Just when you thought you knew what was going to happen in Hooksett with high school kids, its school board says JUST KIDDING! That was the sense of things last night as the Hooksett School Board voted to reconsider lining up a contract with Pinkerton Academy in Derry for the 0h fifteen oh sixteen school year and reopen discussions for the coming school year. The unspoken memo to parents was “keep waiting” until we’re done to decide where your kids are going to high school. Pinkerton sent word that it no longer opposed language in Hooksett’s yet to be adopted memorandums of understanding with Bow and Londonderry which they complained allowed those towns to cherry pick students. That was enough for board members Cheryl Akstin, Phil Denbow and Board Chair Trisha Korkosz to change their votes. Board Vice Chair David Pearl and Clerk John Lyscars opposed the move, more or less saying here we go again. Pearl warned Hooksett to buckle up as it was about to be taken on yet another emotional ride to nowhere and Lyscars said the board’s action would strip any sense of security the 8th grade class gained by last week’s decisions as it once again throws everything up in the air and makes parents wait before choices could be made. In related matters, the board indicated there were issues with Pembroke Academy‘s Memorandum of Understanding, but voted three to two against informing parents how they could use the existing policies and procedures if they wanted their kids to go to Pembroke. They also, in a separate motion, voted against adopting the Memorandums of Understanding with Londonderry and Bow they made changes to. Pearl summarized that vote by saying quote: “So I want to be clear, we’re offering agreements to schools that we haven’t adopted.” There was lots of other fun in this meeting, too. Was there an illegal meeting, could they make the motions they wanted to, parent outbursts which got gaveled by the chair and parent outbursts that didn’t get gaveled by the chair. Oh My HEAD! We’ve linked to our Live Forum Blog of the meeting so you can see how it unfolded in real time and you can bet we’ll have something to say about it this morning.
Oh, and one more thing about Hooksett. Resident Jason Hyde, whose effing esophagus Chucky the Super threatened to rip out has filed a formal complaint with the School Board against Superintendent Littlefield. It’ll go nowhere, of course, but it’s an interesting read which we’ve uploaded with this newscast at Girard at Large dot com.
News from our own backyard continues after this.
The food pantry at the Blessed Sacrament Church needs your help to restock their supplies as someone broke in and stole eleven turkeys, one hundred cans of tuna, two hundred jars of peanut butter, cleaned out two freezers full of meat and took some candy and cookies so they could have a little treat on a job well done. The thieves pushed an air conditioner through a window to get access. A pantry worker noticed it pushed in at 9 yesterday morning and put it back only to have the presumed culprits try to do it again around ten. They were scared off when discovered and described as a white male and white female, both between the ages of fifty and sixty. The man was wearing jeans and a black leather jacket, the woman was wearing a long pink coat.
Two teens have been arrested by Manchester police for a string of auto thefts and burnings in the Queen City. Seventeen year old James Carignan was picked up after being spotted by an officer and charged with fourteen counts of theft and five counts of arson. Seventeen year old Robert Conroy was charged with ten counts of theft and five counts of arson. The auto thefts and torchings the two are accused of began back in August.
Speaking of Manchester police, they’re hosting yet another free Women’s Safety Seminar. The December one filled up pretty quick and to satisfy the demand, the cops created another one. It’s on January 7th and we’ve uploaded the details with this news read at Girard at Large dot com.
That’s news from our own backyard, Girard at Large hour ___ is straight ahead.
