Dear Governor...

It was a long week here in Newmarket and yesterday I was angry at a situation that was feeling hopeless. 

So I wrote a letter. Please consider writing one too. (Edited to add: Follow this link for mail and email addresses for our elected officials.)

Dear Governor Hassan, Rep. Michael Cahill, Rep. Patricia Lovejoy, Rep. Marcia Moody and Rep. Adam Schroadter:

I’m writing to you at the end of an emotional week here in Newmarket.

As I hope you are aware, our town has been faced with a school facilities crisis for the last decade.  Our Jr. Sr. High School has many State DoE  deficiencies, including Fire and Life Safety concerns which, if not fixed by September 2015, will cause our school to be shut down. (A full list of problems and deficiencies can be found on the school's website.)

We have explored many options, including most recently a tuition agreement with Oyster River Cooperative School District that fell through when that district decided to partner with Barrington this week.

Thursday evening our Superintendent presented a revised plan for a Jr. Sr. High School project. It is a modest proposal that we believe will meet the needs of our students in this 21^st century learning environment. The cost of this project is $45 million-a cost we will need to shoulder ourselves due to no state aid. It’s a hard pill to swallow.

Add to this an astronomical (and unprecedented) increase in our SPED population that has resulted in a proposed budget increase of 7%. Again, we shoulder a bigger portion of this cost than ever before because of decreased state aid.

And to add insult to injury, last night it was brought to our attention that we will need to update our almost 30 year old heating system at a cost of approximately $122,000 and put aside plans to install a security system in the elementary school.

So here we are, faced with choosing between heating systems or security systems. It breaks my heart as both a mother and as a taxpayer. Can’t we do better for the kids of New Hampshire?

We need attention to be paid to NH schools. We need to stop cuts to Catastrophic Aid and we need to fund a school building aid program. Towns like Newmarket need your support.

Sincerely,

Toni Weinstein

Newmarket, NH

New design.

Want to know what this means? There will be a public forum tomorrow night (Monday) at 6:30 in the Town Hall auditorium.  

The view from the cheap seats.

This was the scene at last night's NES holiday concert:

60 kids in band.
100 kids in chorus.

Coming soon to a Jr. Sr. High School near you.

Cuts

There were some interesting suggestions made at last night's budget committee meeting.  

• Bigger class sizes at the Jr. Sr. High School. Combining math levels, for example. Is bigger better?

• "Looking at" classes like home ec and woodworking. For the record, they don't call it home ec anymore.

• Eliminating extra art classes like ceramics. Not sure why ceramics doesn't make the grade.

• Pay to play. It's a slippery slope.

• Cutting "optional" programs. My understanding of this is cutting electives. Interesting. Just because they're electives doesn't mean they aren't necessary.

• Bringing in consultants to deal with the "business" of special education. More on this later.

And this process is just getting started.

Facebook Reality.

When citizens get involved and ask our elected officials to act, things start to get done. 

I've seen two examples of this in Newmarket in recent weeks:

• A group of citizens got together, formed a petition and gathered signatures in the hopes of asking the Town Council to consider allowing studies for hydroelectric power at the Macallen dam. They presented their case to the Town Council a couple weeks ago. At last night's Town Council meeting, a resolution was read (though not voted on yet) to support such a study.

• A couple parents stood up at the last School Board meeting and requested that the administration and School Board take a second look at the current plans for a new school and do their due diligence to make sure that the estimated cost for a new Jr./Sr. High School is as low as possible.  Reworking the plans has been in the works since the October public forums, and the issue was highlighted publicly by these parents. Now more people are paying attention. 

I hope this trend of public involvement continues. But last night I was one of three citizens at the Town Council meeting. People can complain that they're not being heard, but if you want to speak directly to the leadership of our town you have to show up.

In the last few years, several Facebook forums have been created in Newmarket and they're great for a lot of things.  People have used them to rally support, increase awareness, and disseminate information. It is a place to vent and to express ideas. But it DOES NOT replace expressing your opinion to your elected officials through appropriate channels.

Go to meetings. Write letters. Send emails. Leave Facebook for other things.

Back to square one.

School Board members from Newmarket and ORCSD met yesterday and the initial reports from that meeting don't sound promising for a tuition agreement between the two districts.

So what's next? 

A group of people approached the School Board in November to ask that the school designs be reevaluated to ensure that we are keeping it to the absolute minimum in both scale and cost. My understanding is that a committee has been formed and will be working on this over the next couple of weeks. The hope is to bring the cost down to something a majority in Newmarket can swallow.

And we are still looking at a budget that represents a significant tax increase if approved and warrant articles still need to be finalized.

Here's a list of meetings we should all be paying attention to:

School Board--Thursday 12/5 at 7pm
Budget Committee--Wednesday 12/11 at 6:30pm
School Board--Thursday 12/19 at 7pm

We go to the polls in 96 days. 

Cry me a river.

Last night was not the first time, nor will it be the last time, that I've cried in front of the school board. I wish I could talk about our kids' education without getting emotional, but it's just not in my DNA.

Here's what I said through the tears:

I’m here tonight to ask you to endorse a budget that accurately represents the cost of educating kids in our Town. 

I understand that our SPED costs are astronomical, through the roof, unlike anything we’ve seen before—pick your description. And I appreciate the need to educate all students in our district. 

But we can’t cut out the rest of the budget because SPED costs are high and funding is low. 

I’ve watched the recent budget workshops and want to add some comments. 

Computers are necessary and the 8-10 year old computers we currently have in our classrooms are unacceptable.

Document cameras aid the learning of all students, and while outfitting the entire Elementary school might not be an option this year, cutting them out entirely and hoping for a better year next year doesn’t seem like a smart plan to me. How has that worked out for us in the past?

Cutting classroom teachers is also unacceptable. We talk about what makes Newmarket a great district—start eliminating staff and increasing class sizes in the elementary school and let’s see what happens.

And while I understand that new textbooks for the High School might not be the best purchase with the Oyster River option still on the table, Smart Boards are. A Smart Board could easily be moved to the elementary school or put to use in the middle school should a tuition agreement happen. 

We SHOULD all be outraged at the tax burden on property owners in Newmarket and throughout the State. But let’s not take it out on the kids. Call your State Reps and let them know that this is the cost of their decisions in Concord. Tell them that they need to fight harder for us. 

For now, our community needs to accept what it costs to educate ALL OF the kids in Newmarket.

The School Board rose to the challenge last night and approved a budget that represents a roughly 7% increase. We can expect cuts to be made by the Budget Committee--we all need to pay attention to this process and fight for the education that we have here in Newmarket. 

But I'm not going to sit around and cry about this. Budget meetings will be held 11/25, 12/2, and 12/11 at 7pm. I'll be there and I hope you will be too. 

109 Days

This is the time of year when I start to beg you to show up at meetings. 

It's hard to get motivated to go out when it's dark and cold and you have better things to do, but now is when decisions get made and it helps to have people in the room. 

The School Board meets tonight at 7pm.

The Budget Committee meets on 11/25 and 12/2, both at 7pm,  to discuss the proposed school budget. 

There will be a public hearing in January and then we'll have the Deliberative Session on 2/8 and Voting Day on 3/11. 

We have 109 days until Voting Day. Let's get to work. 

Just the beginning.

I'm watching a recording of last week's School Board budget workshop and I'm sick about it. Not the School Board, not the budget workshop, but the astronomical increase in SPED costs and a decrease in State aid. You can read more about that here.

So, how do we make up the difference? A few suggestions were made during the meeting. Things like increasing SPED case managers' case loads, cutting classroom teachers at the elementary school and only funding what we're contractually obligated to fund. 

None of these suggestions had any real traction with the SB, but I doubt this is the last time we will hear them. 

For now, I'll let some of the School Board members' comments speak for themselves.

"I don't see where we can find the money." 

"How do we go on?"

"I've never seen an explosion in Special Ed like this before."

"I can't get my head around how we're going to find almost half a million bucks."

"We have a responsibility to the kids."

"We need to be prepared to stand up for the teachers that we have and justify why they're there."

"This is what it costs to educate kids."

The budget is on the agenda for tomorrow night's School Board meeting at 7pm. Tune in.

Annoyed again

During the School Board meeting last week, the Finance Director explained that we have approximately $600,000 in unanticipated Special Education costs. That's $600,000 that we didn't budget for, but need to find somewhere. 

I'm annoyed, because in addition to these extra expenses, we've seen our funding sources dwindle. It was mentioned on Thursday evening that one grant was reduced because of sequestration and Catastrophic Aide has been cut repeatedly. 

In order to get accurate numbers and better understand the situation, I scheduled a meeting with the SAU's Finance Director. I hope to better understand the process, the numbers and who's responsible. 

I'll keep you posted. 

Annoyed

Both the SPED coordinator and Enrichment positions were on the chopping block a year ago and both were officially eliminated from the budget 8 months ago.

Back in August, on the first day of school, there was a plan in place for how one SPED coordinator was going to administer services to 2 buildings.

Two months into the school year, it was announced that an enrichment program for some kids was just started last week and they're still "kicking around ideas" for what a school wide program would look like and how it will be implemented.

Too bad enrichment isn't federally mandated. 

Budget Season

It's that time of year again...Budget Season.

This year has started a little differently and the School Board budget workshops are being televised-something I advocated for and am thrilled that the SB decided to do. If you remember, last year many people in the school community were surprised by the proposed cuts-all of which were included in the final budget that passed and was eventually approved by the voters. 

I think it's important to note that our district has cut a total of 15.5 positions in the last 3 budget cycles. But again, this year seems to be different. At the beginning of his initial presentation to the School Board on October 24th, Dr. Hayes made the statement that we have tightened our belts as much as possible--there is no more room to cut. 

But, if everything presented were to pass as it is right now, it would represent a 6% increase in the operating budget. The community needs to know why. 

So what is in the budget? 

• An additional first grade teacher at NES due to increased enrollment.
• 2 mobile laptop carts for NES.
• 18 document cameras for the classrooms at NES-the PTA and other donations purchased some that are currently starting to be used, but each classroom should have one. 
• The replacement of 56 desktop computers for the classrooms and media center at NES--many of the computers at NES are 8-10 years old.
• 4.5 new paraprofessionals as a result of 12 unanticipated students with IEP's moving into our district.
• 5 Smartboards for the High School.
• Approximately $25,000 to replace and update textbooks for the High School-these funds will be used to replace Math textbooks that are damaged or worn out for multiple classes/levels, purchase Adobe photoshop textbooks and to purchase supplemental titles for the Jr. and Sr. High School. 

This is just a little taste of the proposed budget. You can look through the full document here. I also encourage you to watch the last budget presentation and to tune in to Channel 13 on Thursday to see the Elementary School and SAU budgets discussed in detail. If you have questions or want to support an item, email the School Board members or plan to attend one of the November meetings on the 7th or the 21st. 

The final budget goes to the Budget Committee by November 25th. 

Weighing In

I've been asked a few times what I think of the proposed tuition agreement structure between Newmarket and Oyster River, and I've struggled with my answer. I've tried to be politically correct and not take sides just yet. 

But the truth is, I support tuitioning. 

Dr. Hayes' presentation to the Newmarket School Board last week showed that either option will be expensive. And of course, at the end of a tuition agreement, ORCSD might decide that they don't want to continue a tuition agreement with Newmarket and we'll be in the same position as we're in now. That's one of many real concerns. What happens to the teachers, how will our kids transition, and will our kids be accepted are some of the others that have been raised. 

Right now, I look at combining resources with Durham and I see more academic and extracurricular options for my kids, an increase in my property value and a relatively long-term solution that will benefit the town as a whole. 

If you've read this blog before you know: I've advocated for a safe learning environment for Newmarket's children. I've advocated for an educationally appropriate facility. I've advocated for adequate technology for all students. I support an auditorium. It's hard to ignore that Oyster River has these already.

Maybe a new Jr. Sr. High School is the ideal solution for many, but could it possibly get the 66% needed to pass? And then what if it doesn't?

Doing nothing is NOT an option. (And yes, when I say NOTHING I mean fixing the fire and life safety concerns. The argument has been made that $2 million worth of work isn't nothing. But let's face it, that is only the bare minimum to keep the doors open--it's a far cry from solving the other issues with the building.)

We need to balance what our community values, our long term goals and what our community will support. 

There will be a chance for public input in the coming weeks. As always, I urge you to attend these sessions, ask questions, and let your opinion be heard. 

Tuition?

A lot of information was presented at last night's school board meeting and my head is swimming. 

I encourage everyone to visit the school district's website and look at all of the information, but also watch the school board meeting to see the presentation. It is complicated and if you're not a numbers person (I'm not) having the explanation and the benefit of questions asked by school board and community members was invaluable.

The biggest point made last night is that it is going to cost a lot of money to tuition grades 9-12 to ORCSD. It is not simply a matter of writing a check to another school district and being done with it. There are many factors that will impact our children's education and our taxes for years to come. 

So get your questions ready---there will be public hearings in September and as those are scheduled, I'll be sure to post that info here. 

Electioneering

And just a couple other thoughts about my last post....

• Handing out cards so that people would have information handy when they went into the voting booth is legal and, if I do say so myself, a pretty good idea. We need more informed voters. I would absolutely do it again.

• Rallying around something you believe in and trying to gain support for it respectfully and in public, is every person's right. Let's elevate the conversation.

• Newmarket Solutions has been and will continue to be appropriate and respectful in all of its publications and advocacy efforts.  

• I don't think that the person(s) who complained to the AG was really trying to stop "electioneering" at the time it was happening. If they were, they would have reported it to the Moderator or to the police. Instead, they reported it to the AG, after the fact, in a blatant attempt to discredit Newmarket Solutions and me. 

I believe that it's healthy for members of a community to have differing viewpoints and important for us to be able to express them in a constructive forum. I urge everyone to attend meetings, write to the School Board, Town Council and other committees and begin an open dialogue about the many issues facing Newmarket. 

Our tax dollars hard at work.

Remember this post? I had forgotten about it myself, but then this came in the mail yesterday....

Breaking the silence.

It's been quiet here. There hasn't been a whole lot that's caught my interest the past few weeks and even when there has been something, I've been busy keeping my boys busy. 

Town Council meetings have been a little heated lately (proposed rezoning of the M2 district has been a hot topic), the Charter Commission has been plodding along and the School Board has been on break for the month of July.  

But the issue that has my attention now is the proposed tuition agreement between Newmarket and ORSD. As stated in the School District newsletter:

Superintendents Jim Hayes and Jim Morse will jointly make presentations to the Oyster River Cooperative School Board on Wednesday, August 14, and to the Newmarket School Board on Thursday, August 15. These meetings are the regularly scheduled Board meetings for both Boards.

Whether or not you support the idea of a tuition agreement, these are the facts we have all been waiting a long time for. The meeting will be August 15th at 7:00pm.

Getting old

Just read this article on Seacoastonline about the consequences of the "graying" of New Hampshire. Newmarket is no stranger to many of these concerns. 

Here's an excerpt:

"They suggest that the growing older population will reshape how the state of New Hampshire pays for health care, shifting much of the burden from private to public sources. It will put additional financial pressure on the state budget and increase expenses for state employee and retiree pensions and health care," Johnson wrote recently in a study he published on the demographic trends in the state in the 21st century. 

The report also states that local governments will face challenges in providing social and health-care services to a growing population of seniors, and they will need to consider implications for education of granting tax exemptions to seniors, when seniors exceed the school-age population. The report also voices concerns about the state's ability to retain and recruit a high-quality health-care labor force, when both the health-care work force and the population that needs its services are aging rapidly. 

Johnson and Francese agree the state needs to find ways to repopulate the state with families of young adults and their children.

Shouldn't Newmarket focus on bringing and keeping families in Town?  

Charter Commission Update

The Charter Commission had its third meeting last night.

I'll be honest, it's hard for me to talk about all of this objectively. I have strong opinions about some of the things that were brought up last night, but I recognize that it won't help the process to dissect the discussions from last night here. 

So with that in mind, here's a quick recap of last night's meeting:

We had a presentation from Don Jutton, who talked about combining resources between the school and the town and regionalization. And then we heard from Tom Mahon, the chairman of the charter commission in Merrimack, and his experiences with the process. We discussed the challenges and opportunities facing Newmarket and the changing demographics of our Town.

When we meet again on July 8th, we'll first hear public comment. And then, I'm guessing that we will need to start making some decisions and decide on a direction. 

Based on the conversation last night, I think we'll be looking at 3 different options: A Board of Selectmen style of government, a City form of government with a strong Town Manager and a dependent school district, and a reworking of what we currently have. 

It's important that we hear from the public - not just about what form of government they would prefer, but also what residents see as our biggest challenges and our greatest opportunities. 

Whatever the Charter commission ends up doing, it will eventually take the support of the residents of Newmarket to approve it.

Where do you want to see Newmarket in 20 years?

Weighing in now will help shape the process.

The Rabbit Hole

"There's a difference between due diligence and dragging our heels. And I feel like we're doing the latter, not the former." - Councilor Nazzaro after a presentation on the proposed zoning changes to the M2 district at last night's Town Council meeting. 

I agree.

I'll be the first person to say that we should be cautious with any development that will increase the burden to services in Town (a point I did bring up at another hearing on this issue earlier this year), but this zoning change seems to have the least possible impact with the greatest possible revenue.

I hope Mr. Levy's questions get answered quickly and the Council can vote on this important issue. 

Overcrowded

I haven't watched the meeting yet, and I'm not opposed to development in Newmarket, but shouldn't we have a plan for our schools before we add a potential for 20 more students to our system? 

That's what the proposed development for the golf course property presented at last night's Planning Board meeting would bring to Newmarket. 

According to an article posted on Seacoastonline this afternoon, "Chinburg (the developer) pointed to a study that said an average home of the size proposed added 0.4 students to the school system per home."

Public Comment

The Charter Commission met last night and had it's first opportunity to hear from the community. 

Four people spoke. 

One of the things I've heard from people recently is that they felt it was too soon in the process to really know anything about the Charter. They want to hear more about what the Charter Commission wants to do before they comment. And the Charter Commission would like to get some direction from the residents of Newmarket before it sets off in a direction the public doesn't support. Maybe the next couple meetings will help us meet in the middle. 

I also think it's important to note that this isn't a test on each citizen's knowledge of the Charter. People have said that they don't feel like they know enough to have an opinion, but this is your government and your town, so you already know plenty. I think we just need to break it down into some broader questions. 

Here are a few that come to mind: 

• Do you like the structure of our government (consider the Town Council, Budget Committee, SB2)? 
• Do you like the Deliberative session? 
• How do you feel about voter participation? 
• If you didn't grow up in Newmarket, what was the form of government in your hometown and what did you like/not like about that? 
• Do you feel like your opinions are represented on the Council and other boards in Town? 

At our next meeting on June 24th, the Commission will be identifying and discussing the major opportunities and issues we see facing the Town now and in the next 10-15 years. What do you think? 

There are 3 more scheduled opportunities for people to provide public input--July 8, August 12 and September 9. 

Filling in the blanks.

The School Board met last week to begin the process of developing a Middle School only budget. 

This is a necessary exercise in order for the community to have an understanding of all the costs associated with a long term tuition agreement with the Oyster River School District. There are a lot of moving parts and the Middle School budget is only one piece that will require multiple decisions based on hypothetical situations. A daunting task. 

The School Board needs to fill in a lot of blanks for Newmarket residents. This is what they are looking at:

A tuition agreement with ORSD isn't just a matter of signing on the dotted line - never mind the fact that both Oyster River and Newmarket need to VOTE to do this. The issues in our district are complex and one thing often hinges on another and the School Board is tasked with looking at the big picture. 

First, the School Board must determine the Middle School configuration and then develop a facility plan based on that configuration. This was something the School Board seemed hesitant to delve too deeply into at the meeting. School Board members expressed the need for citizen input, something that will hopefully happen at Thursday's meeting and then they may feel more empowered to start making some decisions. 

Next, they will need to get into the meat of the budget. Of course, this will all be for naught if somewhere along the way, the tuition agreement with Oyster River doesn't happen. But at some point in the near future, they will have to start talking about what programs will be offered and how they will be implemented while taking a hard look at the bottom line---just like any other budget cycle.

In the meantime, I think there are a couple important things to point out. 

First: what does this mean to the teaching staff? There's been a lot of talk about teachers losing their jobs, and here are some preliminary numbers. 

Here is a snapshot of the staffing reductions:

A total reduction of 37.1 positions. 

The reduction in staffing represents a savings of approximately $2.18 million. (A word of caution---I use the term "savings" pretty loosely here. This is one piece of the puzzle and we still need a lot of other numbers. Don't plan on your tax bill going down.)

The second question I have is how will this affect programming? This was discussed at different points during the meeting, but I would like to see a program analysis in one place. While Math, Science, English and Social Studies staffing seemed consistent for the 6,7 & 8th graders, some other programs may be altered. 

One program change that was pointed out: currently Jr. High students have access to both Spanish and French. In this proposed budget, only Spanish would be available. However, now some Spanish would also be available to 5th graders, something which isn't currently being offered at the Elementary School. The School Board and the community will need to weigh the pros and cons of these types of changes.

Here's a snapshot of some of those proposed staffing changes:

I think this is all the tip of the iceberg and there is no doubt that the School Board will need to dig much deeper into these numbers in the coming weeks. 

There are many unanswered questions about how this will affect our district and I urge everyone interested to attend tomorrow's School Board meeting and start asking!

Meanwhile, at the State House....

It's been busy in Concord lately. Here are a few recent bills:

• The tax on tobacco (HB 659) was passed by the House in March, but killed by the Senate. Reps. Michael Cahill, Patricia Lovejoy and Marcia Moody voted for the tax and Rep. Adam Schroadter voted against.

• The Senate voted NOT to reinstate a minimum wage. (HB 501) Reps. Michael Cahill, Patricia Lovejoy and Marcia Moody supported a State minimum wage. Rep. Adam Schroadter did not. 

• SB 100, a bill that would allow employers to stop issuing paper paychecks, was killed by the House. 

• The legislature did not pass gambling. SB 152 was voted down by the House 199-164.

• HB 573, a bill that would allow the use of medical marijuana, passed the House in March and was amended by the Senate. Now it goes back to the House. All Newmarket Representatives voted in favor of this bill.

Discriminating

Really? Age discrimination? 

When RoseAnn Kwaks' letter to the editor first appeared in the paper, I joked to a friend that this is an example of those members of the Budget Committee who voted against her being too careful. Instead of pointing out the many concerns that people have with her representing our community, they used language like "fresh look" and "a different constituency...the younger part of Newmarket." 

There wouldn't be the potential for lawsuits right now if they had just pointed out that she has historically been unsupportive of the teachers and schools in Newmarket. But there was no mention of those concerns during the Budget committee's discussion of the candidates.

In an article on Friday's Seacoastonline, RoseAnn said "When they were saying youth, it was code for a certain agenda. A pro-school agenda."

Well, I guess she said it herself--it's not really about her age. It is about the fact that people disagree with her stance on funding education in Newmarket. 

Our community can't move forward unless people can balance both the desire to keep taxes low and our infrastructure needs and we need to elect people to boards and committees who represent that balance. 

Still waiting

This is the email I sent to Adam on May 4th after I read about his vote on SB 40:

Hi Adam, 

I read Michael Cahill's letter to the editor in the Exeter Newsletter yesterday and was concerned about your vote on SB 40. As I'm sure you know, Newmarket needs every dollar to maintain the quality of education in our town, so I'm wondering why you voted against this bill? 

Thank you,

Toni Weinstein

Adam was one of only 34 legislators who voted against this bill, so I assume he has strong feelings about it. 

Funding for education is important and every penny matters to towns like Newmarket, which is why I wrote to Adam asking him why he voted against this bill that would restore more than $27,000 to our town. 

Still waiting for a response.

In case you missed it...

The School Board met last week and discussed the tuition agreement with Oyster River. Dr. Hayes also sent out a newsletter with an update and this is from that newsletter:

We also learned from Dr. Morse that all three communities (Newmarket, Barrington & Deerfield) seeking to tuition students to ORHS are on track to hold special district meetings in October or November to determine their commitment to a tuition agreement with ORCSD. Oyster River would then hold its own special meeting and make its own determination of who to partner with. The superintendents agreed to draft a timeline of steps necessary to achieve these special meetings.

In a nutshell--Newmarket will hold a special vote on this in the Fall. 

Some have complained that Oyster River is dragging this out. But my perspective is that while their situation isn't as dire as Newmarket's, they also have a big decision in front of them which will affect their community for years to come. 

If we do end up tuitioning our students there, at least we will know that the decision was carefully considered by all parties.

To read more about the tuition talks with Oyster River, visit the School District's website.

Turnout

There were 542 ballots cast in yesterday's election. 

542. 

Vote (for me) today.

REMEMBER,

YOU HAVE TO GET VOTED ON. 
SO....

TODAY.

POLLS WILL BE OPEN 7AM-8PM.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow's the big day--it's the special election for the Charter Commission. 

Polls will be open from 7am-8pm at Town Hall.

If you haven't been following Newmarket politics closely, this may not seem like a big deal, but it is. This election will choose 9 citizens to review our Town Charter, recommending changes to ensure our compliance with State law and making sure that it continues to meet the needs of our community. 

This is your community.

Have a voice in the process. 

Vote. 

Just for fun.

You have to get voted on. 
So if you live in Newmarket, vote for me on Tuesday. 

More self-promotion.

Self-Promotion

An article in today's Exeter Newsletter discusses the Charter Commission candidates: 

First-time candidate Toni Weinstein — who helped start Newmarket Solutions, a popular Newmarket website focused on providing information to voters about solutions to the town's antiquated junior/senior high school — like all the other candidates pledged to work cordially and in cooperation with the diverse group of candidates even when they disagree.
"It's an opinionated group," Weinstein said. "As long as we approach that with sincerity, we'll be OK."

I'm looking forward to Tuesday and hopefully to making a difference on the Charter Commission. Hope to see you at the polls!

Supporting education?

Did you see Michael Cahill's letter to the editor in Friday's Exeter Newsletter?

May 03, 2013 To the Editor: 

We are nearing the end of this legislative session with bills having crossed from one body to the other. Governor Hassan put forth a good budget restoring funding for important programs, and the House version, while making adjustments, maintains the effort to provide needed services within the constraint of state revenue. Among the items of interest, the state will be funding water and sewer projects undertaken by municipalities but left out in the last biennium. Newmarket will receive $34,801 for a wastewater project in FY2015. During this session, we passed SB40 with strong, bi-partisan votes in both bodies. The bill restored education funding to local communities for whom it was cut in 2011. This bill passed 23-0 in the Senate and 303-34 in the House with three of Newmarket's four representatives voting in favor. As a result, Newmarket will receive an additional $27,217 in FY13 for its schools. The House passed HB 617, which through a modest increase in the gas tax of 4 cents annually over three years, will address our long neglected roads and bridges. Funding to cities and towns will enable them to maintain their infrastructure without turning to the property taxpayers. I hope that senators from both parties will approve this common sense approach. 

Michael Cahill
Newmarket
State Rep. Rockingham 17 for Newfields, Newmarket

With the concerns that we have here in Newmarket, I was surprised that Adam Schroadter was one of only 34 Representatives to vote against SB 40. I sent Adam an email asking why--I'll keep you posted.

Thanks to Michael Cahill, Patricia Lovejoy and Marcia Moody for supporting education in Newmarket.

Recreation

There's been a lot of talk about Newmarket's Recreation Department over the last several months and most recently at last week's Town Council meeting. Mostly, that it should be a mainly self-funded department--with the Town subsidizing part of the operational costs associated with the Rec. Department, but then making the programs pay for themselves. 

I'm not sure exactly what this would mean for programming for the kids in our Town. 

Should the Rec. Department offer more/different types of activities? I'm not sure if enrollment is the main problem, but it is one factor that needs to be examined. Full time summer camp is a need for many parents in town, but not for all. Offering more 1-2 week specialty camps throughout the summer might be an option that works to draw in other families. 

Last year, the Rec. Department offered a one week Lego camp over the summer, but it was canceled due to low enrollment. Looking at that from a strict cost perspective, it can be argued that canceling the program was the right thing to do. But I also wonder if some programs need a year or two to build a little momentum. I hope the new Drama camp scheduled for this year is given a chance to grow.

There has also been some concern that the school and Rec departments are overlapping, competing with each other. As someone who has been an advocate for after school programming at the Elementary school, I can speak from experience that it has been challenging to start new programs and find people interested in facilitating those programs even when the PTA has made the funds available. So, this sounds to me like the perfect opportunity for the Rec. Department and the School to team up and combine resources. Maybe the Rec. Department could offer a program at the school with a combination of free and paid programs and teaming with the PTA to offer scholarships to those unable to pay. 

I would also hope that the School and Rec. Departments can piggy back on each others' programs. For instance, the School started a drama program last year. The Rec. Department should be at Drama club pickup passing out flyers and should have a table at the this year's School performance promoting their own program. The Rec is also offering a new Lego workshop in May--advertising through the Lego club at the Elementary school seems like a good way to spread the word to kids who are already interested in Legos.

Programs that I know parents would like to see in the future--Destination Imagination, Coyote Club, Lego Robotics. Maybe by teaming up, the School and the Rec. Department can expand their programs and their audience. 

The other question that needs to be considered is what do we expect from our Rec Department? The Halloween Haunt and the Easter Egg Hunt are 2 activities that come immediately to mind. It takes a lot of work (and resources) to make these events run so smoothly--and they're so much more than just an activity for kids. It's about building community--seeing friends and neighbors, engaging local businesses and yes, providing a fun, safe activity for Newmarket's kids. 

I think we need to factor that into the bottom line.