The twists and turns in Manchester’s ambulance contract continue. Girard at Large has received written confirmation from Boo Heffner, President and CEO of Falck USA ,the parent company of ambulance contract bidder American Ambulance, that his letter of April 30 to David Lang, President of the New Hampshire Professional Fire Fighters Association, was sent in response to Local 8 56’s email asserting that Falck was interested in privatizing fire departments and Lang’s failure to return what Heffner said were multiple voice and emails. Calling the union’s claims that his company is an agent of fire department privatization a quote below the belt assertion,” end quote, Heffner said he’s not going to sit back and let his company’s good name and reputation be tarnished by falsehoods. Meanwhile, Girard at Large has also learned from multiple unsolicited sources outside the department that Fire Chief James Burkush met with officials from current ambulance provider AMR prior to meeting with the ambulance review committee to negotiate with them on their patient care pricing. It was at this meeting, sources say, that AMR agreed to lower its pricing to match that offered by American Ambulance, a key factor on Burkush’s recommendation that they retain the contract. While such negotiation is allowed, competitors are seething that they weren’t also contacted to see what adjustments could be made to their contract to improve their competitiveness in the process.
The fun continues at the Hooksett School Board. Seems that the premature adjourning of their meeting on June 18th led to the cancellation of a meeting scheduled for June 27th to inform the public about where the town was with the Breach of Contract issues with Manchester. Vice Chairman David Pearl had made “board authorized” arrangements to schedule the meeting. However, since the format of the meeting, which was on the agenda for the 18th wasn’t determined and nobody knew how it was going to happen, Pearl cancelled the meeting. Pearl said he wasn’t given authorization to complete the process and therefore couldn’t hold the meeting, noting that an individual cannot schedule or cancel meetings. Board Chair Trisha Korkosz, whose rash action adjourning the meeting precipitated this event, accused Pearl of cancelling the meeting out of spite in reaction to that board meeting. Why she as chair simply doesn’t call a meeting, which is well within her prerogative, is beyond me.
The news continues after this.
Are the feds trying to force changes in pending legislation to push the New Hampshire legislature into a de-facto approval of Common Core? That’s what NH Families for Education is alleging. According to a post on their web site, the feds not only want the state to adopt Senate Bill forty eight, the one that designates so called priority and focus schools and gives the state Board of Education broad authority to intervene in those struggling schools, they want to broaden it even further to include any and all schools that receive federal funds through Title One. According to the group, state senate Education Committee Chairman Nancy Stiles has also said that the federal Department of Education has said that unless the state passes Senate Bill forty eight and House Bill one forty two, which establishes statewide teacher evaluation s, that pending waivers from the state to the No Child Left Behind Act won’t be granted. The group is advocating defeat of these bills which were always said to be part of the state board of education’s attempt to implement Common Core in the state.
For those who thought the Twinkie and its yummy friends from Hostess were off the shelves forever, think again. New ownership of the iconic snack foods announced the tasty treats will be back on store shelves by July 15th. Memo to the parents of Manchester school children: Send one of these in to celebrate your kids’ birthday parties instead of cupcakes. That just might actually cause Art Beaudry’s head to explode on the school board..
Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas has announced the city will observe a Moment of Silence around nine thirty this morning as the hertz carrying the body of former Mayor John Mongan drives by City Hall en route to his funeral Mass and final resting place. The eighty eight year old Mongan passed away late last week. Former and current city officials will gather outside City Hall for the occasion and the public is welcome to attend.
That’s news from our own backyard, Girard at Large hour ___ is just 30 seconds away!
