Archive for March, 2008

It’s time to say ‘yes’

Published by admin on March 8, 2008 in Accreditation, Facility, Letter to the Editor, Teacher/Staff Contracts and Voting. 0 Comments

[From the Keene Sentinel Letters Page, Friday, March 7, 2008]

To The Sentinel:

The Monadnock Regional School District Facilities Committee, along with the district’s project manager and business manager, have spent the last year working hard on the district’s facilities needs.

The committee has completed a master plan for the middle/high school, followed the school board bidding policies and have completed projects at each of our schools on time and on budget.

This March we are asking our voters to again support maintenance-related articles.

There is one for district-wide special maintenance projects for $400,000 and one for roof replacement for $123,000.

These articles will provide for much-needed maintenance to our schools through out the district.

The roof article will continue the work that was approved last year. Last year’s roof replacement will be started when the weather breaks.

These maintenance articles are a work in progress that starts months before the vote.

After many meetings and discussions with principals and contractors, the project manager and the facilities committee create these articles.

It is always difficult to balance the facilities needs in the district with the overall cost of the warrant.

This year, the maintenance articles have been adjusted to give the voter choices and respect the need for the approval of the operating budget and the teachers’ and support-staff contracts.

These articles as presented have been approved by the district’s budget committee and school board.

It is extremely important that articles 1, 3 and 4 are approved this year.

Everyone knows that our accreditation status at the middle/high school has moved from warnings to probation.

Although one of the biggest issues is the facilities, another major area is the approval of the operating budget and the teachers’ and support-staff contract.

This is the year for the approval of Articles 1, 3 and 4. This will pave the way for the district to accomplish part of the accreditation and will be a major step in helping us with any future building plans.
Continue reading ‘It’s time to say ‘yes’’

The future depends on your vote

Published by admin on March 8, 2008 in Letter to the Editor and Voting. 1 Comment

[From the Keene Sentinel Letters Page, Friday, March 7, 2008]

 

To The Sentinel:

Last year I was honored to be the keynote speaker at the Monadnock Regional High School graduation ceremony for the class of 2007.

While much of my speech centered on the connections between life and Charms Blowpops (you had to be there), I did begin the dialogue with two personal, but in my mind, necessary points.

First, I commended those staff members that chose to attend the graduation ceremony even with the hostile environment that pervaded the district.

My second point dealt with the importance of being responsible and informed citizens.

Because the upcoming district vote on March 11 is closing fast, I would like to reemphasize these two points and hopefully add some clarity.
Continue reading ‘The future depends on your vote’

Your vote can support education

Published by admin on March 8, 2008 in Letter to the Editor, Richmond, Swanzey and Voting. 0 Comments

[From the Keene Sentinel Letters Page, Friday, March 7, 2008]

 

To The Sentinel:

Some thoughts regarding the Monadnock school district vote on March 11.

There are three points regarding the upcoming school district vote on the various warrant articles that I think should be considered.

The first relates to the need to consider how the vote on any of the warrant articles will impact facilitating our progress back to full accreditation of our high school.

Certainly a negative vote on most warrant articles, especially articles 1, 3 and 4, will ensure the loss of accreditation of the high school.

Those who dispute this point really don’t have a clear and realistic view of the situation.

A second point regards the extent to which the elective representatives to the school board and budget committee are committed to the ideal of providing a good public education for the youth of the district.

It is to be noted that for a number of years some members of the budget committee have been active members of the local taxpayers group.

This is a group that has been committed to denigrating and obstructing the school board’s attempts to enable and enhance the educational opportunities of the youth of the district. Unfortunately, a couple of current school board members have also indicated by their disruptive actions that they are sympathetic to this negative view of public education.

Beyond voting to support public education in the district by voting in favor of the various warrant articles, citizens of the district should be alert to inform themselves regarding the degree of positive commitment of their school board representatives to public education.

A very small minority has wasted a great deal of time in school board meetings on matters having little or no relation to the job we were elected to perform: overseeing the education of the youth of the district.

This leads to a third concern having to do with the warrant article by petition that advocates the elimination of the budget committee. It should be remembered that the budget committee came into being during a time when the school board representation was not based on proportional representation.

At that point, Swanzey, with close to 50 percent of the children in the schools of the district, had only two out of 10 representatives on the school board.

With the change to proportional representation, reflecting more accurately the population in the various district towns, the major concerns the budget committee was established to address tended to disappear.

It should be acknowledged that for the first time in five or more years, the budget committee and the school board were much closer to agreement this year on the major warrant articles.

However, it can be argued that this was due to a temporary shift in representation characterized by more than the usual pro-public education members on the committee. There is no guarantee this will continue.

There are a number of candidates for election to next year’s budget committee who are active anti public-education taxpayer group members. Maybe it is time to elect competent and committed pro-education advocates to the school board and let the budget committee disappear into the dustbin of history. The choice is yours.

WILLIAM FELTON
131 Eaton Road
Swanzey

Being informed is vital

Published by admin on March 8, 2008 in Swanzey, Teacher/Staff Contracts and Voting. 0 Comments

[From the Keene Sentinel Letters Page, Saturday, March 8, 2008]

To The Sentinel:

I would like to take the opportunity to encourage the voters of the Monadnock Regional School District to support the teachers’ and support-staff contracts (articles 3 and 4).

I am currently a member of the budget committee and have just about completed my three-year term.

In the past, I have not always supported the support-staff and teachers’ contracts for various reasons (primarily health insurance and early retirement issues).

However, I do support both contracts this year. They were negotiated in good faith and have addressed both the early retirement and health insurance concerns.

Both sides have made compromises and thought about the interests of the district’s families to put together a contract that is beneficial to all.
Continue reading ‘Being informed is vital’

Voters should approve contract

Published by admin on March 8, 2008 in Letter to the Editor, Richmond and Teacher/Staff Contracts. 0 Comments

[From the Keene Sentinel Letters Page, Saturday, March 8, 2008]

To The Sentinel:

I would like to respond to Mr. Neil Moriarity’s letter to the editor on Feb. 26.

I am not only a taxpayer in the Monadnock Regional School District, but I am also a teacher at Monadnock Regional High School.

Mr. Moriarity’s letter did not say that not only is he a taxpayer in the district, but he is also chairman of the budget committee.

Though Mr. Moriarity has the right and the obligation to bring up his concerns at the committee meetings, once the committee has voted (in a democratic matter), it is the obligation of all committee members to help implement the decisions of the committee.

I might point out that Mr. Moriarty was the only member of the budget committee who did not support the contract. Thus, in writing his letter to the editor Mr. Moriarity has abrogated his duties as a member and the chairman of the budget committee.
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Articles will help our kids.

Published by admin on March 8, 2008 in Letter to the Editor, Teacher/Staff Contracts and Voting. 0 Comments

[From the Keene Sentinel Letters Page, Saturday, March 8, 2008]

To The Sentinel:

Many people in the Monadnock Regional School District are concerned about voting March 11.

As a Swanzey resident, I’d like to encourage voters to support warrant articles 1-13.

Personally, I feel it is important that we make the improvements that the warrant articles will make possible.

The improvements will make the schools safer, healthier and more serviceable.

I feel the result will be that future generations of students will be better prepared as fathers, mothers, doctors, nurses, ministers, teachers, community leaders, etc.

I hope residents will think of the many good benefits that will come as a result of voting “yes” for warrant articles 1-13.

DAVID PUTNAM JR.
753 Old Homestead Highway
Swanzey

Monadnock Taxpayer’s Assocation isn’t working for us

Published by admin on March 8, 2008 in Editorial, Richmond and Voting. 4 Comments

[From the Keene Sentinel Letters Page, Saturday, March 8, 2008]

To The Sentinel:

The Monadnock Taxpayers Association is fond of saying that it “controls the taxpayers.”

But who controls the association?

The organization, which claims to represent all taxpayers — and which has been instrumental, with its mass-mailed negative “yellow sheet,” in getting voters to reject five of the last six school budgets — has stated in the past that its members prefer to remain anonymous.

The group’s core collaborators appear to be Dick Bauries, of Swanzey (voted off the Monadnock budget committee last year, but running again); budget committee Chairman Neil Moriarity of Richmond; Daniel F. Connell of Richmond; and Monadnock school board representative James Carnie of Richmond.

Who are these men? All are older, with no children in the public schools.

Interestingly, a Daniel F. Connell of Richmond is listed in the registry of signatories on a proclamation at the Web site of the Alliance for the Separation of School and State (http://www.schoolandstate.org/home.htm). The proclamation states: “I proclaim publicly that I favor ending government involvement in education.”

One clue to the group’s core constituency may lie in the petition articles the organization’s members seem to file every year.

This year, one was submitted by Mr. Connell; last year the group’s members submitted three.

All have Mr. Connell’s name at or near the top and were signed by other members.

Of the 77 signatures on the 2007 petition articles, 51 were Richmond residents. Since 2005 there have been 163 signatories to petition articles. Of those, 75 were Richmond residents. Ten of the 11 petition articles submitted during that period were signed by the four primary Monadnock Taxpayers Association members and more than half of all petition signatures were from Richmond.

It would appear that in petition articles, Richmond is disproportionately represented.

It seems clear that the association consists of a core group with no children in public schools, and a constituency that consists of a select group of people from Richmond, many of whom home-school or send their children to private school. In other words, it is an organization that consists primarily of people with no direct stake in providing a quality public education — and perhaps some that don’t believe in it.

Three of the four individuals behind the association are running for the school board or budget committee positions this year.

I certainly hope voters from Richmond and Swanzey are paying attention.

The future of the Monadnock Middle/High school’s accreditation may depend on it.

ROBERT L. MITCHELL
24 Main St.
Gilsum

87 Reasons to Vote

Published by admin on March 6, 2008 in School budget and Voting. 0 Comments

Think your vote won’t matter? Last year Article 1, the School operating budget, failed by just 87 votes. If just 44 people had changed their minds and voted yes, we would have had our first real budget in six years. That’s why it’s important to get the word out.

Your vote counts. Don’t let this failure continue. Call you neighbors. Read up on the accreditation issue. Review the warrant articles on the ballot and our recommendations. And vote March 11th.

The way forward

Published by admin on March 6, 2008 in Editorial, Letter to the Editor, School budget, Taxes and Voting. 1 Comment

[From the Keene Sentinel Letters Page]

To the residents and voters of the Monadnock Regional School District:

I would prefer to write this as your average citizen, but some of my information comes from being an elected Swanzey member of the district budget committee for the last two years.

I don’t claim to know everything, but I can make an intelligent assessment of where we stand as a district.

Once again it is time to make decisions about education. On March 11, your vote counts as a step forward for the future of the children of this district or another as a step backward toward the abyss of failed education.

Forward steps are: “yes” votes for the operating budget, teachers and support staff contracts and maintenance articles.

These are all positive steps toward a better future in this district.

Backward steps are: “no” votes for the above, not bothering to vote or believing the blather of the Monadnock School Taxpayers Association .

What does that group think?

With apologies to Jeff Foxworthy:

If you think that 200-year-old, one-room historic schoolhouses on the corner in the woods of Richmond would work just fine, you just might be a future member of the taxpayers association.

If readin’, writin’ and ’rithmetic is all you need to get by-, you just might be a future member of the taxpayers association.

If you are living in the past, blaming former administrators and board members long gone for all our woes, you just might be a future member of the taxpayers association.

If you are arrogant, rude, conceited and domineering and your moral compass has gone awry, you just might be a future member of the taxpayers association.

If you don’t believe that anyone but you is right, even when issues have been settled democratically, you just might be a future member of the taxpayers association.

If you want to see the district lose accreditation, teachers, support staff, administrators, new residents and any hope of a decent educational opportunity for your children and grandchildren, you just might be a future member of the taxpayers association.

You get the picture. Don’t let the taxpayers association scare you into believing that the administration, school board members, budget committee members, teachers and others are lying, deceitful, malicious, money-grubbing lunatics.

On March 11, vote for a positive change in our district.

Vote “yes” on articles 1, 3, 4, 13 and others that you feel help provide the education to which our kids are entitled.

Vote for the candidates in your town who best exemplify the type of adult you wish your child will become.

Read the articles. Understand the articles. Realize that negotiations are an intrinsic part of the democratic process.

Most importantly — vote March 11.

JIM ELLS
Member
Monadnock Budget Committee
P.O. Box 459
West Swanzey

Monadnock schools need support

Published by admin on March 6, 2008 in Letter to the Editor, School budget and Voting. 0 Comments

[From the Keene Sentinel Letters Page]

To The Sentinel:

I am writing to encourage residents of the Monadnock Regional School District to take the time to become informed about the issues that will be put before them on the March 11 ballot.

Warrant articles include funding for the proposed operating budget, employment contracts with teachers and with support staff, funding to continue with a facilities master plan and maintenance repairs, as well as to establish and support capital reserve funds.

The district administrators and principals have worked diligently to present an operating budget that will enable us to work toward reaching the educational goals of the district, including those needed to work toward New England Association of Schools and Colleges accreditation at the high school.

This is not an extravagant budget, rather it is one that includes those costs items necessary to run our district’s schools effectively and efficiently.

The teachers’ contract and the support staff contract provide for a modest wage increase coupled with an increase in the employee contribution for health insurance costs over the life of the contract.

The teachers’ contract includes the elimination of the often debated early retirement program.

Our district’s employees, like our taxpayers, are hardworking people. We entrust these individuals to be responsible for the education, care, safety and security of our children.

They are deserving of our support of the employment contracts that have been negotiated in good faith and that have gained the endorsement of our school board and budget committee.

As the principal of Monadnock Regional High School, I have the opportunity to work side by side with a large number of district employees. I am pleased to be part of the team that provides the educational and support services that our children deserve.

As the parent of a Monadnock Regional High School student and of a Monadnock Regional Middle School student, I am pleased with the educational opportunities that our children are provided.

Our district employees are outstanding role models for our children.

Whether it is in the classrooms, the hallways, or the variety of athletic and co curricular venues, I am proud of the work that my colleagues do for our children and for our district’s communities. They are truly dedicated individuals who have the best interest of our children in mind at all times.

Please join me in supporting the education of our children. Gather the information that you need to make an informed decision before you cast your vote on March 11.

JOSEPH E. SMITH
663 Old Homestead Highway
Swanzey