Windham Taxpayers

August 1, 2008
Pelham-Windham News

Windham High School athletic committee member Chris O’Neal has asked school board members to revisit the athletic master plan approved by former board members last year. O’Neal is asking that segments of this “vision” for the school be added to the Capital Improvement Program (CIP), to better assure that these projects become reality.

A warrant article pertaining to a portion of the athletic master plan did not pass voter scrutiny in March. The deadline for submitting projects to the CIP for consideration this year is Friday, August 8. The athletic master plan includes proposals for a multipurpose athletic complex (stadium), including a track, adjacent to the school; a second gymnasium and several athletic fields to enhance those already being built.

In response to O’Neal, school board member Mark Brockmeier said it would be premature to add any athletic facilities to the CIP agenda this year. The high school is scheduled to open in September of 2009, with only freshman and sophomore classes. Brockmeier suggested that school officials hold a series of workshops during the next year and have a CIP proposal “that everyone can rally around” ready for presentation in August of 2009.

School board member Beverly Donovan pointed out that there are other facility needs in the Windham School District that need to go into the CIP, such as renovations to Golden Brook Elementary School, as well as a state-mandated kindergarten program and upgrading the food service at the three existing schools. “Each school will have its own priority list,” Donovan said. “It’s the board’s job to boil that down and make recommendations” for the CIP.

O’Neal said he feels as if athletic facilities in the school district are “always getting put off until next year, next year and next year. It never gets done,” he said.

Brockmeier said the discussion needs to include facility needs from any educational standpoint, as well as an economic point of view. It is anticipated this topic will be discussed regularly during upcoming school board meetings.

Windham High School Deans Spending Summer Making Plans

It’s still a little more than a year until Windham High School will open its doors to students, but the administrators who will be working there are working to complete curriculum, athletic and co-curricular programs. The “planning team” has been given space in the SAU 28 building to hold its meetings.

Principal Richard Manley met with school board members to update them on issues being discussed by the team during July and August. The new school is scheduled to be up and running by September of 2009. During the first year of operation, only freshmen and sophomores will attend the school. Juniors and seniors will continue attending Salem High School on an extended tuition contract.
Manley told school officials the planning team got together for its initial session on July 14 with a tour of the school site on London Bridge Road, off Route 111. According to project owners’ representative Glenn Davis, the new structure is about two-thirds complete, slightly ahead of schedule.

One of the first tasks being tackled by the new administrators is the mission statement. “This will drive all else that lies ahead,” Manley said. Although partially completed, the statement of purpose needs further refinement and development, Manley said.

The high school advisory program is another issue being discussed by administrators. “We need to develop clear goals” for this program, Manley told school board members. The program will include developing learning plans for each student.

An “ambassador program,” linking Salem High students who live in Windham with those attending the new high school, also is a topic of conversation. Manley said it is important to have older students serving as mentors for the freshmen and sophomores who will attend Windham High School. The lack of role models at the new high school was one of the concerns school board members had with only freshmen and sophomores attending the school when it opens.

The athletic program also is being talked about, including the kinds of junior varsity and varsity programs to be offered, as well as the rationale behind those programs. Athletic Director Bill Raycraft is helping develop the specifics of the new program and related facilities.

How best to integrate health, wellness and physical education programs with other subjects also is being discussed. Potential co-curricular offerings also are on the table.

Curriculum development and the sequencing of courses is a major topic for administrators. Our goal is to create “a program of studies” by summer’s end, Manley said.

The only high school dean position yet to be filled is the dean of special needs. The hiring of other staff for the school won’t begin until early next year, Manley said.

July 31, 2008
Eagle Tribune

WINDHAM — Construction of a larger elementary school is being considered to provide space for the district’s first kindergarten program and growing student enrollment.

Superintendent Frank Bass presented a scenario to the School Board last night as one of several options — including renovations, additions and new school buildings — that will be examined by architect Kyle Barker over the next several months.

The board voted to hire Barker to conduct a $27,200 study of the school district’s facilities and ways to provide additional space. His study will also look at air quality and energy efficiency in the current buildings.

Along with space to start a kindergarten program, required by fall 2009, the district’s enrollment is expanding and more space will be needed to accommodate that growth, Bass said.

Projected enrollment figures presented last night show the number of students in third through fifth grades increasing by 183 children over the next five years — from 610 this year to 793 in 2013.

The scenario presented by Bass calls for constructing an elementary school, instead of a middle school, on land where the new high school is being built off Route 111. The new elementary school would house the district’s preschool program, kindergarten classes, grades one through four, and the superintendent’s office, he said.

Golden Brook Elementary School, which accommodates first and second grades, would close, Bass said.

Under this proposal, the superintendent’s office and preschool building on Route 111 would be sold for about $1 million, Bass said.

This would also address space issues at both Windham Center and Windham Middle schools by shifting grades. Windham Center School would be for fifth- and sixth-graders while the middle school would only house the seventh and eighth grades, Bass said.

The middle school now serves sixth- through eighth-graders and Windham Center School houses grades three through five. Under this plan, a new middle school building, at a cost of $35 million to $40 million, would not have to be built, Bass said.

“These are all hypotheticals,” Bass said. “But they work educationally and financially for the school district.”

School Board members did not comment on the plan last night. They are waiting for Barker to conduct his study, which would provide additional details for this option and others, along with cost estimates.

Board members decided not to put the study out to bid so it could start right away and give them time to consider placing one or more articles for school space on the next district warrant, which would be voted on in March.

Bass said it might not make financial sense to renovate Golden Brook School because of its age. Barker said there are a variety of problems with the building, including old windows that would cost $750,000 to replace and an inadequate ventilation system that would cost about $1 million to replace.

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Please see Population Up, School Enrollment Down in NH - Seacoast Online

July 29, 2008
Eagle Tribune

WINDHAM — Local property owners can expect to pay between 6 and 8 cents more per $1,000 of valuation per year over the life of a 10-year bond to pay for a proposed secondary access road at the new high school.

During a public hearing last night, speakers said selectmen needed to provide more details if they expect voters to approve a $1.25 million bond to pay for it.

Selectmen promised to provide this information before the Aug. 12 deliberative session on the bond article, and the subsequent Sept. 9 Special Town Meeting vote on it.

The board said it will provide, in advance, the cost breakdown and project specifications for the almost 4,000-foot-long and 24-foot-wide paved road, dispensing the information at a roundtable discussion and through postings on the town Web site.

This information will be made available after the project engineer receives bids on the work, expected within two weeks, board Chairman Dennis Senibaldi said.

Meanwhile, Town Administrator Dave Sullivan presented the payment schedule on the bond for the $1.25 million proposal. The schedule is based on the current 4 percent interest rate.

He said the first year’s payment, starting in 2009, would be about $175,000, falling to about $130,000 in the final years of the bond.

Individual property owners would pay 8 cents per $1,000 of valuation in the first few years, then 7 cents in the middle five or six years before ending at 6 cents in the last years, he said.

On a $400,000 home that would range between $24 and $32 more per year over the 10 years.

Resident Jack Hamburger said the perception in public is that this access road is a selectmen’s proposal and does not represent the public’s wishes.

Senibaldi countered that the board was acting in response to an existing public petition for the road. That petition was held in abeyance while voters cast ballots on a similar proposal in March.

That proposal was also brought forward as a citizen’s petition, only on the school district ballot. It was spearheaded by Charles McMahon, who was not a selectman at that time but now is a member of the board.

In March, school district voters defeated the proposal, 1,270 to 1,234. The bond article needed 60 percent majority approval to pass. So will the September question.

Regarding the current proposal, selectmen have declared a need for the road — to provide a secondary means of access to the school for fire and police in case of an emergency.

The fire chief is adamant about the need for the road prior to the school’s opening. He said he is open to discussing the type of road, whether paved or unpaved, but there must be a secondary access.

Speaker Betty Dunn said she has yet to decide if she supports it, and she needs more information.

Senibaldi suggested that the board hold a roundtable discussion on the project before the deliberative session.

All the board members agreed to the roundtable, which will be scheduled after they gather bid information on the project.

Board member Galen Stearns agreed to the roundtable so long as there would be debate there, not just a presentation.

Senibaldi said debate will be part of the meeting.

July 28, 2008
Eagle Tribune

SALEM — Windham School Board member Michael Hatem is lucky he’s not being graded on attendance.

Hatem is Windham’s representative to the Salem School Board but has attended just one of Salem’s meetings since he took on the role in March.

Hatem said Wednesday he can’t attend Salem’s meetings because the Windham School Board is meeting twice as often as it usually does — and those extra meetings are being scheduled on the same day as Salem’s meetings.

“It’s strictly been a conflict of schedules,” he said. “We used to meet twice a month (in Windham), but since April we’ve been meeting almost every week.”

Windham students have attended Salem’s high school since 1994 — and that’s the same year a representative from Windham was invited to join the Salem School Board. As a representative, the Windham member doesn’t vote, but is invited to give input on matters that involve Salem High School and affect both towns.

But Hatem hasn’t given much input.

He’s only attended one of 11 meetings — and that one was two months after taking the job. Hatem was elected to the Windham School Board in March. That meeting was in May and was held immediately after a biannual joint meeting that the entire Windham School Board attended.

While Hatem’s attendance record is strong on the Windham School Board, he said he doesn’t know when he’ll be able to attend more meetings in Salem.

He said the Windham School Board hasn’t discussed changing its meeting date from Tuesday to another day, and it doesn’t look like his Windham schedule is going to slow down.

“I’m hoping once we get done with the next couple of weeks and we get the capital improvement project agenda done, (the Windham schedule) will lessen up,” he said. “But once that’s done, there’s the warrants, so I don’t know.”

The Salem School Board will continue to have a Windham representative on the board until all Windham students transition into Windham’s new high school in the fall of 2011.

July 15, 2008
Eagle Tribune

WINDHAM — A judge has granted the town permission to hold a Special Town Meeting vote on a $1.25 million second access road at the new high school.

Judge Larry Smukler announced his decision yesterday, a day after local officials petitioned Superior Court for the meeting.

The deliberative session is scheduled for Aug. 12 at Town Hall and the vote Sept. 9. The bond article needs a 60 percent majority for approval.

The secondary road would be a continuation of the main entrance off Route 111, and connect to Castle Hill Road. Selectmen plan to walk the access road Monday, the same day as the public hearing on the road’s layout.