The deadline is tomorrow and our district needs the community's help and insight in making our budget process transparent and well understood.
If anyone is willing, please consider donating your time and talent to this committee.
The ORCSD Board of Education is seeking volunteers to fill up to seven positions on the board’s Advisory Budget Committee. Listed below is the charge of the committee. The volunteers are asked to attend as many of the board’s budget session as they can. The dates, 11/5/10, 11/10/10 and 12/8/10 are budget meeting attentively set. Other dates will be set in the near future. Please send an email or letter of interest and background information to the school board: orcsdsb@orcsd.org or 36 Coe Drive, Durham, NH 03824.
The volunteers will be selected at the Oct. 20th meeting. The members will have staggered terms up to three years in length.
Budget Advisory Committee Composition and Charge:
Purpose: The purpose of this committee is to become educated about the ORCSD budget and provide a budget recommendation to the School Board that meets the needs of the students and is fiscally responsible to taxpayers.
Charge:
1. May conduct an in-depth analysis on spending and best practices in specific areas such as technology, transportation, facilities maintenance/management, insurance etc. and make recommendations on cost savings.
2. May serve as a resource to the School Board on budget issues.
3. May recommend methods to improve financial reporting.
4. May recommend process to communicate the budget to the community.
Committee Composition:
• Minimum of five members and a maximum of seven members
Community members will be selected by the School Board, at least one each from Madbury, Lee and Durham respectively. Lists of possible interested candidates can be supplied by the selectmen or town councils of the three towns.
• Members should attend most budget deliberation meetings of the District and the School Board Meetings.
• Committee may meet as an entity on select occasions with the Superintendent and/or his designate to discuss expenditures in a specific section of the budget.
• A chair will be elected by the committee at the first meeting.
• All meetings are open to the public and will comply with current Right to Know Laws.
FYI--There are currently only three volunteers for the five positions: David Proulx, Jenna Roberts and David Taylor.
ReplyDeleteSee pages 31-36 of the 10/20 School Board meeting agenda for their letters of application (http://www.orcsd.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=86&Itemid=188)
UPDATE: Wendy DiFruscio at the SAU office has kindly supplied me with the names of the candidates who have applied over the weekend.
ReplyDeleteThey are: Megan Turnbull, John Collins, Richard Kelley, Robert McEwan, Merrick, William Bryon, and Roger Rice.
FURTHER UPDATE: As of this morning, there were 5 more: Jay Hilyard, Paul Druskat, Ramon Serrano, Ann Knight, and Seth Fiermonti.
ReplyDeleteCORRECTION: Just noticed a typo in yesterday's post, where I did not supply Mr. Merrick's first name. It is Tom Merrick.
ReplyDeleteThank you to all 15 people that have volunteered. The committment to the education of our children in this commmunity is amazing and greatly appreciated.
ReplyDeleteIt seems a bit ironic that David Taylor has submitted his name to be on the Budget Advisory Committee.
ReplyDeleteIf I remember correctly I believe it was he, who fought so agressively to kill these proposals in the past, both at board meetings and even more astonishingly how creative he got at a deliberative session, employing the lawyer to devise a tactic to effectively kill the proposal.
It also seems he, out of all the people involved in the budget process over the past ten years, is one of the primary reasons we came to the conclusion we need this committee in the first place.
Hard to imagine he would be a constructive member of the committee if he ended up being appointed. I hope the board tries to find people who want this committee to be a success and valuable tool to their work, which I would think would rule out Taylor.
It's not ironic, it's SHAMELESS!!!
ReplyDeleteTaylor helped create this mess when he was on the SB, now he wants to help fix it? DON'T BELIEVE IT!!!
MORE LIKELY he only wants to sabotage the work of the Committee!!!
What was shameless was watching board members Ann Wright and JoAnn Portalupi defend David Taylor. Ann, I would like to take my vote back.
ReplyDeleteThis blog is the online version of of Fox News aka faux news. Fair and balanced? I think not!!
ReplyDeleteIt's a BLOG, you dope...people are supposed to express their OPINIONS!!!!
ReplyDeleteThe defense of Taylor last night was anything but fair and balanced. Short term memory loss seemed to be an issue for some at that table.
ReplyDeleteJocelyn did a great job of trying to state accurate historical perspective.
As a non Fox news watcher, but a must see tv board watcher, must say that this current board is anything but fair. David Taylor's time should have come and gone, the voters spoke loud and clear last March. Sad to see the board did not listen.
Let's give Joann credit for her consistent, principled stand...against openess, transparency and citizen involvement. I'm not surprised to see that she led the charge to render the Committee useless. She deserves to be impeached!
ReplyDeleteThis commitee will not be useless. Please remember there are many qualified, capable volunteers that will do thier best. David Taylor is but one man, not sure why you all think he has so much power or why you seem so intent on making it seem as if this one man has the ability to have such power. But of course, not sure why he keeps turning up like a bad penny either. We must keep an open mind, we must prevail over the tyranny of the attempts to undermine efforts at figuring out why the heck they keep having surpluses when people are losing jobs.
ReplyDeleteDavid Taylor was nominated by the board member who voted against the Advisory Budget Committee in the first place. Perhaps instead of DCAT these meetings should be on Comedy Central.
ReplyDeleteHere are the newly appointed members of the ORCSD Advisory Budget Committee:
ReplyDelete(Approved at October 20, 2010 SB Meeting)
Robert McEwan
Madbury, NH
Tom Merrick
Durham, NH
David Taylor
Durham, NH
Ann Knight
Durham, NH
Jay Hilyard
Lee, NH
David Proulx
Durham, NH
Jenna Roberts
Durham, NH
Bill Bryon
Lee, NH
P.S.--Apologies for the lateness of this update; I have been out of town most of this week.
Can someone please explain why a former board member who fought against this budget committee, was thrown out of office by the voters is then nominated by a board member who voted against this committee and the board agrees with this idea?
ReplyDeleteNow watch, David Taylor will become the chair of the committee and we will keep not knowing why money is being spent the way it is, keep firing teachers and having surpluses, and keep not having programs or resources for our teachers and kids.
I just watched this meeting today and almost lost my lunch when Ann said what an expert David is on facilities. Does she not realize his efforts to get a track never got beyond a drawing? And he knows about buses, really?
Ann, if you are going to make claims like this make sure you know what the heck you are talking about, or better yet remember why you ran, and that you ran AGAINST him for a reason, or so we thought. I also want my vote for you back.
Nice job board.
Given the obvious lack of community support, David Taylor would be a poor choice. There does appear to be a lot of good candidates. What is the hiring process?
ReplyDeleteSo this is a done deal? I guess that we are doomed to repeat our history. Taylor is an impediment. The public didn't want him, so they put him on the budget committee? And Ann's support of David is a big disappointment. Really Ann? Really??
ReplyDeleteIf Taylor becomes the chair of this committee, it will be time to put up the FOR SALE signs.
I may be wrong, but I thought Ann was referring to David Proulx when saying that he knew about facilities, not David Taylor. But I would have to watch again to be sure.
ReplyDeleteIt concerns me when there is such opposition to having people with opposing viewpoints on these committees. We are all part of this district and all our voices deserve to be heard.
Joann was the only member who said that the group should be diverse. Personally, I agree with her. I am new to following district news, so can't comment much on David Taylor's history. But I agree with the poster who stated that he is just one man. He has a right to his opinion. He is one of eight on the committee and will not be able to sabotage the efforts.
Personally, I found it frustrating that the board was saying that they WANTED a fresh perspective (as a reason to eliminate previous school board members), but then chose mostly people with similar experiences and backgrounds. There was a lot of support of having several people with budget committee and finance experience on the committee, for example. It seems to me that both types of experiences would be important- school board and finance. And I didn't see a concerted effort to get people who'd have a "fresh perspective". I did however see a concerted effort to get people on the committee who share the opinion of the current majority of the board. Honestly, I don't know what is right when it comes to the budget. I am looking forward to having people give an honest look at things and to see if there truly is wasteful spending. But to try to pack the committee with people who are already convinced that there IS wasteful spending going on, but then to be so critical of having someone who may not agree, seems hypocritical and irresponsible.
We should not be so afraid of people who do not agree with us. We all live here and we all have a right to be heard. Honestly, I am more fearful of the people who seem to want to silence the opposition.
Ann was talking David Taylor, not Prolux.
ReplyDeletePrevious poster you should be afraid.
DT has always wanted to silence the opposition.
I do agree with you on one thing. They did not do a good job of a variety of backgrounds despite efforts by some.
JoAnn is afraid of people who don't agree and does her best to keep people like DT around ignoring others who bring a variety of opinions.
We do all have a right to be heard, but with DT and JP back together again that right will begin to fade quickly.
I just hope we don't end up with people that want to cut without asking why. It seems like whatever Colter says goes, and no one questions. I don't want cuts, I want more stuff and I am hoping this group can figure out why we can not get more stuff.
David Taylor is a bully who manages to manipulate & suppress the voices of others. He has silenced many board members through the years. I hope that the rest of the committee is strong enough to stand up to him so that he will only have one voice.
ReplyDeleteLike the previous poster, I want more programs for the students of Oyster River. The question here is why our cost per pupil rate is so much higher than other schools, yet we have no all day kindergarten, few AP classes, and no Honors classes. We have a great school district here, but even great can improve. Questions need to be answered.
David Taylor should hire a lawyer and sue this ridiculous site and their cowardly anonymous posters for libel. I guess my anonymity makes me a coward too...but there is so much wrath and anger here
ReplyDeleteI am excited about the opportunity to work on this committee. I assume that everyone who volunteered to serve on this committee will be committed to working as a team and doing their best to provide solid, well-researched and helpful information to the Board and the new Business Administrator regarding the budget and budget process. These will be open meetings so members of the public should feel free to come watch and see how the committee process works.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great move forward for our District and I hope you will give feedback and insight to this committee. What items/areas would you like the committee to review? What concerns do you have about the budget? Please use this blog as a space to give input! Many members of the committee already post here regularly so use it to express your opinions.
Best,
Jenna Roberts
BAC Info:
First meeting of BAC: October 26th, 6:30, OR high school
Budget Advisory Committee
Purpose: The purpose of this committee is to become educated about the ORCSD budget and provide a budget recommendation to the School Board that meets the needs of the students and is fiscally responsible to taxpayers.
Charge:
1. May conduct an in-depth analysis on spending and best practices in specific areas such as technology, transportation, facilities maintenance/management, insurance etc. and make recommendations on cost savings.
2. May serve as a resource to the School Board on budget issues.
3. May recommend methods to improve financial reporting.
4. May recommend process to communicate the budget to the community.
Committee Composition:
• Minimum of five members and a maximum of eight members
Community members will be selected by the School Board, at least one each from Madbury, Lee and Durham respectively. Lists of possible interested candidates can be supplied by the selectmen or town councils of the three towns.
• Members should attend most budget deliberation meetings of the District and the School Board Meetings.
• Committee may meet as an entity on select occasions with the Superintendent and/or his designate to discuss expenditures in a specific section of the budget.
• A chair will be elected by the committee at the first meeting.
• All meetings are open to the public and will comply with current Right to Know Laws.
Since these meetings are subject to right to know as stated in the charge, will we be able to see minutes? Or, will there be a detailed update at board meetings? Or, is the public allowed to attend and observe?
ReplyDeleteInquiring minds want to know!
Excellent questions. I would also like to know how the public will be informed. Can they attend these meetings? Trust me, I have no interest of any such sort in attending such an occasion, but would like to know if the option would be available for those that may take it as an area of interest.
ReplyDeleteWill someone please inform the public as to who the chair will become? I shall hope we will be permitted the opportunity of a fair and balanced sort, thus eliminating David Taylor based on my viewing of his past excapades.
The charge to the Committee says "All meetings are open to the public and will comply with current Right to Know Laws."
ReplyDeleteMoreover, they can't close them even if they want to: see http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/vi/91-a/91-a-mrg.htm
I do not believe that DCAT will be braodcasting the meetings at this time.
Having said that, I do hope that the Commitee will make regular reports to the School Board and the public at large. Perhaps they could post to this blog?
As to who ends up as Chair, I should think that they would elect one at tonight's meeting (their first).
So who became chair? Any update? Did this meeting happen?
ReplyDeleteChair: Tom Merrick
ReplyDeleteVice Chair: Jenna Roberts
Secretary: Anne Knight
It was a good first meeting. We even had members of the public who stayed for the entire meeting.
ReplyDeleteChair--Tom Merrick
V Chair--Jenna Roberts
Sec--Anne Knight
Our next meeting is 11/8 at 7:00 in the high school library. All our meetings are open to the public.
We plan on posting all our meeting notices and minutes on the orcsd website, too, so be sure to check it out.
Thanks for your interest!!!
Jenna
Congratulations on getting up and running! Do you know if any of you will be at Mr. Colter's presentation about the budget on Tuesday, Nov 9th at 6:45-8pm in the West Wing at Moharimet School?
ReplyDeleteI'll be there along with the MOH PTO.
ReplyDelete