Letter to The Editor from Superintendent Guillette
February 26, 2010
Dear Editor:
As Superintendent of Schools for SAU #6 (Claremont, Cornish, and Unity, NH), I am obviously “in favor” of the revitalization project going to the Claremont voters on Tuesday, March 9th. There have been over 100 community, city, parent, staff, student, administration, and Board member participants in this process who have worked for almost 7 years to bring this bond forward to the voters. The process has been long, slow, and carefully done to incorporate community input, to review as many options for the high school facility as possible, and to find the most cost effective solution.
In the past two days two rumors have surfaced which are clouding the real issue in front of us which is: “ Do we revitalize Stevens High School now with the state’s assurance of 60% state building aid to help with the cost, or not?”
The first rumor we have encountered is that the state has decided to fund only 30% state building aid (in effect, half of what we are promised). I spoke to Mr. Ed Murdough at the Department of Education about this rumor. He is the person who oversees school facilities and building projects in NH. He had not even heard of the rumor!
Then I contacted Senator Molly Kelly who is the Chair of the State Building Aid Study Committee. She told me that she had just heard about the rumor from a reporter from our area. She said that she knows nothing about the rumor. She clarified that the Bill, SB486, states that the suspension of state building aid is for one year after June 30, 2010 and until June 30, 2011. Projects that are approved by voters prior to June 2010 will receive their allotted state building aid. No one knows what the percent of state building aid will be for other projects approved after June 2010. That is still being studied, as is how to fund and distribute state building aid when it returns in the future. However, from Senator Kelly: there is no basis for this rumor.
The second rumor is that the Claremont School District is doing something illegal by openly stating it is paying for signs, ads, and banners to urge citizens to vote FOR the project. This is NOT illegal. It would not have been done if the District thought it was in any way illegal.
The District sought two legal opinions and received the same answer from each attorney. In 2005 the US Supreme Court ruled that government not only has the right, but the duty to support its own positions. The District may spend the District’s money to promote its own positions. The District has been advised that this in NOT in violation of citizens’ first amendment rights under the Constitution. The District is doing the promotion based on that advice. Whether or not you agree with the District’s position on the bond itself or even on the District’s promoting its position on the bond, we believe the District’s actions are legal. The District absolutely would not have done it otherwise.
Campaign signs for citizens running for School Board positions are, of course, paid for by the candidates and their supporters – NOT by the District. That would be illegal.
The project has been judged by the many committee participants and architects along the way to be the most cost effective way of bringing our high school facility up to today’s standards, codes, and requirements. It respects the community’s expressed preference that Stevens remain where it is. It is much less costly than building a new high school.
Please decide your position on the revitalization project on its merits – not on rumors.
We do know that it’s a terrible time economically to bring this bond forward. We are all very sensitive to that. As you do, the District deals every day with the impact of difficult economic times on our students. This is such a hard, even emotional decision. No matter which way we as a community decide this issue, I know that this community is “FOR” Claremont. Please know that the District appreciates all this community does every day to support its schools and its children – your children and grandchildren.
Sincerely,
Jacqueline E. Guillette
Superintendent of Schools
Message from The Superintendent on Rumors
Good afternoon. This is NOT a press release. I do not want to be paraphrased or quoted. I do NOT want to “be” the news. I do NOT want to “make” the news. I am asking for your understanding. Apparently there have been “some” rumors going around the upper and lower Valley that the promised state building aid for districts passing bonds this spring will be cut to 50% of the amount currently promised (e.g. one rumor says that instead of Claremont getting 60% state building aid, it would only get 30% state building aid). I just spoke with Mr. Ed Murdough from the DOE who is the KEY person for approval of building projects and state building aid. He said he not heard anything about this at all and that he knew NOTHING about what the rumors were saying. If anyone in the state would know, it is Ed Murdough. He is the “go to” person for anything to do with school facilities projects. Please, please make sure that this rumor does not “get feet” and frighten voters in the many communities that are going for bonds. Please do not GIVE this rumor “feet.” There are so many school districts that have been working for so long to get to these critical votes. This type of rumor can really damage these building projects before they even get to their voters.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Jacqueline E. Guillette
Superintendent of Schools, SAU #6
School Budget Votes on: Cornish – March 6th Claremont – March 9th Unity – March 20th
3 Success Driven Stevens Students
I had the wonderful opportunity to meet with 3 students who are focused on the success of The Stevens Bond Vote passage. Emmy Craigue, Ryan Huse and Annah Sacksouvanh are students at Stevens High School and are part of a 7 student team under the guidance of social studies teacher David Hardy.
Every year, Stevens has at least one team participate in the statewide SESL (Social Entrepreneurial Student Leadership) This year, our team of 7 who attended the statewide project kickoff came back with an idea.
According to Mr. Hardy, our team (Amber Brooks, Kassi Hallock, Amela Palavric, Ryan Huse, Katie Lessar, Annah Sacksouvanh, and Emmy Craigue) wants to look at their plan as an intensified 4 week plan instead of a 10 week plan. They want to promote the SHS Revitalization Project, strategize how to do so, implement their strategy, be part of voting day, then do an exit poll on voting day March 9th to see if they can determine what kind of impact their campaign may have had.
For those not familiar with SESL, here’s a little background from the SESL website:
“We’re challenging you to think outside the box, dream big, and take action to make a difference. What’s the big issue in your backyard, in your community, in your world? Do you have an entrepreneurial idea of how to solve it?
SESL-NH is challenging high school and college/university teams to Think, Create, and Innovate! SESL’s 10 week challenge, open to high school teams of 8th-12th grade students or college teams at two- or four-year colleges/universities, kicks off in February each year”
All that said I wanted to congratulate the students who attended our outreach task force meeting and truly impressed out team. Not just with the enormity of what they wanted to take on but with their clear thoughts, professionalism and how much they care about Stevens High School!
If they are representative of Stevens students than Claremont has a bright future indeed! If you see students from the SESL challenge congratulate them and help them any way you can.
Intro and The Superintendent’s Thoughts
There was talk of state building aid being suspended before Claremont would have the ability to vote on the bond issue. This would leave Claremont Citizens to foot the bill for the entire project.
With our Huge post earlier today you can see that as long as we have the bond vote before May of 2010 and the vote passes we should still have the state providing the building aid we had expected. This is Huge for all Claremont Citizens but underscores how imperative it is that we pass the bond vote for the school when it comes to vote in March 2010!
Please see SAU 6 Superintendent Jacqueline E. Guillette’s comments below.
“I am thrilled with the recommendation being sent to the full legislature by the Study Committee on School Building Aid. This recommendation honors the long and hard work done by our communities, and communities all over NH, in preparation for bond votes in March 2010. This recommendation, if approved, will heighten the need to pass bonds this March 2010. No one will know how long a moratorium could last and then once it’s lifted, no one will know what the level of state building aid will be at that time. In the future Unity (45% state building aid) and Claremont (60% state building aid) will most likely not have the opportunity for the level of state building aid that they would receive by passing a bond in March 2010. Based on all current information as of yesterday, now (March 2010) is the time to get the most possible state support for these bonds.”
Sincerely,
Jacqueline E. Guillette
Superintendent of Schools, SAU #6
“Together we can make a difference!”
2 New Docs -Woodchips and School Heating Systems
Just uploaded 2 new documents in our docs Box to the right of your screen about using wood chips to heat school buildings. Check them out and post your thoughts.
There are two potential bonds to vote on in March;
1. The vote for the rehab of Stevens High School
2. The vote to use a biomass to provide a green heating system which has been shown to provide heating savings over the years in many school buildings.
Hope you enjoy
!Huge! School Building Aid Announcement !Huge!
Hi All,
Please read the post below on proposed changes in school building aid. This emphasizes the immediate need to get this project done. I cut and pasted the entire email shy only the email addresses it was sent to and the authors personal contact info.
Subject: School Building Aid
The legislative study committee on School Building Aid met this morning to consider its draft interim report. The committee voted that they will recommend to the full legislature that a temporary suspension of building aid for new projects should be considered, but any such suspension should not be effective prior to May 30, 2010. In other words, projects being proposed at district meetings prior to May 30, 2010 will be eligible for building aid under the current statute and rules.
Cities that do not hold annual school district meetings will need to hold bond votes prior to May 30, 2010 as well, if they want their projects to be exempt from any suspension that becomes effective after that date.
There was no discussion about the length of any temporary suspension or which future projects might be exempt.
Please keep in mind that this is still just a committee recommendation.
The committee will meet again on December 15th to consider its final version of the interim report. The final committee report is due November 1, 2010.
Edward R. Murdough, PE
Administrator
Check out the comments & Make Your Own
Good morning All,
Just wanted to be sure everyone knows they can click on the comments tab on the top right of the page to see posts placed by you and others in the community. Also, to respond to a particular post, please clicking the link at the top left of each post also title comment.
Lets open this up as a community forum about The Stevens Renovation Project. Thre are so many great thoughts out there we need to get them on internet paper so to type.
Thank you all for being part of the solution!
Time To Talk
Now that you have the architectural drawings, the details and the budget it is now time to start the conversation. Let us know what you think about The Stevens High School Renovation Project. Many people came to the November 7th meeting and made their comments and thoughts heard. We appreciated that and hope you will all do the same.
Claremont is your city, it’s your home and it is all of our responsibility to make prosper. Lets get the discussion rolling. Post here or on our facebook page. Do it anonymously or tell us who you are. Its your choice but please share your thoughts. Below is a link to our facebook page and the SAU website.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Lets-talk-SHS/132187429120?ref=ts
www.claremont.k12.nh.us/
November 7th Architects Presentation
Well, Citizens of Claremont, we have our numbers on The Stevens High School Renovation Project. They came in below earlier expectations. That was exciting. The drawings and the project designs have been uploaded in The Box cloud to the right of this post. Pleas feel free to download any of the documents and materials you are interested in. The architects full presentation is also there.
Three suggestions to get the word out
Members of the School Building Outreach Committee;
Three suggestions to get the word out: 1. Use the computerized phone notification system for parents in the S.A.U. Office. If there is any cost to using this system, take it out of your budget to reimburse the S.A.U. Office. 2. See if any of the many Claremont organizations that you stated last night would be willing to group e-mail to their members any announcements that you send their contact person. 3. When it comes closer to the bond vote and you have a finished product including cost figures create a SHORT presentation and run it on CCTV for the home viewers that may not want to watch a long 2 hour plus meeting.
Sincerely;
James Sullivan
