By Dylan Marsh
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
NEWPORT- The Newport School Board has appointed Tim Beard as their newest member.
The appointment comes out of necessity, as former board member Rhonda Callum-King vacated her seat during a previous board meeting. She cited harassment of her, as well as her fellow board members, and administration with the school as her reason for leaving. The harassment, she claims, comes from fellow board member Burt Spaulding, who won his seat in an uncontested race.
A questionnaire was placed online via the school board and applications were able to be submitted at the SAU office, or directly to the school board chair Jenna Darling via email. Three applications were discussed at the school board meeting on July 14, 2022, with two voted on.
Submissions came from Kenneth Dugas, Kurt Minich, and Tim Beard. Questions on the form included “What do you like best about Newport School District?” and “How do you currently contribute in a positive way to the Newport School District?”
In an interview portion of the meeting, school board members asked the applicants how they thought the school could be improved. Dugas, a former Newport math teacher, cited the socio-economic burden faced by Newport families as a major contributing factor to low test scores. In previous school board meetings, Spaulding has referenced the website schooldigger.com, in which a Newport school is ranked lowest in the state, as a major issue for the town to consider. Dugas noted some problems with that site and mentioned other websites like zillow.com should be considered when looking at school rankings.
“I don’t confuse money with values, but it’s one of those things as long as 40 plus percent of the kids in Newport come from poor families, it’s not going to be the top school, it doesn’t matter. It needs to be taken into consideration that on some lists we are on the bottom but look at the schools on the top, they spend twice as much on the students,” said Dugas.
A vote for Dugas resulted in two yeses from Bill Wilkinson and Darling, and two nays from Spaulding and Morris. During the meeting, Morris discussed his close friendships with both Dugas and Beard in his careful consideration for choosing the next school board member. Morris said his relationship with Beard is a daily friendship, as the two host “Tim & Steve Show”, a local talk show. His relationship with Dugas is friendly and considers him, “someone he could sit down with and have lemonade with.” In regard to the daily friendship, Wilkinson discussed his concerns with “the appearance of collusion”, he doubts that any would occur but worries the citizens of Newport might see it as such.
“One of my concerns is appearance. My concern is that it would appear there would be collusion, to the public. Even if there wasn’t, I fear that appearance could undermine our standing in the community. Don’t get me wrong, if the vote favors you, I would gladly work with you, or any of the three of you,” Wilkinson told the applicants at the meeting.
Beard, who reportedly attends every school board meeting, ran during the last election. He came just 12 votes shy of securing a seat on the board. In his responses to the questionnaire, he spoke to meeting with Newport High School Principal Shannon Martin and Superintendent Brendan Minnihan about ways to improve the school district over the last few months. He also referenced significant turnover in the school district as an inciting reason for the low-ranking Newport has found itself in on certain websites. He hopes that the school board can begin to work with the town and be more of an approachable presence, and in doing so the town would begin to vote for stronger budgets for the school district.
“I’m a leader, I’m motivated, I get stuff done and I never accept failure. Failure is not an option when it comes to our children’s education.” Beard said in his application submission to the school board.
A vote for Beard passed with yeses from Wilkinson, Darling, and Spaulding, with Morris abstaining from the vote. He will now serve on the school board until the district election in March 2023. If he wishes to run, he may submit his name for candidacy in January 2023. Due to the nature of the voting system, and Beards success, a vote for Kurt Minich did not occur.
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