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This week's stories: (click on the headline
to jump to story)
 Claremont
fails students
Selectmen
clash over meeting spat
Voters
to decide whether to purchase Vaal land
Man
charged with sex assault of 9-year-old
School
Funding
Claremont fails students
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By RUSS CHOMA
Staff Writer
rchoma@yourneighborhood
news.com
In a noisy hallway, a boy tries to read.
He leans over his book and studies it closely. A teacher is by
the student's side and attempts to help him.
Just a few yards down the hall, two dozen chatty students finish
up their art class, held in the cafeteria,
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and stream into the hallway to make
room for the 100 or so eighth-graders heading to lunch.
Betsey Stebbins, the principal of Allenstown's
Armand R. Dupont School, does not like scenes like this, but
she doesn't seem to have many options. At both Dupont and Allenstown
Elementary School, there are enough classrooms for the core classes;
but, with as many as 18 percent of the student population coded
as special education, many of whom need additional instruction
or reading tutoring, every inch of space is put to use.
As for the students meeting for art class in the cafeteria, Stebbins
sees that as a minor victory of sorts. She's just pleased there
is an art class. There are no music classes here, and health
education does not exist in the Allenstown schools. Providing
all three subjects is, in fact, one of the minimum requirements
for a school district if it's to keep its accreditation from
the state.
"Oh yeah, but nothing here meets minimum
standards," Stebbins says ruefully when asked about the
requirements. "The state usually will write you a letter,
they will tell you that you are not in compliance with minimum
standards, and they will do that year after year after year."
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MAKING DO Allenstown
Elementary School art teacher Tammy Colby oversees the town's
other art teachers as well as classes of her own. Her office
was once the school janitor's storage closet.
(Eric Baxter Photo)
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The problem persists in Allenstown
because there's a perpetual lack of funding. It's not that the
town doesn't want to support education, but with virtually no
commercial tax base and low residential property values, the
tax revenue simply isn't there.
The Claremont ruling
Allenstown is not alone.
Dozens of other communities across the state with low property
valuations, including Weare, have struggled to fund their schools.
At the other end of the spectrum, towns considered wealthy, like
Bedford and Hopkinton, have gained a windfall from the state's
funding formula.
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In the 1990s, the New Hampshire Supreme
Court issued a pair of rulings that were intended to bring equality
to the way school districts across the region are funded.
But there are few who believe that equality has been achieved.
The Supreme Court rulings known as Claremont I and II held that
the state constitution "imposes a duty on the state to provide
a constitutionally adequate education to every educable child
in the public schools in (this state) and to guarantee adequate
funding."
The Claremont School District and four other towns Allenstown,
Pittsfield, Franklin and Lisbon brought the original suit
in 1991.
In 1997, the court upheld earlier decisions and, two years later,
a new statewide property tax was introduced as a way to provide
all districts with "adequacy" funding.
Under the new system, the funding was distributed on the basis
of "assessed valuation per pupil" or the value
of taxable property divided per pupil.
July 1 will mark the fifth anniversary of the statewide property
tax.
But did it help?
To many, however, the situation in the schools has not changed
a bit.
Allenstown Elementary School Principal
Theresa Kenny was an assistant principal at the time the original
suit was filed, and testified in the case.
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NO HOME ROOM Dupont School French
teacher Tammy Gladu has no classroom, so she uses a hall table
to correct papers and tests and prepare for her next lesson.
(Eric Baxter Photo)
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"I think our students in Allenstown
deserve to have as much money spent on their education as any
student in Rye or Bow," she said, referring to two so-called
property-rich towns.
Kenny made her comments while giving a tour of her school. She
pointed out a locker room complete with showers now
being used for occupational therapy classes. She showed a classroom,
divided by temporary partitions, that is used by as many as six
teachers at once to tutor special-education students.
"This is a good school," Kenny said. "We do a
lot with a little. We become magicians when it comes to money
and finding grants otherwise, we don't get any."
Last year, Allenstown received $3 million in adequacy aid, but
for the 2001-02 school year, it spent only $5,994 per student
far below the state average of $7,227.
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Growth strains some schools
Five years after the Claremont decision, Allenstown and other
school districts in the state are still falling short when it
comes to adequacy funding.
Take, for example, Weare, which received $4.8 million in adequacy
money last year. Weare School Board Chairman Matt Thomas said
the money is welcome.
"It's a significant amount of money," he said. "Anything
that helps in the education budget is very much needed. We spend
considerably less than the state average on students."
Thomas said Weare schools don't have trouble providing curriculum
but they are nevertheless bursting at the seams.
"We're a community that's growing
extremely quickly, so our schools have grown," he said.
"And so we find ourselves at a point where our middle school
is outdated, and it's bordering on unhealthy. We're over what
the state allows for total population in terms of square footage,
property acreage and classroom size."
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POOLSIDE? This pool ladder is used as
a fire escape from a basement special education classroom at
the Dupont School in Allenstown. It does meet code. (Eric Baxter
Photo)
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Like Allenstown, Thomas doesn't see
the community necessarily unwilling to support education
but it can't always provide what the district asks for.
"From a curriculum standpoint, that's actually an area where
we've had success. We've kept up," he said. "I guess
I would say we've been fortunate, because the town has been willing
to spend there. Where they haven't is in the areas of additional
staff and updating technology. We've had some default budgets
and we've had to make some hard choices."
School funding vs. tax relief
One complaint made by officials in both Allenstown and Weare
is that the money they are receiving in state aid is not necessarily
going toward education.
According to the final Claremont decision in 1997, "the
record demonstrates that a number of plaintiff communities are
unable to meet existing standards despite assessing disproportionate
and unreasonable taxes."
If property-poor towns were not burdened by unreasonable tax
rates, those communities could better determine how to fund their
own school systems. Therefore, the adequacy money could be used
by towns to alleviate the overall tax burden.
School district officials say both Allenstown and Weare residents
saw a precipitous drop in their taxes. Unfortunately, they say,
neither school system felt much of the windfall.
"We had almost a 30 percent drop in the tax bill in our
first year, but the decision was made to not spend the money
on education," Thomas said. "So now it's a battle to
try and get it back (for the schools.)"
School district officials
in the poorer towns weren't the only ones irritated about how
the adequacy money was being used.
A number of towns, such as Rye and Moultonborough, had become
so-called "donor towns." Residents contributed millions
each year through the state property tax, but their school systems
didn't see any money coming back.
The 2003 fiscal year was the final year of the old system. New
legislation created a revised formula to determine adequacy aid.
Although a plan has been put into place, half a dozen major amendments
have been proposed to the revision. Each variation divvies up
the pot of money for state aid slightly differently, but a few
things are constant in all of them: The overall state tax rate
will be cut, donor towns will be eliminated and the needier towns
like Allenstown will receive more aid.
Other towns, like Bedford wealthy by Allenstown's standards
but still the recipient of $2.9 million in adequacy money last
year will lose. |
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NOT MUCH TO LOOK AT Dupont
Principal Betsy Stebbins surveys the locker room at the school,
where chicken wire fences off equipment and paint peels in the
shower area. The room is used by the girls basketball team. The
boys' locker room is similar. (Eric Baxter Photo)
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Bedford does not yet know what the
long-term implications of a change in the formula will mean for
the district. But School Board Chairman Sue Thomas still worries
about where the money will be spent.
"I have no problem with Bedford losing money and having
it going to another town as long as it's going towards
education fixing the schools, improving the curriculum,"
she said. "But not if it's just going to another town to
lower another town's tax rate and keeping the (needy) schools
where they are. If they get more because they need more, and
they can use it to improve the school system, then it's a good
thing."
Still have problems
Inside the walls of the Allenstown schools, almost a decade and
a half after the original Claremont lawsuit was brought
there is still a sense that things are very wrong.
"We should be able to say kids' futures are worth funding
no matter where you live," Kenny said as she pointed out
another undersized classroom. "Claremont was supposed to
solve that, but we've yet to see any change. You still see a
lot of inequity."
Weare
Selectmen clash
over meeting spat
By KATE BENWAY
Staff Writer
kbenway@yourneighborhoodnews.com
A selectman's letter to the editor has
added heat to an already-simmering debate in town one that
surfaced at the deliberative session of Town Meeting just two
weeks ago.
Laura Petrain's letter to the editor of The Goffstown News ripped
into her fellow selectmen, calling into question their ethics
in relation to the clash between Police Chief Myles Rigney and
some members of the public who attended the deliberative session
of town meeting. At that meeting, Rigney insinuated he had run
background checks on some residents.
"I find the failure to take action by the board of selectmen
as nothing less than a shirk of responsibility, and once again
shows their lack of leadership and ability to handle the prudent
affairs of the town," Petrain wrote.
The letter, which ran in the Feb. 19 edition of the paper, drew
a written rebuttal from selectman Brian McDonald and sharp criticisms
from other selectmen.
"I can't confirm or deny what she says because it's a personnel
matter and it was in a nonpublic meeting," said McDonald.
"Those minutes were sealed and restricted. I'm not sure
where her (Petrain's) lapse is to disclose that."
With the Attorney General's Office investigating the incident,
Petrain said it's incumbent upon selectmen to stand up for residents.
She said she's received several phone calls from residents who
do not feel comfortable speaking out about their disdain for
Rigney's behavior.
"Personally, I don't need an AG to tell me that what
I saw was wrong," she said. "The board has always allowed
him (Rigney) to do what he wants to do and it's not the first
time he's displayed that kind of behavior."
The Monday, Feb. 2, deliberative session culminated in an angry
exchange of words between Rigney, Town Moderator Neal Kurk and
some residents.
A petitioned warrant article to make the chief's position an
elected one prompted Rigney to hold up a sheaf of papers that
he insinuated were background checks on the petitioners.
His point: Those signing the petition have had brushes with the
law and therefore personal vendettas against the chief and his
department.
Rigney has continued to maintain he did nothing wrong.
At that meeting, McDonald stepped up to defend Rigney, whom he
characterized as an experienced law enforcement official.
The next morning, town officials reported hearing from the Attorney
General's Office about the incident, and though the office will
not confirm or deny the investigation, town officials said there
is one going on.
Meanwhile, at their Monday, Feb. 23, meeting, selectmen addressed
Petrain's letter to the editor.
Petrain was absent, but Chairman Tom Reynolds said he thought
she aired personnel matters inappropriately.
"This is a personnel issue that should not be addressed
in public," he said after the meeting. "There's a time
and a place to deal with personnel issues and it's not in the
newspaper."
Reynolds said he is concerned the letter opens the town up to
potential litigation that could be levied because personnel policies
were violated. He faulted Petrain for failing to fulfill her
duties.
"She has a habit of continuing to blame other people for
her inability to perform her duties," he said. "People
need to be patient and let the process play out. With the attorney
general involved, you have to be careful with what you do."
But Petrain insisted selectmen are simply opting to "look
the other way."
"I just want the residents who called me to know I take
it seriously. I don't believe residents should be treated that
way," she said. "To try to insinuate that these
people have records while displaying his chief's badge
it was sheer intimidation."
And just as Petrain encouraged residents to let their voices
be heard at the March 9 election, McDonald said he resents that
urging, as he is the one up for reelection this year.
He recognized that some residents were not happy with the deliberative
session incident.
"If someone called me upset about what happened, I would
say that's your right to be offended. I would encourage anybody
to pick up the phone and talk to the chief, he can handle that
type of discussion," said McDonald. "It's just a shame
to have one instance reflective of the chief's entire career."
Dunbarton
Voters to decide
whether to purchase Vaal land
By LARA SKINNER
Staff Writer
lskinner@yourneighborhoodnews.com
When 6.6 acres of land in town center went
on the market, town officials took notice.
On March 9, voters will be asked to approve a $620,000 town warrant
to purchase land and buildings owned by resident Al Vaal at the
corner of School Street next to the cemetery.
The bond would add 47 cents per $1,000 valuation to the property
tax rate in 2004. In 2005, the bond would add 91 cents to the
tax rate, and would average about that amount over the next five
years of the bond.
Even with the increase, selectmen and the Dunbarton Center Building
Committee spoke in favor of the purchase at a public hearing
on Thursday, Feb. 19.
"This is all about providing opportunities for future growth
that we all know is coming," said Jeff Trexler, co-chairman
of the committee.
Those in attendance did not dispute town growth, but voiced concern
that buying the land simply to have it wasn't a popular suggestion.
The property includes two incomplete sheds and a man-made fire
pond located on the back of the lot. In addition, the land slopes
toward the cemetery, Trexler said.
While there are at least two areas on the lot that are suitable
for building, a study of land use would not begin until after
the voters agree to the purchase.
But resident Dan Gobin said the town shouldn't spend the money
without a plan for the lot.
"You're buying three buildings that have no use," Gobin
said.
Another concern was dealing with tenants who are living in the
house on the front of the lot.
Although the town doesn't want to get into a landlord situation,
Selectman Stephen Kennedy said, they will work with the tenants
to make the sale as smooth as possible if the bond is approved.
The tenants now have a month-to-month lease agreement with the
Vaals, said Kennedy.
Gobin asked selectmen and the committee if they had considered
asking the Vaals for an option on the land, which could hold
the property while the town does a land-use study.
The Vaals are building a new house in another town, Kennedy said,
and part of the purchase agreement allows the Vaals to live in
the house for 14 months after the closing date so they can complete
construction and move.
Selectman Charles Graybill said the Vaals have had the house
on the market for awhile, and he doesn't think they would be
interested in allowing the town to put a hold option on the land.
For Donna Dunn, co-chairman of the Town Common Project Committee,
the sale is a perfect opportunity.
She offered to remove some of the rocks and natural building
materials from the backyard for use on the town common, if voters
approve the sale.
"When you think of spending money now, it's very difficult,"
Dunn said.
But she said the town also needs to make decisions for the future.
Information on the bond rate and a map of the Vaal property is
available at the town offices.
The Town Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 9, at 7 p.m.
in the community center at Dunbarton Elementary School.
Weare
Man charged
with sex assault of 9-year-old
A Unity man has been arraigned on two counts
of aggravated felonious sexual assault stemming from his alleged
contact with a 9-year-old Weare girl.
Steven J. Bunten, 54, of 410 Unity Street, was arrested at his
home by state police on Wednesday, Feb. 18, after an on-going
investigation, according to Weare police. He was arraigned on
Friday, Feb. 20, in Goffstown District Court.
Bunten will face a March 2 probable cause hearing.
Sgt. James Carney headed what he characterized as an "in-depth"
investigation into the two separate incidents, alleged to have
taken place in 2000 and 2001.
The girl is now 9 years old.
"A concerned parent came to the police department stating
that a family friend had made some comments related to the inappropriate
touching of her daughter," said Det. Mark Bodanza.
The girl's mother consulted her daughter, who allegedly admitted
Bunten touched her inappropriately in 2000 and 2001.
If convicted, Bunten could face 10 to 20 years in prison on each
of the charges.
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