for a second gymnasium and $778,500 for three additional athletic fields.

Each bond article requires a 60 percent majority when voters go to the polls on Tuesday, March 11.

State Rep. Charles McMahon has submitted a $1.25 million warrant article by citizen petition to construct a second access road for the high school.

The new road would be built over the area of the former London Bridge Road from the high school to Castlehill Road.

Selectmen had proposed their own warrant article to build the new road but later withdrew it. McMahon has said that by having the construction proposal on the school district ballot, the project would qualify for 30 percent aid from the state.

The School Board may recommend that wording of McMahon’s article be changed at the deliberative session, but supports its intent.

To accommodate additional athletic facilities, the School Board is asking voters to accept the transfer of 16 acres of recreation and conservation land from the town. The district intends to transfer 40 acres of its land to the town in return.

Voters will be asked to approve a three-year collective bargaining agreement between the School Board and the Windham Education Association that calls for increases in salaries and benefits of $484,060 in 2008-09, $507,620 in 2009-10, and $483,618 in 2010-11.

The warrant includes these other articles:

• Add $286,082 to a capital reserve fund to fund repairs, replacements or additions to the driveway, parking lot or a new parking area at the middle school.

• Add $100,000 in surplus money to the school buildings and grounds maintenance fund. The maximum amount of money to be put in the fund, created last year, is $200,000 and would be replenished in future years. The fund’s purpose is to cover unexpected repairs and replacements.

• $95,000 for salary and benefits to add an assistant principal at Golden Brook School. The student population is approaching 500 students, the state’s suggested threshold for adding an assistant principal

• $65,000 to add a Spanish teacher at the middle school. This increases academic time for students and allows students entering high school to start at a higher level in the subject.

• Create a committee to study whether Windham should withdraw from SAU 28, which also includes the Pelham School District.

“Both towns have been experiencing, over the past 10 years, an amazing amount of growth,” said School Board member Beverly Donovan at public hearing on the budget.

Two other warrant articles by citizen petition will appear on the warrant.

One would change the terms of the school district’s clerk, moderator and treasurer from one year to three years beginning with the 2009 elections. It is recommended by the School Board.

The other, submitted by Jim Curtin, would designate green, gold and white as the officials colors of Windham High School, and the wildcat as the school’s official mascot. The School Board opposes it.

The School Board has already adopted the jaguar as the mascot, and navy blue, metallic gold, and green as an accent color as the official colors, according to School Board member Barbara Coish.

The School Board is recommending a 2008-09 school district operating budget of $34,453,396. If the budget is turned down by voters in March, officials will have to spend within a default budget, the previous budget with certain adjustments, of $34,185,643.

The new budget includes money for eight positions at the high school, an increase of $719,847 for Salem High School tuition, a $169,515 debt service increase for outstanding bonds, more money to keep pace with rising fuel and electricity costs, $85,062 more in transportation accounts, and more money for special education, an area that accounted for 27 percent of the budget’s increase.

Secondary road warrant to be on school ballot

Salem Editor — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 18:56:00 GMT

By Darrell Halen

Selectmen have withdrawn a $1 million warrant article to build a second road to Windham High School after a similar article was submitted for the school district’s March ballot.

A move may be made to modify the wording of state Rep. Charlie McMahon’s $1.25 million warrant article at the school district’s Feb. 8 deliberative session, but most officials are supportive of his proposal, said School Board Chairman Al Letizio Jr.

McMahon’s article, submitted by citizen petition, would extend the current road to the high school to Castlehill Road.

At a school district bond hearing on Friday, Jan. 11, McMahon told School Board members that state law requires a second road for safety for the school.

“We need to do this so the school opens on time,” he said.

Letizio added that placing the road construction article on the school district ballot enables the project to receive 30 percent in state aid, another argument that McMahon had made to the board a few days earlier.

“Substantial savings would be recognized by the town,” Letizio said.

A unique cooperative effort among School Board members and selectmen will get the project completed, he added.

McMahon’s proposal is one of four school district bond articles that voters will consider this year. Each requires a 60 percent majority to pass.

The other three would provide additional athletic facilities for the high school: $900,000 for a second gymnasium, $778,500 for three fields and $3,819,980 for a multipurpose sports center.

“I believe it fulfills the promise we made to residents that we provide a high school that offers the opportunities (students) had at Salem High School,” said Letizio.

He added that without the additional fields, the school can’t properly support a junior varsity program. “By not having land to put facilities on, the school district is shortchanging its residents.”

In order to accommodate the sports center and extra fields, the School Board is asking voters to approve a land swap so it can have 16 acres of town-owned recreation and conservation land known as the Gage property.

In return, the town would receive 40 acres of school district property.

Not everyone, however, supports the bond articles for additional facilities.

“I want to wait,” said School Board member Barbara Coish. “My plan would be to fundraise for bleachers and lights for the fields we already have and schedule properly before we build anymore fields.

“It would be nice to have,” she said of the gymnasium, “but my concern is I want the operating budget to pass and I feel these bond articles could jeopardize (it).”