Durham Selected to Receive Safe Routes to School Program Funds

Durham is one of ten New Hampshire communities to receive funds from the state Safe Routes to School Program. From today's issue of the Durham Friday Updates:

SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL PROJECT

Ten New Hampshire communities will receive almost $1 million to encourage children to walk and ride their bicycles to and from school.

The money comes from the N.H. Safe Routes to School Program and will be used for sidewalk construction, traffic calming measures, and education programs.

The state Department of Transportation says the largest grants will go to Pittsfield,Troy, and Littleton. Other communities receiving awards include: Lebanon, Bristol, Hillsborough, Durham, Manchester, Northumberland, and Nashua.

Durham will receive approximately $30,000 to create bicycle lanes, slow traffic near the middle and high school, add speed tables, and encourage a safer environment for children around the schools.

Tentative speed table and/or raised crosswalk locations are being considered for Coe Drive in the vicinity of the High School, Coe Drive between the SAU and the Middle School, Canney Road between Strout Lane and Nobel K. Peterson Drive, Dennison Road between Woodman and Coe Drive, and Madbury Road at Meadow Road.

August 17 - School Board Regular Meeting

The next regular session of the ORCSD Board (notice [PDF]) will take place on Wednesday, August 17th at 7:00pm in room C-124 of the high school. The posted agenda [PDF] for the meeting is reproduced below.

[UPDATE] Revised agenda [PDF] posted with changes reflected in red.

1. CALL TO ORDER @ 7:00 PM
2. CLOSED SESSION @ 6:30 PM*
   RSA 91-A:3 II(b)
3. PRELIMINARY ACTION ITEMS
   1. Superintendent Nominations
      1. ORHS Physical Education Teacher
      2. Director of Curriculum
      3. Coaches/Advisors — ORMS & ORHS
   2. Announcements
      1. District
      2. Board
   3. Correspondence
   4. Commendations
   5. Approval of minutes: 7/6/11, 7/20/11, 8/5/11
   6. Approval of manifests
4. REPORTS
   1. Superintendent's Report
      • Bidding Document
      • Foreign Language Update
   2. Business Administrator's Report
   3. Curriculum/Instruction
   4. Student Senate
5. SCHOOL BOARD COMMITTEES
   1. Committee Assignment Draft
6. PUBLIC COMMENTS
   BOARD COMMENTS
7. DISCUSSION ITEMS
   1. Solar Service Contract Proposal
8. ACTION ITEMS
   1. Policies 1^st Read
      • See Attached List
   2. Approve ABC Charge/Composition
   3. Approve 2011-2012 Board Goals
   4. Approve FY2013 School Budget Goal
   5. Authorize Superintendent to Explore Tuition Option Gr. 6-12 with Rollingsford School District
   6. Authorize ORHS Overnight Field Trip — August 22-23, 2011
9. PUBLIC COMMENTS
10. CLOSING ACTIONS
    1. Agenda Planning - Setting/Review of Future Agenda Item List
       • Long Range Planning (date)/Sustainability Committee Reports-October 5^th SB meeting
    2. Future meeting dates:
       • 9/7/11, 9/21/11 — Regular Meetings
11. ADJOURNMENT

Moharimet Pumpkin Patch Update

Clearing of the summer weeds in the Moharimet Pumpkin Patch is nearly done. Principal Harrington welcomes and encourages families to stop by anytime to pull a few weeds to protect the hard work done to date.

I can't thank the Moharimet Community enough for their help in getting our pumpkin patch weeded this summer. It is nearly done and the pumpkins are doing beautifully! From now 'til school starts if anyone has time to stop by for any length of time, feel free to pull a few weeds to protect the hard work that has already been done.

This year we added some vegetables to the garden, and our new Food Services Director, Andrea Tran, has begun preparing some of them for use in the cafeteria this fall. We look forward to this addition to our lunch menu and to the harvest of our pumpkins for the Annual Pumpkin Stroll.

Thank you again for your help in the garden. Enjoy the rest of the summer. We will be posting class lists the week of August 22 and look forward to seeing you soon.

Sincerely,
Dennis Harrington
Principal

P.S. We still have a lot of dishes in the Teachers' Room left over from the year end luncheon. We will be donating to charity anything that is not picked up by August 24th. Thank you!

Principal Harrington in the Moharimet Pumpkin Patch

Plying Faith, Courage at ORCSD - Response to Ruth Sample and David Taylor

This is a community commentary submitted by Calvin Jarvis responding to Ruth Sample as well as the David Taylor lawsuit.

Thank you, Tom Seiler of Dover, for restoring my faith in the public at large, by your poignant and thought-provoking commentary, "About the Oyster River petition -" It reminded me of this fundamental truth: in America, civil liberties do not merely extend to the self-righteous, assimilated puritans of our society.  

I've been accused of "harmful speculation" in my recent commentary. I would counter that Mr. Rubine and his wife have tried to stir up a tornado because of a closed Twitter account. What should be painted to look like a few stormy clouds over a field of "pretty tulips," they are painting to look like, "The Scream." 

Ruth Sample claims she has "no opinion" of Howard Colter's performance. Then, two sentences later, she does have an opinion about the buyout of his contract. Aren't the two inexorably linked? What reason would the School Board have for parting company with the Superintendent of Schools, unless they believed it was in the best interests of the district? Let us not forget, the School Board is the legitimate governing authority. They were elected to make those decisions.  

The buy-out of Colter's contract was a personnel matter, which I believe is confidential under the law, and which Colter himself said was confidential by agreement. Now we have David Taylor suing the School Board because he has a "right to know." He wants his court costs paid by the taxpayers, and a judge to say discussion between the Board members, about Colter, should have been conducted in public. Why? So the Board could listen to the one-sided clapping, and muted jeers from FORE members besieging them every meeting? The tactics of intimidation and harassment have already gone past the point of reason, from a group which has declared they engage in "civil discourse." 

I'm a U.S. Navy, submarine service veteran. I served when the Cold War wasn't so cold for Submarine Squadron 8. I know what courage looks like. I've had the honor of serving in support of SEAL teams, deployed from the USS Birmingham, (SSN-695). I know from firsthand experience SEAL members are amazing, courageous individuals. They possess verve and guts the rest of us only see in the movies. They are our real-life "Captain Americas" in my book. 

We all suffered a terrible loss in Afghanistan this week, of brave American warriors. They are heroes, who made the ultimate sacrifice fighting to protect us, so we'll never have to endure another 9-11. We owe our personal freedoms and liberties, indeed, our democratic way of life, to the patriotic men and women of all branches of the military, who've given their lives in the service of this country.  

What dishonors our fallen more, than disrespecting our democratic principles? Consider the actions of FORE and their clan. It made me sick to view David Taylor at the April 16 School Board meeting. He leaped to his feet, as an imposing mob was railing against the School Board. He singled out a board member, Megan Turnbull, and squealed, "Just have the courage to raise your hand and call for a re-vote, and you can fix this!" (This was regarding the 4-3 vote against Justin Campbell, as ORHS principal). David Taylor doesn't know the meaning of the word "courage." 

He needs to understand, it doesn't take courage to cow-tow to a bunch of intimidators; it takes courage to stand up to them! This School Board has demonstrated courage time and again in the face of obstinate wrangling and rancor from this self-righteous group.  

David Taylor is persisting with his crusade against the School Board because of his own self-serving agenda. He is afraid that if this School Board is successful, it will reflect poorly on his years as a board member. Not because of him, and in fact, despite him, and only through the work of a few diligent individuals, were serious problems with the School Board revealed. District voters became aware that the books were a mess, the budget was bloated, policies weren't being followed, and the fox was minding the hen house. Taylor was ousted from the board after being soundly beaten at the polls during the 2010 election. He only garnered 605 votes, while his opponents received 1,249 and 1,064 votes, respectively, as newcomers.  

Despite the obstacles continually cast in front of this School Board, they have succeeded, and made progress in only a few short months. They have filled key positions for a new administration to steer this district back on course. This includes an interim high school principal, and an interim superintendent. FORE can be expected to continue lobbing proverbial "mortars" at them to try to derail their efforts. This School Board has impressed me with their resilience, and fortitude, despite the stress and pressure applied by their detractors. By keeping the faith, and staying patient, we should soon realize the benefits of their efforts. Maybe we can actually start devoting time during School Board meetings to educational issues in this district. 

Moharimet Weeding - Final Push!

Thanks to the generous help of Oyster River families, Principal Harrington reports the weeding of the Moharimet Pumpkin Patch is almost complete. Join him today (Tuesday, August 9th) from 4-7 PM to finish the job.

Good afternoon, everyone!

The pumpkin patch is beginning to thrive after the efforts of our great community! The garden is about 75% weeded, and with a little more help, we can finish the job. I will be there again today (Tuesday) from 4-7 PM. If you can join me at that time or any other time that works for you, your help will be much appreciated.

Thank you!
Dennis Harrington
Principal

Boston-Portsmouth Air Show This Weekend

Just a reminder that the Boston-Portsmouth Air Show is this weekend, August 13-14. Activity in the sky above Oyster River will increase this week as planes and crews arrive at Pease and prepare for the show.

Please take extra care this weekend as car and pedestrian traffic on Little Bay Bridge and the Route 4 causeway will be heavy — drivers may be distracted by events taking place overhead.

Foster's Article on Friday's School Board Workshop

As published by Roni Reino in Foster's, the following article summarizes some of the topics discussed at the Friday school board workshop help with superintendent Leon Levesque.

A couple of other points I'd like to bring out.

1. School board use of orcsd.org emails.  

At the previous board meeting and reiterated at the workshop, Mr. Levesque has started a policy of having all board members use orcsd.org email address to communicate internally and with the public to comply more effectively with the NH Right to Know law.  I find this quite ironic as over a year ago former board chair Mark Townsend actually brought this up and was a strong supporter of using orcsd.org email accounts again in the interest of complying with and streamlining the Right to Know requests.  At that time, it was opposed by JoAnn Portalupi and David Taylor who just didn't see the need for it.

2. Pledge of Allegiance 

Mr. Levesque also made mention of saying the pledge of allegiance prior to board meetings.  It was mentioned as something done in the past at his previous districts and he was simply adding the option here. It is said in the schools and there is a policy in case kids want to opt out.  So, I do not see the harm in adding this to the board meetings whatsoever.  I do not know where the board stands on this although I would hope they consider this a completely harmless addition that would actually demonstrate some unity instead of a political debate about the pledge.  It would be nice if the audience would be allowed to participate as well prior to meetings.

Foster's Article:

DURHAM — School Board members are hoping to increase communication with the community and upgrade technology. 

At a Friday School Board retreat and workshop session, Superintendent Leon Levesque said he is working with Director of Instruction Danielle Bolduc to get microphones that amplify board member's voices so that everyone present at meetings can hear what is being said.  

Currently, when a room is full, it is difficult for everyone in the room to hear what is being said by board members, he added. 

With the increasing use of technology in businesses and schools, Levesque said it would be in the best interest of the board to have laptops. 

"Maybe you need to look into the 21st century and get laptops. Have your e-mail and agendas on it," he said. 

Read more....

Former Board Member David Taylor Sues ORCSD board

Former Board member and prominent FORE supporter David Taylor has filed suit against the District, claiming that the Board violated New Hampshire's Right-To-Know laws during the search for an interim Superintendent.

Longtime readers of this blog may well find themselves choking on their coffee here.  

Is this the same David Taylor that, as a Board member, moved to eliminate public participation in meetings, saying it was "corrosive" and “grandstanding” (Insights from School Board Meeting)?  

Is this the same David Taylor who consistently voted against proposals that would increase the public's involvement in District affairs, including the Strategic Plan Committee and the Advisory Budget Committee? 

For those of you without long memories, see the perspective of a former Board member here: Letter from Kim Clark to Undecided Voters, and information from the Taylor’s last campaign here: Holding David Taylor to His Record.  

Guess the shoe feels different when it’s on the other foot!

In any case, Taylor's complaint (Click Here) makes interesting reading.  While it would be wise to remember that a court filing is simply a set of accusations, the exhibits seem to show that at least one Board member, Ann Wright, knowingly sought to evade the provisions of RSA 91-A by sending sequential e-mails, first to one half of the Board, then the other (see pages 19-20 of the filing).

This is serious business--far more serious than the accusations leveled against Jim Kach, who, however indefensible his statements on Twitter, at least is not accused of doing anything illegal.  Will we see similar outrage from the likes of Ruth Sample and the rest of FORE's members?  Will they put up an online petition calling for Wright to resign?  Or would that run contrary to the "culture of civility and respect" that they claim to embrace?

I think those of us who know something of the players in this debate for some time already know the answer.  For everyone else: don't hold your breath.

- Tom Bebbington

Fifth Grade Family Picnic on August 25th

The Oyster River Middle School Fifth Grade Family Picnic is scheduled for Thursday, August 25th from 5:00-8:00pm. Don't miss ICE CREAM! at 6:30pm!

YOU’RE INVITED!!!
Come join us for the Fifth Grade Family Picnic

Thursday, August 25th, 5:00pm
behind Oyster River Middle School...

What to bring...
A picnic meal for your family
blanket or chairs
ball or Frisbee to play with

Parking...
in the back parking lot of ORMS

We’ll provide...
bottled water
watermelon
ice cream for dessert!

In case of rain...
"indoor picnic" in ORMS cafeteria

AGENDA
5:00-6:30: Picnic, play, talk
6:30: ICE CREAM!

We hope you can join us!

Via the ORCSD district calendar

Informal Playdates for Incoming Kindergarten Students

Have a child entering Kindergarten at Moharimet or Mast Way? Bring them to meet their future classmates at a series of informal playdates at the Mast Way playground. [MAP] Playdates are one hour long and divided by school and AM/PM enrollment:

Moharimet AM	Wednesday	August 24	9:30am
Moharimet AM	Saturday	August 27	10:00am
Moharimet PM	Thursday	August 25	10:00am
Moharimet PM	Sunday	August 21	3:00pm
Mast Way AM	Thursday	August 25	10:00am
Mast Way AM	Saturday	August 27	10:00am
Mast Way PM	Monday	August 22	5:00pm
Mast Way PM	Wednesday	August 24	11:00am
Mast Way PM	Sunday	August 28	11:00am

For more information, see the district calendar.

[UPDATE]: Times/dates changed for two of the Moharimet playdates — thanks ChrisAnn!