Candidate's Statement: Tom Newkirk

Editor's note: At last night's session, School Board candidate (and current vice-chair) asked me to post the following.  Again, this should not be considered an endorsement; I am happy to publish statements from any and all candidates.  

Candidate—Oyster River Cooperative School District (At Large Seat)

Tom Newkirk

• Durham resident since 1987 and father of three children who attended and graduated from the Oyster River Schools
• Former high school teacher and Professor of English at the University of New Hampshire in my 36^th  year
• Nationally recognized author on literacy
• Founder and Director of the New Hampshire Literacy Institutes and the Writers Academy for middle and high school students

Achievements this Year:

This year I have served as Vice-Chair of the Board.  With so many new members the learning curve was steep for all of us, but I believe that the Board successfully moved beyond the contention and controversy of the previous year. In particular we have:

• Established a tone of civility and respect. The Board has worked cohesively with almost all votes—including the vote on the budget—being unanimous.
• Established a good working relationship with our skilled new superintendent, Dr. Jim Morse.
• Continued the important and successful work on energy reduction in our schools.
• Taken the first steps to develop a capital improvement plan.
• Made significant staff reductions without any involuntary lay-offs.
• Re-started work on the Strategic Plan.
• Begun exploration of tuition agreements with neighboring towns that can significantly affect future budgets.

Challenges Ahead

• Negotiation of new teacher contract.  We want to maintain a salary and benefit package that will allow us to continue to attract the very best applicants. But we will also need to ensure that benefits are comparable to comparator school systems.

• Tuitioning in students at the high school. This decision needs to be made with great care. The options need to be clearly presented to the public, with costs challenges, and benefits for each. The community needs to be deeply involved in this decision, and be given the opportunity to express its views—perhaps through a non-binding referendum.

• Capital Improvement. According to a number of recent facility studies, we have 4 million dollars in needed facility improvements. In my view, delaying these improvements is false economy. We will need to face up to this situation  through substantial annual budget appropriations, or through a warrant article for a bond.

• Rebalancing Student Populations in Elementary Schools. Currently Moharimet Elementary School has 80 more students than Mast Way (which is actually the larger school).  This situation is not likely to change because most of the new housing is in Madbury. As a result we are paying for modular classrooms at Moharimet ($17,000/ year) when there is space at Mast Way. We need to work toward sensitive and sensible plan to rebalance the population.

• Work Toward High Academic Standards Without Being Driven by Standardized Tests. I am in favor of many of the ideals of the Common Core State Standards—greater depth, the thoughtful reading of difficult texts, a greater variety of kinds of reading and writing. But I am concerned that the Common Core is so tied to testing. I have been stunned by how much it will cost the district to even administer the new Smarter Balanced tests.

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