We’re Gonna Save Face

The Lawrence-Eagle Tribune is reporting that TRHS will continue not testing students. At least for another year, midterms and finals will not interfere with…well…whatever it is they are doing on Greenough Road. There will, however, be a modification — time formerly allotted to testing will now be used for school wide events or speakers so the teachers will not have to teach extra…

“Teachers said there was more stress because they didn’t know how to wrap things up,” Woodworth said. “They had so much more time, about two weeks, where they would have been reviewing and taking exams and they weren’t sure whether to start a new unit or what.”

“They’re doing projects right up to the buzzer and don’t have time to plan for the next semester,” Woodworth said. “These were things we didn’t realize would happen and I’m asking for help to fix these issues.”

One thought Woodworth had is to have a school-wide event or speaker mid-year to free up teachers to plan for the next semester.

“We’d like to do something creative, like bring in guest speakers on bullying,” he said.

 I’d like them to teach.  I wonder what the record is for consecutive SINI (School In Need of Improvement) designations.  Is Timberlane the Most SINI School Ever?

A New School Year Begins

Last year at this time, Timberlane parents and teachers were learning that TRHS was going to do away with midterms and finals. Outrage came from parents, teachers, and — surprisingly – students. Now, there are rumors that the high school is looking for a way to re-institute the Big Tests without losing face.

Last year at this time, long service teachers began receiving their lump sum bonus. This, we were assured, would save taxpayers money as long service teachers would forgo steps and raises which would lessen their cost over the contract and into retirement. Instead, many long service teachers took their lump sums to other districts. This promises to be immediately disruptive (in a school district with perpetually SINI middle and high schools) and (eventually) expensive as the short service teachers that back-fill the abandoned positions get double stepped.

Last November, Richard La Salle announced that all district employees would get raises. He said it was necessary to give meritless raises to prevent the employees from unionizing or fleeing to better jobs.  These raises, he promised, would be funded with savings on utilities and healthcare. The raises have been issued, but the healthcare savings will not materialize — they reduced the guarenteed maximum not the actual cost. We never meet the guarenteed maximum, so the savings is money that had not been spent in previous years. Gas is up for the second time this week and heating oil has not retreated all summer. Where will the money for the raises come from? In past years, books, teacher aids, and teachers were cut. Don’t expect King Richard to dismiss members of his court. He will cut spending on books, teacher aids, and teachers.

It’s been three and a half years since La Salle’s School Board sealed the minutes of a meeting for 99 years. This was done to protect the reputation of a person not a member of the governing body. On April 14, 2011, Scott Buatti was found guilty on 20 counts involving child pornography. There is no longer a reputation to protect, yet the minutes remain sealed. No matter, I suppose.  I’ve been told the sanitized minutes are little more than a list of attendees.  Looks like parents will never know if even a single school board member opposed allowing a known pedophile roam the halls and locker rooms of the middle school for fourteen months.

This year, La Salle is focused like a laser beam on winning taxpayer support for a new high school. More like a mall than a school, this structure would make TRHS a fun place for teachers and students. The cost of fun? For starters, the new school will be too far from the Performing Arts Center for students to walk to class. That’s right, the $6,000,000 Centerpiece of a Modern Education just ten years ago (and not yet paid for) will be pushed to the background so kids and teachers can play in pods and walk down colorful hallways. TRSD has done nothing to improve education, so 2012 promises another year of SINI (School In Need of Improvement) status…for the children, of course…

NH Tax Kiosk

Danville has ALWAYS resisted posting tax information on the town web site.  The state of New Hampshire has stepped up where our leaders have fallen down.  If you want to see what your neighbors, selectmen, or abatement recipient is paying, visit the New Hampshire Tax Kiosk.  It also shows who has and hasn’t paid their taxes.

If you think your new assessment is off the mark, enter the address of a similar property and see what they pay.

Elections Have Consequences

Tuesday we get to vote on how our town and school district should be run.  Don’t take this for granted.  All it would take is a petition and a disengaged electorate to repeal SB2.  Insiders put just such a warrant on the ballot in 2007 and will do it again.  Stay engaged.

Two warrants have potential to change our community for more than a generation.  In Danville, there is a warrant to purchase the fire association hall.  How is this a game changer?  There is only one reason for the town to buy this land — they want to build a new police station.  If you want to bond a new police station and hire new town employees to staff it, then go ahead and vote to buy this parcel as a parking lot for the children.  Before you do that, drop by the safety complex and witness firsthand the overcrowding of a vacant building.  If we need more space for police/fire, move the town clerk/tax collector to the spacious first floor of the library.  It would be a more pleasant wait for taxpayers and eliminate the need for the librarian who monitors the first floor. 

The other game changing warrant is the proposal to double the TRSD capital reserve fund.  The mailing from the school board says this money is needed to maintain aging buildings.  At the last budget committee meeting, one of the budcom members asked why we need to double allocations to the capital reserve fund when another warrant will pay for the last planned project (Atkinson kitchen renovation).  George Stokinger and Rob Collins explained that the money is needed for a new high school.  I was there.  I was also there when the school board discussed this at a workshop.  Neither meeting was televised.  Pumping up the capital reserve fund allows for ‘no tax impact’ work to begin.  How is this a game changer?  Obviously, construction of a new high school will require a new bond — approximately $70,000,000 according to La Salle and the architect.  Worse, in my opinion, the new high school (see page 2 of the plan) will not be near the Performing Arts Center.  Kids will not be able to walk to the PAC for classes.  This $6,000,000 ‘centerpiece of a modern education’ just ten years ago will no longer be used for high school classes.  For the record, both the facilities manager and architect have stated that the exisitng structures could be maintained for another 50 years.

Elections have consequences — vote carefully.

Buatti Coverup: Three Years Later

Three years ago at this time, Imigrations and Customs Enforcement was closing in on Timberlane teacher Scott Buatti.  Mr. Buatti would soon be charged with ten counts of possession of child pornography.

• February 25, 2008, Scott Buatti admits to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers that he subscribed to child pornography sites and had downloaded at least eight videos of little girls
• March 18, 2008, ICE meets with Superintendent La Salle and Assistant Superintendent Feneberg
• March 20, 2008, the School Board holds a nonpublic session and seals the minutes for 99 years
• April 13, 2009, Superintendent La Salle denies knowledge of the charges
• April 16, 2009, Superintendent La Salle claims denial was mischaracterized

Shortly thereafter, Buatti was suspended and later fired.  We was indicted.  Yet the minutes remain sealed.  Who is the school board protecting?  Superintendent La Salle?  Other teachers?  It’s members?

One of the participants in the infamous meeting is Rob Collins.  He allowed Scott Buatti to continue to prowl Timberlane locker rooms for fourteen months and voted to seal the minutes for 99 years.  Rob is running for re-election this year.  He is unopposed.  You cannot vote against him, but you don’t have to vote for him.

Union Leader update

That’s what I thought you meant…

At the conclusion of the deliberative session, Mr. Woodworth approached the table and placed his chin on his hands.  “What did you mean by that answer?”  Inartuculate as I am, I what was swirling in my head never got close to my mouth.  Had I had a chance to read the question and write out an answer, it would have been more like this…

This year’s budget continues a trend of shifting expenditures from education to everything else.  If you look at the Major Budget Factors chart, you will see that Retirement and Salaries top the increases while Software and Equipment were trimmed.  Also on the cut side of the ledger were utilities and repairs.  Utilities are not going down.  Healthcare is not going to be flat.  When the bills come in, the SAU will need to cut somewhere.  With no projects in the budget, we know that teachers, aids, books, and software will be cut…again.   I would not be surprised to hear talk again of a four day school week.  I don’t think this is the way to run a SINI school district.

Mr. La Salle should have protected the educators and eliminated expensive nonteaching positions.  SAU 55 has three directors of education.  Timberlane has two directors of pupil personnel services.  Sandown has two principals for an elementary school.  I could go on, but I already have.  This budget is an emergency waiting to happen.

Who will attend the Deliberative Session?

From: Robert Collins [mailto:robcollins89@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, February 07, 2011 9:10 PM
To: Robert Collins
Subject: Thursday night 2/10 7 PM Timberlane Deliberative Session at the PAC

Hi Everyone,

This Thursday evening at 7PM the Timberlane Deliberative Session will be held at the PAC.

I believe there will be an attempt to remove at least a couple of million dollars from the proposed operating budget.  This would have a significant impact on the schools and might force the School Board to make difficult decisions we shouldn’t have to make.  The Superintendent and the Budget Committee have worked hard to cut the budget significantly already, any more will really stress our schools beyond what I feel is appropriate and necessary. 

Please take the time to show up at this meeting. There are only 3 warrant Articles to be discussed on the ballot so the meeting shouldn’t be more than an hour.

Please send this on to your friends and neighbors.

Thank you!

Rob Collins
Timberlane School Board – Danville

Tax Impact of Warrants

When I first moved to Danville, the town mailed me a sample ballot which listed the warrants and described their impact on the tax rate.  Since then, the government has created a New Calculus by which all warrants have No Tax Impact.  Now, government programs are all free and there is no need to publish this kind of information.

An example of a No Tax Impact government action is Clinton’s COPS program.  Unneeded police officers hired with No Tax Impact have been impacting our tax rate for nearly a generation and will soon be collecting pensions as their replacements continue to impact our tax rates.  Another No Tax Impact program is the Pre-k program initially funded with Obama’s Recovery windfall.  Largely empty rooms require teachers who collect salaries and later pensions.  This was modeled after the hugely unsuccessful No Tax Impact kindergarten program which has declining enrollment despite being ‘free’ and heavily promoted.  To achieve the objective of No Tax Impact, the District cut corners, gutted the program, and pillaged the SAU 55 budget.  Instead of improving the performance of our kids, the legacy of No Tax Impact kindergarten is a perpetually SINI (School in Need of Improvement) high school and middle school.  This will soon result in another kind of tax impact.  So, No Tax Impact is a term of art and voters should be leary of programs promoted as such.  Here’s one…

Article 2011-10 Fire Association Hall – To see if the Town will authorize the Board of Selectmen to enter into a purchase agreement in the amount of One Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($150,000) for the Fire Association Hall building and its parking lot located on Map 3, Lot 104 containing 1 acre and Map 3, Lot 105 containing 9 acres, for a total of 10 acres and to raise and appropriate One Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($150,000) for the purchase of said property with this sum to come from the unreserved fund balance. NO TAX IMPACT

This warrant has HUGE TAX IMPACT.  First, the money is coming from unreserved fund balance.  This money could be refunded to taxpayers or used to offset future spending.  So, the immediate tax impact is that this unspent money will not be used to lower our future tax bills.  Second, if the town takes this parcel of land, it will be forever unavailable to support the tax base.  The parcel in on Main Street.  Should Danville decide to welcome businesses and retailers in the future, this lot would be very attractive.  Taxing a business or retailer would impact our tax rates every single year going forward.  Third, and most important, the intent of purchasing this lot is to build a new police station.  That, too will impact our tax rate every single year as we absorb the cost of construction, maintenance, and staffing of an unnecessary expansion of town government.  For these reasons, I dispute the NO TAX IMPACT descriptor and urge you to vote against purchase of the fire association hall – at any price.

Deliberative Session Primer

The Timberlane Regional School District Deliberative Session is scheduled for Thursday, February 10, 2011 at 7:00 PM at the Performing Arts Center, 40 Greenough Road, Plaistow, NH.  Most of the people who attend the meeting will be agents of the school district.  Superintendent La Salle will be joined by his School Board, his Budget Committee, his Legal Counsel, and his employees.  But this meeting isn’t for them.  It’s for the rest of us.

Unfortunately, few of the rest of us will attend and even fewer will have any idea what is going on.  If you are thinking about attending your deliberative session, watch last year’s deliberative session, read the Technical Assistance for SB2, and look over some of what I’ve posted here (especially TRSD Public Hearing: Warrant Articles, Understanding La Salle’s Default Budget, and The Right Number: $60,206,506).  If, after digesting all of this, you want to participate in the deliberative process, take a look at the notes that follow.

Voice of the Community

Some comments on the TRSD Budget process…

Mrs. Goodrich of Atkinson writes

I thank the citizens who stood up to be volunteer leaders on the TRSB
and TRBC. But, I have serious concerns about their being an independent voice
of the people.

I have tried to get aquainted with the school district beginning this fall. I
didn’t get very far.

I am so seriously discouraged about the lack of citizen participation in the
process. It is obvious that the management needs to address this total
disconnection by the general public.

Long ago, when I had children in the Salem School District, I put my time into
the budgetary process. There was always healthy debate to participate in.
What just happened on 1/11/11 is an aberration of immense proportions. We
are all answerable for this happenstance. There are no sides on this issue.

I just wonder if the members of the board and the committee realize that the
money we are spending will be an albatross around the necks of the children
currently in our school system.

I keep thinking of the children’s book the Emperor’s new clothes. It is a short
tale by Hans Christian Andersen about two weavers who promise Emperor new
suits of clothes that are invisible to those unfit for their positions, stupid, or
incompetent. When the Emperor parades before his subjects naked, no one in
the crowd wants to point to his state of undress for fear of appearing dim-
witted to the others. And so we sit in silence.

Mark Acciard of Atkinson attended the public reading of the budget

I was appalled to hear Mrs. O’Neil stand there and admit that, once again, the budget committee did not do their job. She said that they have never found they needed to look into the superintendent’s budget.

if that is true, then Michelle, why do we even have a budget committee? perhaps Mr. LaSalle should write the budget and simply put it into practice. After all, RSA 32:5 is really more of a guideline than a law, isn’t it?

Peter Bealo of Plaistow writes of the Public Reading of the Budget

I attended last night as well. As a guess, I’d say there were ~ 4 “civilians” (ie: taxpayers with kids in the system) present and ~25 administrators, principals, teachers, etc.

Mr. Acciard did indeed ask about the $1.2 million request last year, the answer was not grounded in reality. That said, I chose not to challenge it publically since I believe it would have served no useful purpose.

I was actually shocked at the major decrease of ~ $500,000 in maintenance and repairs. Is this a tactic to allow one or more facilies to wear out in order tio be allowed to rebuild sooner??? I don’t know…

Funding the CIP is not a bad thing, so long s there is a CIP list with cost estimates and when the expenditures are required that lines up with the money request. All our towns do this to fund fire trucks, building renovations, etc. With the schools its almost hand-to-mouth with no long term plan. That really should change.

Had time to meet with a few administrators and a teacher. FINALLY met Mr. Acciard. All time well spent.