Bartlett: On to Dracut
Hooksett will soon be searching for a new police chief. Chief Peter Bartlett has announced he’s on to bigger and better things, securing the police chief’s position in Dracut, MA. Bartlett retied as a lieutenant in the Manchester Police Department in two thousand eleven after twenty four years on the job. He came out of retirement to apply for the Hooksett chief’s position in two thousand thirteen, more than a year after embattled Police Chief Stephen Agrafiotis resigned in January, two thousand twelve.
By virtually all accounts, Bartlett is credited with significantly improving the performance and morale of the Hooksett P D. During an interview here on Girard at Large, he said an indication that the men were focused and happy to be on the job was a sharp increase in the numbers of motor vehicle tickets given. He said it was proof that cops were eager to do their jobs, which before his arrival, wasn’t the case given its deplorable morale. Bartlett will retire from Hooksett at the end of this month and be on the job in Dracut starting on May first.
McGee: Awaiting state response
Bedford is a step closer to recovering more than four million dollars it says it’s owed by the state for education funding. Bedford filed suit along with Dover claiming that a law capping state education aid wasn’t constitutional. You might recall that former Attorney General Joseph Foster, who voted for the aid cap as a state senator, refused to defend the law’s constitutionality when challenged in court. Now, the Cheshire County Superior Court has ruled that the state must not only pay the four plus million dollars sought by the town for the two thousand sixteen fiscal year, but also pay its legal fees.
Foster: Threw funding case on law he voted for as senator
Superintendent Chip McGee isn’t spending the money quite yet, though. A response from the state to the ruling has yet to be made. Bedford, one of the wealthiest communities in the state in terms of residents’ incomes and taxable value, sued to overturn the cap which limited its state funding to about four point four million dollars when, without the cap, it would have received about eight point four million. Folks, we need to talk about education funding.
Casino Lou: Trying again.
Casino Free N H has issued a statement calling on opponents of expanded gambling to hit the State House this Tuesday when Senate Bill 2 4 2, the latest attempt by District Twenty State Senator Casino Lou D’Allesandro, Democrat from Manchester, goes before the House Ways & Means Committee. A floor vote has been scheduled on the bill before the full House on May third.
News from our own backyard continues after this.
Metzler: Interestingly absent
Are more mischievous things afoot in the Timberlane Regional School District? Inquiring minds are asking questions as two meetings in the past week have been canceled for lack of a quorum. First, an emergency meeting of the board on Monday could not be conducted due to the failure of a majority of members to show up. Then, last night, the Budget Committee’s meeting, its first following the election in March, not only failed to have a quorum, it was lacking the presence of Superintendent Emperor Earl Metzler. As it was to be the committee’s organizational meeting, no chair or other positions were chosen.
Banfield: They can’t do that!
Speaking of mischievous things, one has to wonder just what’s happening at the State Board of Education. As we heard yesterday from Ann Marie Banfield in our Is Our Children Learning Segment, the board voted to prevent Commissioner Frank Edelblut from reviewing the Next Generation Junk Science Standards in conjunction with a scheduled review of the Common Core National Standards in English and Math. Banfield, among others, believes the board acted in violation of state law which empowers the Commissioner of Education to conduct standard reviews, more or less, as it sees fit.
Raffio: Overstayed his welcome
Banfield noted that while Governor Christopher Sununu has appointed two members to the Board of Education, the majority of the board’s members are political appointees made by former Governor Margaret Wood Hassan, including Board Chairman Tom Raffio, who’s been in holdover status since January thirty first, two thousand sixteen. That means he’s ripe and overdue for replacement, which is something we hope Governor Sununu remedies soon.
That’s NEWS from our own backyard! Girard at Large hour ___ is next!
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