Recently in School Board Issues Category
By RAY CARBONE
New Hampshire Union Leader
Monday, Jul. 19, 2010
The New Hampshire Attorney General's office has issued a cease-and-desist order to five people, including a Moultonborough selectman and a former school board member, for their roles in distributing political flyers last year.
Assistant Attorney General Matthew Mavrogeorge said the five violated the state's election laws by failing to identify the flyer as "political advertising" and not including information identifying who was sending it out.
"(You) are hereby ordered to cease and desist from distributing any future political advertisement without first complying with the signature (identification) requirements contained in RSA 664:14," the order reads.
The flyer urged voters in March 2009 to turn down an article on town and school ballots regarding adoption of Senate Bill 2, which would replace town meeting with voters going to the polls on town election day. Voters turned down the SB2 idea at both the town and school district meetings. The district vote was 746-975, while the town vote was 704-975.
Selectman Karel Crawford and former Moultonborough School Board member and current Supervisor of the Checklist Laurie Whitley are cited by the Attorney General's Office. The three others are Lisa St. Amand, who has been a member of the town's Recreation Strategic Planning Group, Mary Ann McRae and Anita Blood.
Efforts to reach the five yesterday were unsuccessful.
According to the report, investigator Richard Valenti began looking into the issue last July after state officials received a formal complaint from resident Paul Punturieri. He charged that Whitley had violated RSA 664 by sending out the election flyers without identifying who was responsible for the material.
"It states at the bottom that the Selectmen, School Board and Advisory Budget Committee do not support SB2, but nowhere does it mention that she is a member of the School Board and running for office, nor that this flyer was not actually sent by the School Board, Selectmen or Advisory Board," the complaint reads.
In the interviews recorded in Valenti's report, none of the five reported knowingly sending out a flyer without their signature, but said that it was possible some flyers could have gone out unsigned. In his interview with Whitley, Valenti said she noted that "SB2 has been on the ballot two years in a row and it has come close to passing." Whitley said no town funds were used to mail the flyers.
Just days before the election, the flyers were criticized by the Moultonborough Citizens Alliance -- on whose website Punturieri identifies himself as a one-time member.
In his letter to the state, Punturieri said he feels as if voters did not get a fair chance to hear both sides of the issue before voting. Previous votes on SB2 in the town and school district have been close, (but) "I do not believe it was a fair fight (this time) as powers that be did not play by the rules."
Yesterday, School Board Chairman Mark Borrin said he would issue a formal statement this afternoon, but added he did not believe the report or the orders have anything to do with either the school board or the district.
"It never became an issue the board talked about," he said. "The issue involves individuals who are on the board, but it wasn't a board matter."
Editor, The Citizen:
The Right to Know law is as vast as it is sometimes confusing. The NH Bar Assoc. states the "purpose of New Hampshire's Right to Know Law (RSA 91-A) is to make state and local government accountable to the people by requiring that meetings and records be open to the public as much as possible." Article 8 of the New Hampshire Constitution is the impetus for this oft misunderstood and sometimes pesky law. It states that "All power residing originally in, and being derived from, the people, all magistrates and officers of government are their substitutes and agents, and AT ALL TIMES accountable to them. Government, therefore, should be open, accessible, accountable and responsive. To that end, the public's right of access to governmental proceedings and records shall not be unreasonably restricted".
With this fairly simple but comprehensive language those who would be the "people" and those who would be their "substitutes and agents," from time to time, find themselves at opposite ends of the table. What constitutes a public meeting … what notes or records need to be kept and made available … what is fair notification of meetings ... and what about emails, letters, and telephone conference calls?
All these topics will be the subject for a Right to Know Seminar coming your way on August 10th (7 PM) at the Moultonborough Public Library. Sponsored by the Moultonborough Citizens Alliance, both the public and members of the various boards of area towns are invited. Ed Naile of the Coalition of NH Taxpayers, Tom Tardif, former mayor of Laconia, and Doug Lambert of GraniteGrok.com, all knowledgeable RTK experts, will be there to explain the "ins" and "outs" of this ubiquitous statute and field a Q & A session.
Bravo and kudos to the MCA for reaching out to both the public and their "substitutes and agents" to for a great opportunity to end up on the same page. The good folks who serve on the boards and the volunteers for committees who have to deal with this law on a daily basis should embrace this effort as a learning event to make their job a bit easier. What a great opportunity for all sides to learn, discuss and educate … all at the same time. I would encourage all to attend.
Now I know that at least some of you will consult the Web to see what Article 8 of the NH Constitution says and check this humble scribe's accuracy. While you are there, jump down a couple articles and take a look at my personal favorite… Article 10. You won't find that in any other state constitution!!
Rick Heath
Moultonborough
Lot's of meetings this week in Town:
School Board Meeting: Tuesday June 9th, 7pm Town Hall
Planning Board: Wednesday June 10th, 7:30pm Town Hall
ABC : Thursday June 11th, 5PM Town Hall
ABC/Selectmen/School Board: Thursday June 11th 6pm Town Hall
Selectmen: Thursday June 11th, 7pm Town Hall
May 3 , 2009
When Tom Keane ran for a seat on the board of selectmen two years ago, he championed himself as a candidate who'd fight for lower taxes in Bow.
Although Keane has another year until his term expires, he's set his sights on the school board. This year, he's running against incumbent Stephen Elgert for a 3-year term.
If he's elected, Keane said he doesn't plan to give up his spot on the board of selectmen, which is allowed by law, according to Town Manager Jim Pitts. The board of selectmen meets twice a month and the school board once, so Keane figures he'll have enough time to do both if elected.
Keane, who's retired and has lived in Bow since 2002, said being on the school board might work to open up communication between the school district and town government - something he doesn't think is happening now.
"Because they are two politically autonomous entities, there's no requirement that they talk to each other," Keane said. "In our system, there's no coordination whatsoever."
Keane said he'd like to apply his business background, which includes a master's degree in labor relations and communications, on the school board to address what he says are some of Bow's biggest challenges, like maintaining programs that promote critical thinking while addressing the lurking issue of declining school enrollment.
And while Keane said the current board and administration have started to address those problems, there's more work ahead.
"It's a law of diminishing returns. . . . People can't afford to move in; we need to coordinate and look at this as a bigger issue.," Keane said. "We've entered a phase that, if we don't carefully manage this, housing costs are going to prohibit us from bringing people in the community that we need in our school system."
Two-term incumbent Elgert, a family physician and geriatrician who's lived in Bow for nearly 10 years, said the current board members have shown they work well together. Despite the stress of the economic downturn, voters approved both the board's flat school district budget and separate teacher contract this year.
"When you look at our school budget, a majority of what you budget for goes toward personnel in whatever form. If you really, substantially want to cut dollars, you're looking at cutting major parts of programs, or personnel," Elgert said, adding that the board cut the equivalent of four full-time teacher positions from next year's high school budget to keep costs down.
The board, Elgert said, has followed enrollment trends closely for several years. Outside of a bubble of students in this year's sophomore class, "it's pretty steady," Elgert said. "At the elementary and middle school, we have a pretty good balance of what we should have and what we need."
The board recently commissioned a study committee made up of board members, teachers and others from within the community to study high school curriculum and find ways to make it more efficient.
"We've been looking proactively at high school class sizes and trying to figure out ways we can consolidate without reducing the scope and breadth of our programs. That's tricky," said Elgert.
Elgert said the district must find a balance, and that across-the-board cuts, which he criticized Keane for supporting at this year's school district meeting, would have been "disastrous."
The polls open May 12, at the community building from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and town meeting is the following night at 7 p.m. in the high school's auditorium.
Residents vote down video production warrant article
SARAH SCHMIDT
The Meredith News March 19, 2009
MOULTONBORO — After passing a $13 million budgetand other monetary budget items, it was an article for student audio/visual classes without funding attached that residents debated on for the greatest length of time, eventually voting it down. A petitioned warrant article on the Moultonboro School District Warrant asked residents to decide whether to create an educational program for students to record, produce, and broadcast
Blackadar. “We prefer not to have the education program dictated to us.” Advisory Budget Committee Chair Jean Beadle also spoke against the article and said that before the issue could be seriously considered, the total cost of teachers and equipment should be studied and brought before the town. The article was defeated in a voice vote. The entire meeting finished in about 30 minutes. Residents approved the $13,826,135 budget for the
February 28, 2009
Editor, The Citizen:
The Pemi-Baker School District deserves kudos for demonstrating to voters, once again, just how effective the Official Ballot form of Town and
SB2 has also had the effect of sharpening the board's efforts to communicate budget proposals and explain the warrant articles to the public. The explanatory materials and documents available at the deliberative session (and from then, until voting day, at school offices) make the budgtet process much easier to understand than years before. District voters who could/did not attend last Tuesday's meeting have the advantage of being able to watch the discussion which took place for several weeks on Channel 3, and may take the opportunity to discuss any concerns/questions you have with board members, administrators and neighbors before casting your vote on March 10.
I hope
Joan Randlett
Plymouth
If you live in
Sunday February 22, 2009
The Concord Monitor by Ray Duckler rduckler@cmonitor.com.
Lisa Braiterman, the business administrator for the
Then come 66 pages, information about district revenues and expenses, salaries and benefits, enrollment and district staffing trends, not to mention graphs and charts to illustrate and explain the vision for the next school year.
If you live in
"People in the private sector who have had their wages and salaries frozen have every right to expect similar direction in the public sector"
Editorial The Citizen
Friday, January 30, 2009
Local municipal and school officials in the area are working at what they characterize as cuts in their budget proposals. In most cases what that means is that they are working at minimizing increases.
For example, the proposed budget for the
It is not only the weather that has turned cold. The economic climate has turned icy, too.
Town administrators and school superintendents and school boards are faced with having to provide the best affordable services at the least possible cost.
Among the hard realities of budgeting for the coming fiscal year are these: The number of people who are out of work is increasing. There is little reason to expect increases in earnings. Investment values are melting. Energy costs are rising again. People have less money for discretionary spending.
There is little expectation of a change any time soon.
People in the private sector who have had their wages and salaries frozen have every right to expect similar direction in the public sector.
It is not only about wages and salaries. It is also about levels of service.
Provide funds for what has to be done. Do not abandon maintenance but approach new projects with caution.
This is not a time to expand programs. There might be program expansions and projects that are desirable or timely in the eyes of some people but are they affordable on the part of many? Probably not.
The expansion of a program is seldom if ever an emergency undertaking. What might be immediately beneficial to one family might add to the difficulties of another.
Cities and school districts must continue to whittle at their respective debt burdens. And it is false economy to add to the burden during difficult times, thinking it will be repaid in more prosperous times. Who among us can say when prosperity will return?
It is cruel to add to the tax burden of the unemployed and it is shortsighted to take from people and institutions who have not been hit as hard — yet.
Historically, taxes travel in only one direction and there is no sign of reversal later this year. While people toil to make ends meet and owners of businesses struggle valiantly to put their books in the black and maintain work for their employees, the tax collector will not be denied, though through no fault of his or her own.
