The fun continues at the Hooksett School Board as the majority seems to have enlisted the board’s legal council in an attempt to prevent Board Vice-Chair David Pearl and Clerk John Lyscars from using its rules to call a meeting. Seems Superintendent Charles P. Littlefield authorized Gordon Graham, the board’s attorney, to answer Board Chair Trisha Korkosz‘s question on whether or not Chucky had to post the special meeting called by Lyscars and Pearl. In his email reply, Graham said if a quorum won’t be present, there would be no legal requirement to post the meeting and stated it could be misleading to the public to post a meeting that won’t be held. He said there was a defect in the board’s policy because it allows for the minority to call for a meeting when the majority can’t attend and suggested they change that. Sounds to me like he just admitted that the minority can call a meeting and that it should be posted under the rules, but I digress. He even went so far as to say that if the board meets between now and the special meeting called on the eighteenth, it could pass a motion forbidding the superintendent from posting the special meeting called by Lyscars and Pearl even though he said they didn’t have to because the majority said it won’t attend depriving the meeting of a quorum. Seriously. Undaunted, Lyscars and Pearl will host an informal informational session on the eighteenth as planned. First item on the agenda: Listen to Hooksett residents.
The Manchester School Board meets tonight, only it won’t be in the Aldermanic Chambers at City Hall. Tonight, they meet at Dyn Corporation, which is headquartered in the Amoskeag Millyard. Meeting there is part of Superintendent Debra Livingston‘s initiative to facilitate partnerships between the schools and city businesses. On the agenda is a report regarding the development of The Manchester Academic Standards, or T-MAS. Livingston is expected to divulge the people and processes involved in developing the new standards. In an interview here on Friday, Livingston said the process will be transparent and allow ample opportunity for public review and input. She also said she would consider reaching out to area colleges to seek their input on what the standards should look like to actually meet college readiness requirements, something she hadn’t considered until we mentioned it. We’ve linked to the interview in case you missed it. Livingston will also discuss the district’s plan to improve student performance at the city’s seven so called priority schools. Critics of the designation, which was created by the passage of Senate Bill Forty Eight and given to the Beech Street, Gossler Park, McDonough, Parker Varney, Wilson, Parkside and Southside schools in order for the state to get a waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind Act, cedes control of those schools to state authorities. Livingston said not so in our interview, but it’s clear the district can’t avoid developing improvement plans along the lines required by the state lest the state intervene and dictate terms. We’ll see what the plan looks like tonight, being mindful of the expressed desires of at least on member of the state Board of Ed who indicated he wanted to seize control of the entire Manchester School District.
News from our own backyard continues after this.
Governor Margaret Wood Hassan seems to be meddling in legislative efforts to deal with the imposition of ObamaCare. The past couple of weeks saw the Democrats go from voting unanimously on the House Commerce Committee to kill a bill that repealed the state’s legislated prohibition on forming its own insurance exchange to implement ObamaCare to introducing a bill that would eliminate the prohibition on forming its own insurance exchange to implement ObamaCare in the coming special session of the legislature called to deal with the findings of the bi-partisan commission to expand Medicaid, another tenet of ObamaCare. The about face has heads spinning and fingers pointing at the governor as she was the only person between then and now to publicly speak in favor of both the Medicaid expansion and the state created insurance exchanges. I guess she’s not been paying attention to what’s happening around the country or in her own backyard. Is she prepared to answer just how many more Granite Staters will lose their current coverage if she moves forward with her plans?
The Merrimack Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring the town’s annual Holiday Parade and Tree Lighting Ceremony this December First and they’re seeking your participation. Businesses and community groups are invited to create a float or decorate a vehicle to participate in the parade at no cost. We’ve linked to the registration form from this newscast at Girard at Large dot com. Interested parties must submit their paperwork by November twenty sixth.
Finally this morning, the Manchester Police Department is holding a Women’s Safety Clinic on the evening of November nineteenth between 6 and 9. To preregister, which is required, please call Officer Rondeau at 7 9 2 5 4 3 2 that’s 7 9 2 5 4 3 2.
That’s news from our own backyard, Girard at Large hour ___ continues right after this.
