By GLYNIS HART
[email protected]
CLAREMONT — The SAU #6 school district, comprising Claremont and Unity schools, is looking for a superintendent with a “clear and compelling vision” for the district’s success, an “educational visionary” to take on the challenges (and rewards) of directing an economically challenged group of schools.
“State aid has decreased over the past two years resulting in the highest tax rate in NH and [Claremont has] a budget that has barely kept pace with inflation,” states the job posting by the district. “Teacher retention is low, resulting in difficulty in filling positions.”
Qualifications for the new superintendent include a doctorate and/or a Certificate of Graduate Studies; at least five years as a school principal and/or district-level administrator, and the appropriate certification, or eligibility for same, in New Hampshire. Salary? Between $110,000 and $130,000.
The deadline for applications is Jan. 15. The superintendent search committee has received 14 applications so far, which is already an improvement on what was predicted by consultants.
Currently, the search committee is preparing to do interviews and learning more about the applicants, said Rebecca Zullo, a member of the school board and of the search committee. The district has contracted with the New Hampshire School Boards Association (NHSBA), a private, non-profit organization for guidance in the search process.
The committee expects to be able to make a hiring recommendation to the full board in early April, with a goal of bringing the new superintendent on board before July 1, 2019.
ROTC course planned at tech center
The Sugar River Valley Tech Center in Claremont hopes to offer a Reserve Officers Training Corps class next fall.
“As part of our strategic plan we’re looking to grow the tech center,” said board member Michael Petrin. “This is just a class to see if there’s interest.”
“This is an inroad to having the full program,” said board member Carolyn Towle. “I think it’s tremendous.”
Junior ROTC is offered at around 3,000 high schools in the nation as an elective course. Taught by retired military personnel, the course teaches physical fitness, military history, and leadership skills. Students are not obliged to enter the military from the course. Regular ROTC is a college course that normally takes two years to complete in conjunction with a students’ regular coursework.
The cost of funding a part-time ROTC teacher would be $18,300 and an additional $1,900 will be needed to buy a computer and supplies for the class. Junior ROTC courses are commonly co-funded by a branch of the armed services.
Budget, version #3
Assistant Superin-tendent Cory LeClair presented the third draft version of next year’s Claremont schools budget Wednesday night. The budget process will continue through January.
As of this version of the budget, the district anticipates a total increase of fixed costs of $813,780. That includes voter-approved collective bargaining agreements (CBA), non-CBA salary increases, changes in benefit costs, and out-of-district placements for students with special needs. Total revenues, on the other hand, are expected to drop by $76,000. State revenue is also continuing its downward trend, as the state continues to claw back stabilization aid and special education aid: the total loss in this area, of $101,061, is “more favorable than we thought,” LeClair said.
The board has a target of splitting the cost increase by finding half in the budget and passing the other half to the taxpayers.
The proposed budget for 2019-20 is $31,810,274, an increase of $315,864 over 2018-19. With the loss of $101,061 in revenue, this draft budget forecasts an increase of $416,925.
LeClair said the “worst-case scenario” would add 87 cents per $1,000 of assessed value to the tax rate.
Chairman of the school board and member of the budget committee Frank Sprague said he and fellow board members had met with every school principal, the special education director, heads of maintenance, information technology, and sports. “We went line by line through their requests,” said Sprague. “It’s very different from seeing it on paper, because you see the rationale for it.
“People came prepared for this process,” said Sprague. “The directors and principals had ideas; it wasn’t just cut, cut, cut. It was a reallocation of resources.”
The committee recommended staff reductions. Four full-time positions in Stevens High School, one and a half full-time positions in preschool, one at Bluff School and six district-wide positions can be reduced without handing anyone a pink slip, said Sprague. “These are all able to be accomplished through attrition or reassignment.”
The six district-wide positions, for example, are paraprofessional jobs that are currently vacant.
The budget committee is also recommending adding the ROTC teacher, as mentioned above, a part-time English-as-a-Second-Language teacher, and staff for a special education elementary alternative program that would keep kids with special needs from being bussed out of the district for support services.
“I believe this [program] is an investment in us being more frugal down the road,” said Jason Benware. “Anything over seven kids will start making us money.”
The district currently pays other districts to provide services to these children, at a steep cost that includes the cost of bussing. Should the program be successful, Claremont could offer special educational services to nearby districts.
“There’s more to it than financial considerations,” Benware continued. “Some of these kids go one and a half hours away. I can only imagine what it’s like for them; my kids aren’t behaviorally challenged and after an hour and a half in the car, they’re bouncing off the walls. It’s our opinion of the subcommittee that this is something worth investing in.”
Zullo said she had some questions about the qualifications of the mental health workers that would staff the program. “In my opinion that’s why we were not successful in the past. The staff were not appropriately trained.”
Ben Nestor, director of special education for the district, put her mind at ease that the staff for the program would be licensed school psychologists or licensed mental health workers at an appropriate level of training and experience.
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