Windham News : voting

‘No’ to school budget in Windham

Salem Editor — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 20:22:00 GMT

BY DERRICK PERKINS

Voters came down heavily against increased spending at the ballots, rejecting a proposed $1.2 million track and field for the new high school and a $5 million bond to conserve farmland. The school district’s operating budget was also defeated.

Needing a 60 percent majority to pass, the track and field bond was soundly defeated, 1,654 to 1,538. Without the facility, the roughly 50 students in the incoming freshmen and sophomore classes who expressed interest in pursuing a track and field program will have to practice elsewhere.

The defeat of the district’s $40.5 million operating budget at the polls leaves school officials with $656,422 less than anticipated. Officials will be instead operating under the district’s $39.8 million default budget.

Voters also rejected an $800,000 proposal to hire architects and engineers to design school renovation and construction projects for the district’s Golden Brook Elementary School and Center School.

On the town ballot, voters overwhelmingly came down against a $5 million bond intendend to purchase and preserve the town’s remaining farm and agricultural land.

Two zoning amendments intended to increase commercial development in town, according to supporters, also failed to garner enough support from voters. Plans to rezone the stateowned land near the golf course on Range Road failed before voters while an effort to rezone Clarke Farm North was soundly defeated, 1,473 to 1,552.

A protest petition filed by opponents before town meeting day had required the Clarke Farm North proposal to receive a super majority in order to pass.

Incumbent Selectman Dennis Senibaldi (1,634) lost his seat in a narrow race for one of two seats up for grab on the board to newcomer Ross McLeod (1,779). Fellow selectman Roger Hohenberger (1,820) won his bid for re-election and led the three candidates in votes.

On the School Board, longtime member Barbara Coish (1,162) failed to win re-election, losing to challengers Ed Gallagher (1,587) and Jeff Bostic (1,453).

Another longtime incumbent, Town Clerk Joan Tuck (584) lost overwhelmingly to Nicole Merrill (2,230). Challenger Betty Dunn received 332 votes.

Windham track and field bond to be top money item at session

Salem Editor — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:58:00 GMT

BY DERRICK PERKINS

With the opening of the new high school coming up fast, the School Board is asking voters to consider a bond for the construction of a $2.7 million track and athletic field at the Feb. 6 deliberative session at 7 p.m. in the Golden Brook School.

With $500,000 of that coming from the interest earned on the investment of bond proceeds, taxpayers are being asked to raise $2.2 million for the addition to the new high school.

A similar $1.5 million bond for the construction of a second gymnasium at the high school was cut by the School Board last month. Voters rejected a combined request for a second gymnasium and track and field on the ballot last year.

An $800,000 appropriation to cover the architect and engineering fees associated with completing a building study for the district is also up for discussion.

The district is also asking residents to approve a $40.4 million operating budget for the ensuing year. The district’s default budget - should the proposed budget fail before voters in March – is $39.8 million.

Windham voters consider warrant to allow credit card use

Salem Editor — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:55:00 GMT

BY DERRICK PERKINS

Residents may be able to pay their taxes and other fees with plastic if a warrant authorizing the town’s officials to accept payment by credit card is ratified at the Feb. 7 deliberative session of Town Meeting at 9 a.m. in the Golden Brook School.

If voters pass the warrant article on to the ballot as is and it passes in March, selectmen are authorized to hold a public hearing to determine which specific types of fees credit cards could be used to pay with and whether to impose any maximum transaction limits. The board will also have the go-ahead to negotiate a processing agreement with an outside credit card processor.

Selectmen are also looking for the approval of an $960,000 appropriation for the construction of a highway complex, which would include a salt shed, next to the transfer station. The purchase of a $155,000 ambulance for the fire department will also be presented before voters.

The board is also asking taxpayers to consider an appropriation of $176,000 for the final costs associated with the engineering, designing and construction of improvements and renovations to the Windham Depot area, predicated on an 80 percent reimbursement by the state, leaving $28,000 to the taxpayers.

Voters will have the opportunity to weigh in on a petitioned warrant article by Wayne Morris calling on the town to raise a further $5 million in bonds for the purchase of farmland to be turned into conservation land.

Selectmen are also asking for approval of the town’s $12.3 million operating budget for next year. Were residents to approve the budget as worded on Saturday, but vote it down in March, the town’s default operating budget is $12 million.

Doyle to stand trial for pushing Windham election worker

Salem Editor — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 01:58:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

More than three years after he allegedly assaulted a checklist supervisor in Windham, a former state representative and town selectman will face a trial for felony assault of a town officer.

Christopher Doyle, 30, of Windham, is accused of striking Gail Webster, a supervisor of Windham’s checklist, when she attempted to intervene in an altercation related to his loss in a re-election vote for selectman at the polls on March 8, 2005, at Golden Brook Elementary.

After numerous delays, a Supreme Court appeal of his indictment and several changes of counsel, Doyle’s trial was set to begin on Monday, Sept. 29. When Doyle failed to appear at a pre-trial hearing on Thursday, Sept. 18, a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Doyle was arrested on Thursday, Oct. 1, after he walked into an FBI office in Lowell, Mass., inquiring about federal election laws. When an FBI agent determined there was a warrant out for Doyle’s arrest, he was turned over to Plaistow police.

Doyle’s bail hearing was scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 8, in Rockingham County Superior Court. A new pre-trial hearing has been set for Wednesday, Nov. 19, at 9 a.m., and his trial is set to begin on Monday, Dec. 1.

According to court documents, Doyle filed a written motion with Superior Court to recall the warrant issued for his arrest on Monday, Sept. 22, saying he did not receive notification of the pre-trial hearing he missed. That motion was denied.

Doyle’s latest attorney filed a motion to withdraw from the case at the Sept. 18 pre-trial hearing, saying Doyle had not paid him for his services.

Londonderry police began looking for Doyle after he called the station on Sept. 29, saying he was going to turn himself in. Doyle’s parents live in Londonderry, but Doyle failed to turn himself in that day, prompting the search.

After the polls closed on March 8, 2005, Doyle’s father Edward Doyle, allegedly got into an altercation with Windham Selectman Bruce Breton over his son’s loss of his seat.

Webster, 62, allegedly tried to intervene and went to find a police officer.

According to a police affidavit including witness accounts, Webster tried to go into the hallway where the argument was taking place and Doyle, then 27, tried to prevent her from doing so by pushing her.

The felony assault charge alleges Webster, a town official as checklist supervisor, was assaulted while discharging her duties. At the time, Webster was also running for cemetery trustee.

Doyle filed to dismiss his indictment on the felony charge in February 2006, which a Rockingham Superior Court judge denied.

In September 2007, an appeal of Doyle’s indictment went to the state Supreme Court, where Doyle’s then-lawyer Michael Ricker argued Webster’s status at the time of the assault as a candidate for office negated her town officer status, therefore making the felony assault charge void.

Assistant Attorney General James Kennedy argued in that case that while Webster should have been temporarily replaced as checklist supervisor in light of her candidacy, she wasn’t, and was, indeed, functioning as a town official.

A Supreme Court judge ruled Webster would have retained her title as checklist supervisor even if she had been temporarily replaced.

The court agreed with Doyle that Webster should not have been performing her checklist duties at the time, but said the town was not aware of her disqualification until after Doyle’s indictment.

The court also said even though it may have been a conflict of interest, Webster was functioning at the time of the assault as the checklist supervisor, supporting the assault charge under state law.

Doyle was offered a plea bargain in October 2005, which would have downgraded the charge to a misdemeanor. Pleading guilty to that charge would have given him a one-year suspended jail sentence, and he would face no jail time or probation provided he stayed out of trouble for two years.

Under the bargain’s terms, he would have had to apologize to Webster, perform 100 hours of community service, get into an anger management treatment program, give up any town offices he held and be prevented from holding any public office for two years.

At the time, he was offered the deal, Doyle chaired the town’s Zoning Board. Doyle initially accepted the agreement, but later changed his mind. He now faces fines and a three-and-a-half- to seven-year sentence.

Special Windham election for high school road bond

Salem Editor — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 21:49:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

Windham’s Board of Selectmen is planning a special election in September to obtain funding for a secondary access road for the new high school currently under construction.

The new road would overlap the current London Bridge Road, connecting the entrance to the high school on Route 111 to Castle Hill Road behind the high school, said Town Administrator David Sullivan.

The proposed warrant for the special election asks for voters to authorize taking out a $1.25 million bond and to accept any forthcoming grants toward the project costs. The Board of Selectmen approved the warrant at their meeting on Monday, June 9.

Sullivan said the town had planned on putting the project on its budget, but Selectman Charles McMahon submitted a petitioned warrant article for the townwide vote last March to put it on the school district budget, which would allow the project to qualify for 30 percent state reimbursement.

That warrant article failed with voters. The project does not qualify for state reimbursement, Sullivan said, because it will not be a part of the school district’s budget.

“The way we’re moving forward, it’s going to be part of the town’s budget,” Sullivan said.

A hearing on the conditional layout of the road, which would include construction parameters, width and a Board of Selectmen decision on whether the road is necessary will take place Monday, July 21, Sullivan said.

Prior to taking public input, the board will attend a site walk of the future road starting at 6 p.m. Sullivan said a deliberative session for the warrant will take place the week of Aug. 6, with the hope of including the warrant on the primary ballot for Tuesday, Sept. 9.

Windham: yes to town, no to school sports

Salem Editor — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:55:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

School items

The new Windham High School may have new colors and a new mascot after a citizen petitioned warrant article was approved by voters. But big-ticket warrants dealing with athletic facilities were soundly defeated.

The $34.4 million school operating budget passed 1,503-869.

A total of 2,588 of Windham’s 9,208 registered voters weighed in on March 11, a turnout of 28 percent.

Michael Hatem and Mark Brockmeier took the two open School Board seats, Hatem receiving 1,346 votes and Brockmeier 889 votes.

Article 5, asking voters to fund a $1.25 million bond to construct a secondary access from the High School was voted down by a slim margin, 1,270 to 1,234. Article 16, on the ballot by petition, asked voters to change the Windham High School colors to green, gold and white, and to make the Wildcat the school’s official mascot.

Voters passed the article in a 1,414-to-973 vote.

Windham voters also defeated approving a bond to construct an additional gymnasium and sports center plus three more athletic fields at Windham High School.

The items contained in the $5,498,480 article, including all design and engineering costs, road and site work, and construction were consolidated into one article at the school district deliberative sesson. The article failed in a 1,370-to-1,179 vote.

A three-year collective bargaining agreement between the School Board and teacher’s union passed with 1,600 voters approving its funding and 819 opposing it.

The agreement will pay out $484,060 in teacher salary and benefit increases for 2008- 09; $507,620 for 2009-10; and $483,618 for 2010-11.

An article asking for $65,000 to add a new Spanish teacher position at the school failed. Also, an attempt to add an assistant principal position for Golden Brook Elementary School was defeated.

Voters did support a Windham School Board initiative to explore breaking away from School Administrative Unit 28, which also covers Pelham. Article 14, which passed in a 1,563 to 766 vote, allows the School Board to establish a committee to look into the withdrawal. The School Board will appoint two members, the school district moderator will appoint five members and the superintendent – currently Dr. Frank Bass – would serve as a nonvoting member on the committee.

Windham voters also favored changing the terms of the school district clerk, moderator and treasurer to three years from the current one-year term, with 1,701 voting in favor and 688 against.

Town items

Windham voters pass all money warrant items placed before them on the ballot this year. About 28 percent of the 9,208 voters on the checklist voted on Tuesday, March 11.

In the Board of Selectmen race, candidates vied for two open three-year seats; Charles McMahon and Galen Stearns came out of the race sitting in them.

McMahon, a state representative and former selectman, received a total of 1,241 votes. Also a former selectman, Stearns won the most votes with a total of 1,256.

“I appreciate the support of all my friends and neighbors who voted for me, and I commit to do the best job that they expect me to,” said McMahon.

Voters approved the town’s proposed 2008-09 operating budget of $11,645,020 by a wide margin, with 1,850 voting in favor and 544 voting against.

All monetary warrant articles passed, representing a 6.47 percent increase over last year’s town budget.

The projected increase in the tax rate is 34 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, assuming the town’s revenue projections are met. For homes assessed at $300,000, this is a projected tax bill increase of $102 for the coming year.

Among the articles on the ballot was one to hire four additional firefighters to the Windham Fire Department with the help of a federal grant from Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER).

The article passed with a vote of 1,308 to 1,089, agreeing to raise $182,230 in taxes for the town’s portion of the costs, with SAFER providing $101,200. The amount reimbursed will decline over the coming years until 2012. By then, Windham taxpayers will have contributed $1,154,925 and the grant will have reimbursed $421,700.

Article 14, which asked voters for $73,200 to construct bike paths along Route 111 from Lowell Road to Golden Brook School, passed 1,472 to 847. The money will be added to $160,000 previously raised by taxpayers in past years, the total town share being $233,200. The state is paying 80 percent of the total costs.

Article 15, asking for $33,000 for design and engineering costs to repair Windham Depot, passed 1,471 to 910. The state will pay 80 percent of the total project costs, the town’s overall share being $52,000 with the state reimbursing $210,000.

Police and fire union contracts also went through.

Voters also approved Article 13 in a 1,569-to-731 vote, asking taxpayers to raise $11,317 for the town’s share of the building costs to renovate the Castlehill Road Bridge.

The state is paying $401,268 for the project, 80 percent of the total amount of $501,585, and a private developer is paying $89,000.

2008 Windham Election Results

Salem Editor — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:11:00 GMT

Windham Town Warrants

Unofficial returns, • denotes winner

Article 4: To raise $30,000 to be added to the Property Maintenance Expendable
Trust Fund.
• Yes................................1,398 No................................877
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Article 5: To raise $30,000 to be added to the Earned Time Expendable Trust
Fund.
• Yes................................1,254 No................................984
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Article 6: To $275,425 for increased economic benefi ts for members of Local
Union 3657 AFSCME (police union) for the fi scal years 2006-08.
• Yes................................1,509 No................................785
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Article 7: To raise $29,630 for increased economic benefi ts for members of Local
Union No. 2915 IAFF (fi re union) for 2008.
• Yes................................1,572 No................................719
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Article 8: To raise $26,510 for increased economic benefi ts for members of Local
Union No. 1801 AFSCME (municipal union) for 2008.
• Yes................................1,440 No................................826
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Article 9: If Articles 6, 7 or 8, are defeated, to authorize the governing body to call
one special meeting, at its option, to address Article(s) 6, 7 or 8, cost items only?
• Yes................................1,402 No................................848
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Article 10: To raise $12,000, said amount to be withdrawn from the balance in
the previously established Searles Special Revenue Fund for payment of both marketing
related and maintenance-related costs.
• Yes................................1,746 No................................537
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Article 11: To raise $12,560 to be withdrawn from the balance in the previously
established Searles Special Revenue Fund to pay the principal and interest on the outstanding
loan taken to fund renovations and repairs to the west wing of the building
in 2003.
• Yes................................1,803 No................................472
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Article 12: To raise $54,080 to purchase a transfer/disposal trailer for the Transfer
and Recycling Department.
• Yes................................1,573 No................................698
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Article 13: To raise $501,585 to replace the Castlehill Road Bridge.
• Yes................................1,569 No................................731
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Article 14: To raise $73,200 fund a portion of the town’s 20 percent share of the
costs associated with the establishment of bike paths along Lowell Road.
• Yes................................1,472 No................................847
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Article 15: To raise $33,000 to develop engineering and design plans associated
with the improvements and renovations to the Windham Depot area.
• Yes................................1,471 No................................910
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Article 16: To raise $90,000 to be added to the existing Salt Shed/Highway Facility
Capital Reserve Fund.
• Yes................................1,535 No................................822
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Article 17: To raise $70,000 to renovate Nesmith Library.
• Yes................................1,457 No................................948
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Article 18: To raise $3,985 to pay additional costs needed to implement a staff
reorganization plan within the town’s maintenance department.
• Yes................................1,486 No................................859
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Article 19: To raise $15,000 for a salt shed /highway garage engineering/feasibility
study.
• Yes................................1,446 No................................883
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Article 20: To raise $182,230 to hire four additional fi refi ghter/EMTs for the
Windham Fire Department.
• Yes................................1,308 No................................1,089
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Article 21: To raise $2,350 for the Conservation Commission.
• Yes................................1,595 No................................728
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Article 22: To approve conveying portions of town-owned
land totaling 16 acres to the Windham School District.
• Yes................................1,524 No................................927
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Article 23: To adopt a comprehensive amendment to the
Windham blasting ordinance.
• Yes................................1,735 No................................432
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Article 24: To amend the Windham solid waste ordinance.
• Yes................................1,521 No................................685
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Article 25: To require all votes of the Board of Selectmen relative to budget items
or warrant articles be recorded and the numerical tally of any such vote be printed in
the town warrant next to the aff ected warrant article.
• Yes................................1,938 No................................240
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Article 26: To discontinue a 5,313-square-foot portion of the westerly line of
Londonderry Road.
• Yes................................1,575 No................................516
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Article 27: To discontinue that portion of an old woods road historically known as
“The Old County Road.” By petition.
• Yes................................1,550 No................................568
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Article 28: To discontinue a town-owned walking path easement located across
at 26 Bear Hill Road. By petition.
Yes................................483 • No................................1,682
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Article 29: To discontinue a town-owned pedestrian easement located across 19
Squire Armour Road. By petition.
Yes................................394 • No................................1,789
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Article 30: To adopt a noise ordinance.By petition.
• Yes................................1,403 No................................803
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Article 31: To encourage the School Board to negotiate an appropriate transition
of our students from Salem High School to the new Windham High School.
• Yes................................1,617 No................................565
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Article 32: To raise as an operating budget, not including appropriations by special
warrant articles and other appropriations voted separately, the amount totaling
$11,645,020.
• Yes................................1,850 No................................544

Windham Town Candidates

Unofficial returns, • denotes winner

Selectman, for three years, vote for two
Bruce H. Richardson – 540
• Galen Stearns – 1,256
Ross McLeod – 1,176
• Charles McMahon – 1,241
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Planning board, for three years, vote for two
• Philip LoChiatto – 1,430
• Rick Okerman – 1,420
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Moderator for two years, vote for one
• Peter Griffi n – 1,906
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Cemetery Trustee, for three years, vote for one
• Gail Webster – 1,360
Mark Brockmeier – 657
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Supervisor of the checklist, for six years, vote for one
• Robert A. Skinner – 1,748
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Trustee of the Trust Fund, for three years, vote for one
• Alphonse J. Marcil Jr. – 1,668
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Zoning Board of Adjustment, for one year, vote for one
• Thomas J. Murray – 1,647
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Zoning Board of Adjustment, for three years, vote for one
• Mark Samsel – 1,706
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Library trustee, for one year, vote for one
Anne-Marie O’Neil – 558
• Carolyn B. Webber – 824
Joyce Wilt – 568
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Library trustee, for three years, vote for two
• Mark Branoff – 1,687

Windham School Warrants

Unofficial returns, • denotes winner

Article 2: To raise $5,498,480 for the construction of a Windham High School
second gymnasium at the high school and for the construction of three additional
athletic fields at Windham High School and for the architectural, engineering and
permitting fees for the completion of final construction documents for the Windham
High School multi-purpose sports center. Three-fifths majority required. Recommended
by the School Board.
Yes................................1,179 • No................................1,370
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Article 3: To raise and appropriate $0 under this article because the purposes
of the article have been consolidated into Article 2.
•Yes................................1,209 No................................764
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Article 4: To raise and appropriate $0 under this article because the purposes
of the article have been consolidated into Article 2.
• Yes................................1,163 No................................773
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Article 5: To raise $1,250,000 for the purpose of engineering and constructing
a new road, which will serve as a second access road to the high school. Citizen petition.
Three/fi fths majority required. Recommended by School Board.
Yes................................1,234 • No................................1,270
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Article 6: To accept a transfer of land from the own of approximately 16 acres
from land known as the Gage property and authorize the School Board to swap back
to the town a portion of the school district’s land that is at least twice the acreage of
land accepted. Recommended by the Windham School Board.
• Yes................................1,658 No................................821
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Article 7: To approve the cost items included in the collective bargaining
agreement reached between the Windham School Board and the Windham Education
Association and raise $484,060 for the upcoming year.
• Yes................................1,600 No................................819
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Article 8: To authorize the governing body to call one special meeting, at its
option, to address Article 7 cost items only?
• Yes................................1,425 No................................846
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Article 9: To raise $286,082 to be added to the Driveway/Parking Lot Paving
Capital Reserve Fund established for Windham High School. Recommended by
School Board.
• Yes................................1,667 No................................751
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Article 10: To raise $100,000 to be placed in the School Buildings and Grounds
Maintenance Fund. Recommended by School Board.
• Yes................................1,791 No...............................621
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Article 11: To add a new assistant principal position at the Golden Brook Elementary
School and raise $95,000 to be added to the operating budget for the salary
and benefits for this additional position. Recommended by the School Board.
Yes................................886 • No................................1,558
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Article 12: To add a new Spanish teacher position at the Windham Middle
School and raise $65,000 to be added to the operating budget for the salary and
benefits for this additional position. Recommended by the School Board.
Yes................................1,130 • No................................1,289
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Article 13: To raise an operating budget totaling $34,453,396. Should this article
be defeated, the default budget shall be $34,185,643 which is the same as last
year, with certain adjustments.Recommended by the School Board.
• Yes................................1,503 No................................869
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Article 14: To create a planning committee to consider withdrawal from and/
or reorganization of, the School Administrative Unit No. 28; the committee to consist
of two members of the School Board appointed by the School Board, fi ve public
members appointed by the moderator; and the superintendent of schools, who will
serve as a nonvoting member of the committee.
• Yes................................1,563 No................................766
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Article 15: To change the terms of the school district clerk, moderator and
treasurer from one year to three years, beginning with the terms of the school district
clerk, moderator and treasurer to be elected at next year’s regular school district
meeting. Citizen petition. Recommended by the School Board.
• Yes................................1,701 No...............................688
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Article 16: Citizens petition by Jim Curtin and others to keep with the traditions
of Windham, NH since the Searles School and requiring the Windham School
Board to make the official colors of Windham High School green, gold and white
and the official mascot the wildcat. Not recommended by the School Board.
• Yes...............................1,414 No................................973
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Voter turnout: 2,588
Registered voters: 9,208 Turnout percentage: 40%

Windham School Candidates

Unofficial returns, • denotes winner

School Board, for three years, vote for two
Christine Lane – 650
• Mark Brockmeier – 889
• Michael Hatem – 1,346
*** Forde (write-in) – 296
Laura Bellavia (write-in) – 840
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Moderator, for one year, vote for one
• Elizabeth Dunn – 1,827
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School district clerk, for one year, vote for one
• Mary Ann Horaj – 1,756
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Treasurer, for one year, vote for one
• Maura Pennisi – 1,718

Additional athletic facilities on Windham ballot

Salem Editor — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 23:07:00 GMT

BY DARRELL HALEN

Among the items facing Windham voters on March 11 is the decision of whether to spend money to provide additional athletic facilities to the town’s new high school.

A majority of the School Board is recommending a $5,498,480 bond warrant article to construct additional athletic facilities at Windham High School: three additional fields, a second gymnasium and a multipurpose sports center, which would include a track with an artificial turf field, bleachers and other amenities.

The estimated tax impact on a $400,000 home is $68 per year. The school is scheduled to open in the fall of 2009.

The new facilities were originally proposed in separate warrant articles, but voters approved consolidating them into a single proposal at the school district’s deliberative session. The article requires at least a 60 percent majority on Election Day, Tuesday, March 11.

In order to accommodate the new facilities, voters are being asked to approve a land swap in which 16 acres of recreation and conservation property would be transferred from the town to the school district, and the town, in exchange, would receive 40 acres of school district land.

A $1.25 million bond article would fund the construction of a second access road to the new high school. The road would be built over the area of the former London Bridge Road from the school’s entrance to Castlehill Road. If the article is approved, officials would have the authority to use federal, state and private funds toward the project. The article requires a 60 percent majority.

The School Board is proposing a $34,453,396 operating budget, which includes three new positions at the middle school and eight new positions at the high school.

Also on the ballot is a new collective three-year bargaining agreement between the School Board and the teachers union which provides increases in salaries and benefits of $484,060 in 2008-09; $507,620 in 2009-10; and $483,618 in 2010-11.

There are a half-dozen other warrant articles, most of which seek money for capital improvements and new positions. Voters will decide if they want to form a study committee to explore Windham breaking away from School Administrative Unit 28, which also includes the Pelham School District.

Two seats are available on the School Board, and five candidates are running: Michael Hatem, Mark Brockmeier and Chris Lane, along with write-in candidates *** Forde and Laura Bellavia.

Town ballot

There are 26 zoning questions, 29 warrant articles and a contest for a pair of seats on the Board of Selectmen on the town ballot.

If voters approve, the town will hire four new firefighters and use a federal homeland security grant, if obtained, to defray some of the costs. From 2008 to 2012, the town’s share will be $1,154,925, and the grant will provide $421,700.

After that, the town assumes full cost of the new firefighters. The article will be null and void if the town doesn’t win the grant.

A revised blasting ordinance has been proposed. Under the proposed new rules, blasting and detonation would be allowed only between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. and not permitted on weekends and town-observed holidays.

Selectmen are proposing a 2008 operating budget of $11,645,020. If the budget and all money warrant articles are approved and officials receive all the revenues they hope for, the town tax rate will increase roughly 34 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation.

Some of the money sought by officials will allow them to move forward with capital improvement projects which are being partially funded by the state.

Voters are being asked to approve spending $501,585 to replace the Castle Hill Road Bridge, which crosses Beaver Brook at the Windham-Pelham border. By approving a warrant article to authorize this expenditure, voters will also allow selectmen to accept 80 percent in bridge aid from the state and an $89,000 donation from a developer, leaving $11,317 to be raised by taxes. The total cost of the project is $636,385.

Selectmen are asking voters to approve spending $73,200 to fund a portion of the town’s 20 percent share of the costs to construct bike paths along Lowell Road from Route 111 to Golden Brook School. The state will pay for 80 percent of this project. The town’s estimated 20 percent share is $233,200 and $160,000 has already been raised at previous town meetings.

Officials hope to renovate and repair the buildings and grounds at the old train depot area on Depot Road. Voters are being asked to approve spending $33,000 this year for engineering and design plans. The state will provide 80 percent of the $210,000 project.

Two seats are available on the Board of Selectmen, and four men are running: Planning Board member Ross McLeod; former selectman Galen Stearns; Zoning Board of Adjustment member Bruce Richardson; and state Rep. Charles McMahon, a former selectman.

Voters will cast ballots between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. at Golden Brook School.

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

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

By Darrell Halen

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.

Voters reject one school bond article

Salem Editor — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 19:10:00 GMT

BY DARRELL HALEN

The voters were given three options. They chose Option B.

By doing so, they approved a $4 million bond article and using $3 million in interest money to provide enough classroom space at Windham High School to accommodate 1,000 students.

“I’m happy to have this vote behind us,” said school board member Al Letizio, Jr. “The board is going to come together and build what people have asked for.”

Voters cast their ballots on Tuesday, March 13, at Golden Brook School.

The school board had presented warrant articles for the high school as three options. Option A was to approve only the interest money accrued from bonds approved for the building project two years ago, known on the ballot as Article 4.

Option B was to approve Article 2 – the $4 million bond – and the interest money. Option C was to add to those two spending measures with a $3 million bond for additional features.

“I’m very happy Article 4 passed overwhelmingly and I’m very happy Article 2 passed,” said Bruce Anderson, the school board’s chairman. “The voters spoke and they showed they want us to build the building but perhaps are not ready for the extra sports facilities.”

Anderson said he was a little shocked that the second bond article, Article 3, which needed at a 60 percent majority, did not receive at least a majority of the vote.

Letizio said he believes the results were affected by negative information that was spread that confused voters.

Among the features the defeated bond article would have funded were lighting and bleachers for one field, a small gym, and converting a field to an artificial turf field.

By passing Articles 2 and 4, the school is expected to have classroom and core capacity for 1,000 students. Its kitchen will serve the school district and $2.5 million will be available for furnishings, fixtures and equipment.

The school board unanimously backed the interest money article but it was split over the bond articles.

Anderson, Letizio and Beth Valentine supported the bond articles, while Barbara Coish and Beverly Donovan did not.

Coish said she was happy with the outcome.

“It was a good compromise,” she said. “I’m happy with Option B passing.”

Now the school board has more time to study putting athletic fields across the high school road and funding a running track, she said.

WISE, Windham initiative to Support Education, an organization that backed the high school project two years ago, encouraged voters to back all three articles this year. The PTA also supported the three articles.

This year’s ballot also featured a contested race for a one-year seat on the school board. Letizio defeated
Michael Hatem 1,574 -1,427.

Letizio had been serving as an interim member since Galen Stearns resigned from the board last year.

“Al has done a lot for this project and he’s been an asset on this board,” Anderson said.

Anderson was unopposed in his re-election bid for a three-year term.