Bill Sanders
Will he or won’t he? That’s the question many in Manchester are asking as officials wait to hear whether or not city Finance Officer Bill Sanders will agree to appear at a special meeting of the school board proposed by Mayor Ted Gatsas. At the board’s meeting on August tenth, Gatsas said he would call a special meeting with Sanders to review the costs of the proposed contract with the Manchester Education Association, which he vetoed. Gatsas suggested the meeting after saying there’d been a lot of misinformation about the numbers given during the board’s meeting and the public input session. Sanders was on vacation when Gatsas suggested the meeting.
In our weekly interview with him on Wednesday, Gatsas said that he had asked Sanders if he would meet with the school board and was told he would have to give it some thought. Sanders, as city Finance Officer, is not subject to the Board of School Committee and, having already given his analysis, simply may not want to get drawn into a political fight.
School emergency preparedness drill in Goffstown, New Boston
On Wednesday, over fifty members of the Goffstown and New Boston school districts and police and fire departments participated in a Table Top Emergency Response Drill conducted by the State of New Hampshire Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency. This drill provided school administrators, teachers, and support staff from each of the schools in Goffstown and New Boston the opportunity to continue to collaborate with the police and fire departments around emergency preparedness. The training reinforced monthly meetings held between Goffstown and New Boston schools with emergency personnel over the last two school years focused on emergency preparedness.
Fiorina: Will be at Goffstown GOP BBQ
The Goffstown Republican Committee will be holding their annual BBQ this Sunday the twenty third at Lemay’s in Goffstown. Carly Fiorina will be speaking and there will be other activities including a historical commemoration of the Pine Tree Riots, which is considered the inspiration for the Boston Tea Party. And appropriately, they say, attendees will get a chance to dunk several Goffstown representatives. Tickets and information are available at goffstown g o p dot org.
News from our own backyard continues after this.
John Lyscars
The Hooksett School Board established a committee to study adopting a full day Kindergarten at its meeting on Tuesday. Board members John Lyscars and Kara Salvas will be on the committee, which will also contain two parents, one Kindergarten teacher, one special ed teacher, one elementary teacher, two administrators and one guidance counselor. The committee is charged with developing an interim report by December fifteenth with a final report due at the April nineteenth meeting of the school board.
Timberlane Owl: Coming after Sandown taxpayers?
The fun and frolic continues in the Timberlane Regional School District. Sandown Board of Selectmen turned down a meeting request made by the Timberlane appointed Sandown Withdrawal Feasibility Study Committee. Seems they’re not altogether hip on meeting with a group that has routinely frustrated their own withdrawal committee’s requests for information.
Collins: Making threats, again?
That refusal didn’t go over too well with Rob Collins, the Timberlane committee’s chairman. According to our sources, Collins has taken to social media to basically post threats to the effect of forcing Sandown out of the Timberlane Regional School District and paying millions of dollars in exit fees along the way. That was addressed at this week’s meeting of Sandown’s selectmen, which maintained it decision not to meet with the so called majority committee after at least one citizen expressed concern over the town being forced out with a not so pleasant parting gift.
Green: They should get nothing and like it!
Former Timberlane Budget Committee member Arthur Green was on hand. He has researched the matter thoroughly and gave assurances based on how the State Board of Education has handled these questions in the past, saying they’re not likely to disrupt their normal and well established processes and procedures for one rogue school board.
At the last meeting of the majority committee, Collins called the six point four million dollar buyout number the committee concocted a windfall for the other towns in the district. The not so subtle inference was that the other towns would happily let Sandown go to get the money. Green conducted his own analysis which argues Sandown would owe Timberlane nothing if it left.
Gonna be interesting to see how this one turns out. Always interesting and fun.
That’s news from our own backyard, Girard at Large hour ___ is next!
