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Letters
Region
Obituaries
Abstract Paintings & Tribal Masks Exhibition At New Hampshire Antique Co-Op
Now on view through May 31, 2020
Congregational Church Stays Connected
During the suspension of in-person activities in light of the Covid-19 situation, the Congregational Church of Amherst, UCC has a variety of ways for members and others to connect with church programs. This is especially important during April as Holy Week and Easter are on the horizon.
The most up-to-date information about church activities can be found on the church’s website (ccamherst.org) or by calling the church office at 673-3231. Sunday services are broadcast on FacebookLive and recorded for later on-line viewing. Services are followed by a Virtual Fellowship Hour. Links for these and other events can be found on the website.
The church’s Facebook page is another source of information, including updates and video messages from the pastors. Pastors Maureen Frescott and Kate Kennedy are available to provide pastoral care during this time, and the church welcomes community members to connect with this loving, serving, open and affirming community of faith.
Lorraine Alice Hamilton
AMHERST – Lorraine Alice Hamilton of Amherst, New Hampshire, Beach Haven, New Jersey and Rancho Mirage, California died June 14, 2020 from pancreatic cancer at her home in California. She was 73 years old and a participant in the trial of a new cancer drug at NYU Langone in New York City since April 2019. She hoped that results from the trial would improve care for other patients who develop this cancer. She was with her family when she died and was
Donald Richard Haaker
Donald Richard Haaker, 80, born June 2, 1940, son of Carl E Haaker and Jeanne LaRochelle Haaker of Fitchburg, MA, son, brother, father, grandfather, and great grandfather, peacefully passed away on Sunday, June 7, 2020 at Saint Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford, MA.
Don, as he was affectionately referred to by friends, and Dad or Grandpa by family, was a proud veteran, avid fisherman, former business owner, collector of “As Seen On TV” gadgets, and
Letters
Amherst School Board
Changes for the Ballot, Voting Day
To the editor:
January and February normally mark the finalization of the budget process, presenting it to the public and getting it ready for the ballot in March. After our public hearing presentation in mid-January, we are making two changes – one directed by the school board and one guided by the COVID-19 pandemic.
First, you can postpone putting on your voting boots. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Chris Sununu signed Emergency Order 83 on January 22 that allowed towns to delay deliberative sessions and voting day until later this spring. Because of this, Amherst School Board’s annual deliberative session is scheduled for Tuesday, May 4, and voting day is Tuesday, June 8.
This decision was part of a community-wide initiative to postpone these important sessions for the town of Amherst, Amherst School District, Souhegan Cooperative School District, and Mont Vernon town and schools. By moving them back into spring, we will hopefully see a further reduction of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations and an increase in the number of residents who are vaccinated. And we will now have options to move these events outside or to a different location in order to increase safety for all voters.
Next, when you go to the polls in June, you will notice a major change to the ballot based on our public hearing presentation. During the hearing, on January 13, we presented a proposal for a bond article asking for approximately $97 million to construct two major school projects – a new Clark-Wilkins Elementary that would span pre-K through fifth grade ($66 million) and a complete overhaul of Amherst Middle School for grades six through eight ($31 million).
These two projects were the result of nearly three years of work by the Joint Facilities Advisory Committee (JFAC). Made up of myriad community members, board members, and administration, the committee spend countless hours researching the history of our buildings, the current issues we face, and what our future needs are going to be. With their research complete and presented to the board, we asked for and you approved $150,000 on the 2020 ballot to hire an architectural firm to come up with solutions (with projected costs) for these schools. These two building projects are the results of this cumulative work.
After listening to presentations by JFAC in the fall of 2020, these two school projects were approved by the school board for the 2021 ballot. Over the following months, the board worked with JFAC to get ready for public hearing, deliberative, and voting day.
In the end, however, the board decided to delay presenting this article to voters in 2020. There are several reasons for the delay from 2021 to 2022, a decision approved by the board at our January 19 meeting. Keep in mind that this decision was not unanimous, representing the depth of our discussion and the difficulty of the decision we are making. Ultimately, our vote centered on these major items:
1. Finances. With the economic impact of COVID-19, the board didn’t feel this was the year for a major, long-term construction project. We know families in town may be facing economic uncertainty and we did not want this project to be an unnecessary burden during these times.
2. Engaging voters. At the time the decision was made, there were less than two months until election day. With limited options of reaching people face-to-face, we were not confident we could engage and properly inform every voter during that time period.
3. COVID-19 restrictions. The annual deliberative session was going to feature major changes, further limiting our options to reach voters and provide information needed to make such a weighty decision.
These are just a few of the many reasons that led to the delay of this bond. But please do not be misled - Amherst School Board fully supports these construction projects and the plan is to place them on the 2022 ballot. We will partner with JFAC and use the next 13 months to fully engage voters by running a first-class project website, producing collateral to explain the project and the tax impact, and meeting face-to-face with individual and groups across the town. We support this project fully, but next year, not this year.
For more information on the schools, visit JFAC.SAU39.ORG. As always, please email us at asb@sau39.org.
Respectully,
Elizabeth Kuzsma, Chair
Tom Gauthier, Vice Chair
Ellen Grudzien
Terri Behm
Say “NO” to Ending the AMS/SHS School Day at 3:45PM
To the editor:
We were recently informed of the “done deal” regarding the change in hours to the schools; putting AMS and SHS on an 8:45 – 3:45 school day. This was done in the name of science, as teenagers need more sleep, and they need it in the morning hours. I agree with this statement. However, to push back the already too-long school day by an hour and twenty minutes is a gross over-correction.
When this was put to the town and school populations, the result was an overwhelming “no thanks”, and that was based on backing up the start time by an hour (I believe); not the hour and twenty minutes! After-school activities such as sports, clubs, and jobs were the main reasons for the negative responses. This was met with snarky retorts of “over scheduled children” and “clubs can meet before school.” If we have learned one thing from this pandemic – it is how important the schools are for our student’s social and emotional development; in addition to the academics. What teenager do you know who would willingly get out of bed an hour earlier to get to a club meeting at school? And how would they even get there? Will there be an early bus? Doubt it since the elementary school will now be starting an hour before AMS and SHS.
Most parents in this district work. This was another area where snarky retorts came; directed at those parents who were struggling to work and have their students at home learning. We were told that schools weren’t for child care and it was unreasonable to schedule your life assuming your child would be in school. But when students have been required to attend school for generations, is it really unreasonable for parents to go out and get a job; expecting that their student will be in school? Of course not. To suggest otherwise is out-of-touch at best and elitist at worst. Most of us don’t ship our kids off to school and then hang around popping bon-bons for the day. Most parents must work to provide for their families. Especially when living in a town with such exorbitant property taxes. When we get back to a “normal” life, parents will be leaving for work prior to their AMS/ SHS students. Will the teenagers be trusted to wake up on their own? I know mine won’t. She will have to wake up and be ready before I leave for work anyways.
Now let’s talk sports and other activities/ interests that AMS and SHS students are involved in. After school practices and clubs would now go from 3:55 – 5:25? So, the late bus would put them home around 6:00. That’s pretty late! But so many students are also involved in other outside activities: sports, music, dance, karate etc. These classes typically start at 5:00, 5:30 or 6:00 and are in Bedford, Manchester, Nashua etc. So, moving forward, if the student is involved in school sports or clubs; they will not be able to participate in any out of school activity because we will be the ONLY school in the area with a ridiculously late release. Why are we taking yet more things from our students – at the very moment we should be giving them whatever is in our power? And if student athletes have to be dismissed early for every game, how many hours of school will they end up missing?
Yes, students need more sleep, and yes, it should be in the morning hours. However, somewhere along the way, we lengthened our school day by 20 minutes in exchange for a longer summer break. It is time to end that. Just as there are studies that show students need more sleep in the morning, there are studies that show students, and even adults, lose efficiency after six hours. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the average school day for public schools is 6.24 hours. Bedford HS goes from 7:50 to 2:35, Merrimack from 7:30 – 2:15, and Nashua South from 7:20 – 2:03; all six hours and 45 minutes. Too long yes, but still much better than our full seven-hour day.
Science also tells us that a longer summer break equals more lost retention. So, if we are truly trying to do what’s best for our students, then we should have shorter days and a longer school year. At the very least, we should remove those extra 20 minutes a day and add back on the corresponding days. Reportedly, someone was told by our superintendent that this was a “non-starter.” If true, this is a completely ridiculous response. You can’t say you’re following the science out of one side of your mouth, while placating the union, at the expense of the students, out of the other side. We moved to Amherst specifically for the school system. I hope we will not have to move out for the same reason.
A great compromise would be to back the schools up by 40 minutes to 8:05 and go to 2:40; adding back in the missing (five?) days. Even bolder than that, would be to remove the Feb and April breaks and go to just a March break and then we could back up by over an hour and have a school day of just over six hours. I implore the school board to consider the students’ voices as well as do what’s best for them holistically, without caving to the union.
Maureen Montanus,
Amherst