By Patrick Adrian
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
CLAREMONT — The Claremont School Board made no changes to their proposed school budget for fiscal year 2023 despite numerous requests from residents and local officials to restore funding to the career-technical education and special education programs.
Following a public hearing on Tuesday the school board unanimously voted to move the proposed budget as presented to the proposed school warrant for the 2022-2023 school year.
The board is proposing an operating budget of $37,243,825 next school year, with $16,305,917 to be raised by taxes. The proposal would reduce the Claremont tax rate by an estimated $1.68 per $1,000 of assessed property value or $1.38 per $1,000 if approved with all the warrant articles.
But two budget cuts in particular drew vocal opposition on Tuesday.
One cut would eliminate the position of an autism specialist, which educators said is held by an employee of nine years in the district who is highly educated and experienced in the autism field.
District educators said this particular specialist has been an invaluable resource to their classrooms and questioned the message this budget sends.
“Letting good employees go shows a lack of respect for the people who are here, when someone like [this specialist] is making a difference and you say that it’s time to go,” said Kelly Fontaine, a special education teacher at Stevens High School. “We need more [educators like her], not less.”
Janette Roark, a speech assistant at Claremont Middle School, said her school’s support groups for students with autism are at maximum capacity while the need and demand is still rising.
“We can’t have any more groups even though the teachers would love us to,” Roark said. “The teachers are always asking for our help because children with autism can be very tricky to work with.”
A second cut would reduce the director position at the Sugar River Valley Regional Technical Center from full-time to part-time, as well as reduce the center’s Adult Education Coordinator position to a part-time role. Under the district’s plan the director would absorb both roles, remaining full-time but with split-duties.
Supporters of the career-technical education center lambasted this plan, saying it sends a dismaying message about the center’s future and will hinder the center’s ability to grow new programs and educational opportunities.
“It seems like a cut like this [is] the wrong place to do it,” said resident and district parent, Ian Gates, who owns a hair salon in White River Junction, Vermont. “It’s like stepping over a dollar to pick up a penny, in my opinion.”
To most supporters at the meeting, the reduction of the directorial position is symbolic of a broader and historical frustration regarding the center, whose programs have whittled down since the center’s opening in 1995, from eight programs during the center’s peak to four at present.
Resident John Hall, a Stevens alumnus, called the decline of the center’s offerings “dismaying.”
“It’s probably Claremont’s most underutilized resource,” Hall said. “And whenever we have community gatherings to discuss revitalizing the community and getting the city ontrack, there’s almost always a discussion about how we need more people in the trades in our factories and businesses.”
In addition to the desperate economic demand for specialized professionals such as electricians, carpenters, plumbers and health care workers, residents said that many students thirst for the hands-on, applied learning that career-technical education provides.
“One of my children is probably not going to be a traditional learner [or] one who will really want to go to college,” said resident Kipp Ryan. “But this summer he took [the center’s] summer engineering camp and he absolutely loved it. And he is one of many who would be a prime candidate for a program like that when high school comes around.”
The board reiterated that it intends to maintain the four existing programs. In terms of the director position restructuring, the board explained that they cannot justify funding a full-time director for only four programs and that the district would like to explore other avenues to expand vocational learning opportunities, such as through partnerships with River Valley Community College.
County Manager Derek Ferland, a Claremont resident, questioned the rationale of reducing the directorial role to match the offerings. Instead Ferland suggested that the district examine how many programs should the center be running based on market demand.
“Workforce development is the number one challenge of our local employers,” Ferland said. “And it’s not just about the high school kids who come through this wonderful facility. I think we can be doing a lot more with the adult education opportunities as well. But it takes school board support to make this a reality.”
Despite explicit requests from residents to restore funding, the board later voted to keep the budget unchanged.
“I want to see this tech-ed center grow, but I also back this budget,” said board member Michael Petrin. “This budget and the director position [reduction] is appropriate based on the current number of programs in this building. If the programs grow that could very well change, but for this current number of programs, I see no reason to change this budget.”
Until 2018, the New Hampshire Department of Education [NH DOE]required that state-funded career-technical centers employ a full-time director. That provision is still in Claremont’s regional agreement with Newport.
According to Jeffrey Beard, deputy state director for Career and Technical Education (CTE), the state “cannot compel a district to maintain a full-time director’s position.”
“But this office continues to recommend having a full time CTE director for New Hampshire Regional CTE Centers, given the scope of responsibilities required to administer CTE programs effectively.”
The district says it plans to add a teacher prep program in the imminent future, though The Eagle Times has not confirmed whether that program has been funded for the 2022-2023 school year or whether that program will operate through the career-technical center. The Eagle Times attempted to contact Superintendent Michael Tempesta by email and phone message for clarification but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
Claremont voters will have an opportunity to amend the dollar amount of the budget proposal at the Deliberative Session on Wednesday, Feb. 9. Voters may propose an increase or decrease to the proposed amount of up to 10 percent, which registered voters in attendance must pass with a majority vote.
The board declined to answer questions about the autism specialist position, calling it an individual personnel matter.
reporter @eagletimes.com
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