Letter
Bob
Holden has done an exemplary job during his first term as a
selectman. He can be trusted and counted on to be a fiscal watchdog
for the Northwood property taxpayers. His job as a chief financial
officer in the private sector has given him the knowledge, skills
and abilities to understand budgeting from a business perspective.
Moreover, it allows him to think outside the box. Bob’s philosophy
that just because something has always been done that way, is not
necessarily considered best management practice is a fresh approach
in the municipal government arena.
Bob
completed the 6-month long Selectperson’s Institute course and has a
firm grasp on how municipalities can operate more efficiently and
receive "best value" when they purchase goods and services for the
town. He is not afraid to ask the tough questions when it comes to
department heads requesting to spend taxpayers’ money.
As the
selectmen’s representative to the budget committee, he was well
prepared to answer questions about municipal expenditures and
operations.
Mr.
Holden deserves another 3-year term as your selectman. Please join
me in voting for Bob on Tuesday, March 13th. It will be a vote
well-worth it. Please don’t sit this election out. Too much is at
stake.
Sincerely,
Jim
Hadley
Northwood
Your Vote Is Important!
Northwood Election Day is Tuesday, March 13 at the Parish Center of
St. Joseph’s Church, located next to the Town Hall. Polls will be
open from 7 am to 7 pm. This is the first year voters in Northwood
will consider All warrant items as ballot votes under SB2 for
both the town and school district. There is election of town and
school officials, proposed changes to the zoning ordinance, and all
warrant articles including operating budgets for the coming year. If
you have not already received one, be sure to pick up a copy of the
voter’s guide, available at the Northwood Town Hall during regular
business hours: M-F 8-4, or the guide may be viewed on the town
website:
www.northwoodnh.org
Northwood Planning Board Warrant Articles Recommended
Amendments To Development Ordinance
Submitted By Northwood Town Planner Elaine Planchet
The
Northwood Planning Board has proposed five amendments to the
Northwood Development Ordinance which are on the ballot for voters’
consideration on March 13. All of these proposals may be
characterized as "housekeeping" measures designed to add clarity and
consistency to the existing requirements and were recommended by
town counsel.
The
first proposal, ballot question 2, would slightly change the
ordinance’s definition of "telecommunications antenna" so that it is
the same definition as is found in the state law. The second
proposal, ballot question 3, would make it clear that only one
principal residential structure is permitted on a lot with a mixture
of uses (that is, residential, commercial, etc.) This is the case
now for lots which have only residential uses. This does not affect
accessory apartments (which are allowed under certain conditions),
but refers to the principal structure on the property.
Ballot
question 4 proposes an amendment to the home business section of the
development ordinance to make clear that specific performance
criteria are required of home businesses. This is currently the case
as is specified in the Performance Criteria section; this clerical
proposal would make it obvious in the home business section as well.
Ballot
question 5 would amend the development ordinance by deleting a
section which seems to provide an automatic void of a noncompliant
sign permit when more process is required. Ballot question 6 is
proposed to delete a section of the development ordinance which
seems to grant the planning board authority to approve more
directional signs than is permitted by the zoning ordinance. The
Planning Board does not have authority to grant a waiver of the
ordinance; the number and use of direction signs are addressed in
another section of the ordinance. Therefore, this section is not
necessary.
Letter
To
Headmaster Dave Smith, Coe-Brown Northwood Academy:
Subject:
Outing for the Sight Impaired – February 2012.
On
behalf of the over seventy adults that participated in the annual
Saddleback Lions Outing for the Sight Impaired I want to thank the
students from CBNA that volunteered at the event.
You are
to be extremely proud of the manner in which these students
participated in making this a most memorable event. In the words of
members from the Lakes Region Chapter of the National Federation of
the Blind, "A special thanks to all the students that were so
helpful and attentive."
It is
certainly a testimony to the parents of the students and staff
involved in their academic program at CBNA for developing such fine,
outstanding representatives of service to their community. They are
to be commended for a job well done.
Participating from CBNA: Pierce Butler, Paige Doucette, Cody
Driscoll, Taylor Hains, Katie Jarvis, Aidan Leavitt, Dylan Leclerc,
Nick Nord, Eric Powers, Victoria Sullivan, Charles Therriault,
Morgan West, Corey Downing, and parent chaperone Mrs. Nord.
Thank
you again for allowing the students from CBNA to once again
participating in this extremely important event in the lives of
many. And of final note, the sheet cake made by the students was
award winning!
Sincerely,
Frank
Markiewicz
President, Saddleback Mountain Lions Club
Letter
To The Editor
The
hard-right agenda now playing out in Concord doesn’t even attempt to
address real needs here in the Granite State. The current House
Speaker and Majority Leader are water-boys for Koch Industries and
for the Free State Movement, which definitely does have an agenda:
to encourage out-of-state activists like Speaker O’Brien to move to
New Hampshire, run for office, and take over the state government.
Sadly, they have already done so with ruthless efficiency.
Why did
the proud old NH GOP allow these carpetbaggers to seize power? Why
are NH Republicans condoning the systematic dismantling of our
already-bare-bones social safety net? The people of New Hampshire
will not soon forgive or forget this assault on our way of life, or
this slavish adherence to out-of-state interests. This is not the
New Hampshire way.
Sincerely,
Ted
Wilkinson
Northwood
Saddleback Mountain Lions Club Makes A Difference
The
Saddleback Mountain Lions Club ("Saddleback Lions") participated in
the "Warmth from the Millyard" initiative and collected over 300
clothing items for donation to local area charities.
Lion
Linda Markiewicz commented, "The quality and amount of clothing
collected exceeded our expectations and was a welcomed addition to
the inventory of local area churches and organizations providing
warm jackets, socks, hats, mittens, and many other items to area
residents. This was an extremely important endeavor for our members
and was successful with the tremendous generosity from residents and
our community and business partners."
Those
that provided a location for the drop off collection bins are to be
commended for their support and participation as valued community
members. There are: Nottingham Elementary School, Deerfield
Veterinary Clinic, Northwood Town Hall, Hannafords Supermarket, and
School Administrative Unit #44.
Letter
Pay or
Go
The idea
that any of us are home owners is an illusion. Consider: Even if we
don’t have a mortgage, all we do is lease our house from the
government.
What
happens if we don’t pay the rent on our home? The real home owners,
our Town and its partner the State, demand that we pay or leave. If
we don’t leave, our landlords will get the police to evict us. Then
they will sell our house; that is, they will get someone else to pay
for the right to rent it from them.
Do we
have any say in the matter? Very little. All we can do is unite with
our fellow lease-holders to lower the rent, or at least to keep it
from rising too much too fast. We can do that at town meetings and
on election day.
That’s
when our neighbors decide how much rent we will pay to the
government. It is the time when a majority of voters with particular
spending ideas can force everyone, including the minority, to pay
higher rent. It is also when a majority can decide to lower the rent
for everyone, if only a little, by voting no.
When a
majority choose to raise the rent higher than it already is, all
must pay or lose their homes. On the other hand, when a majority
choose to keep the rent at its current level, the minority still has
a choice.
People
whose spending plans have been disappointed can always make
voluntary contributions to expand or create the programs they want.
Michael
Faiella
Northwood
Letter
To the
Voters of Northwood:
We would
like to correct some misconceptions about the Support Staff
Contract.
1. The
support staff is comprised of the secretaries in the school office,
Title one tutors, Special Ed Para-educators, one to one
Para-educators, classroom Para-educators, custodians.
2. The support staff agreed previously to change to One
health plan (Matthew Thornton Blue), and increase their co-pay (from
$5.00 to $20.00); which was done in the year contract was a savings
of over $10,000. The actual rate has decreased by 1.6%. The
different amounts have been in effect for many years, at least since
the early 1990s and previously the 35 hours only applied to the
secretaries and full time custodians. We are attempting to make
everyone the same whether they work 32.5 hours or 35 or more hours a
week.
3. To
correct misinformation in a letter of Feb. 8th, the Partner Program
Para-educators are not all under the 15/85 insurance. In fact, there
is only one who has this coverage. These 7 do work more hours and
have specific training to work with children on the Autism Spectrum;
which will be offered to everyone.
4. This
is a three year contract not four as Mr. Jandebeur states. The
raises are $0.15 the first year, $0.25 the second and $0.35 the
third and last year of this contract
5. We
agreed to keep our number of accumulated sick days to 75. We earn 15
days a year. Many of the Para-educators do not use all of these
days. The School Board agreed to pay any Para-educator who has over
75 days at the end of the school year for 7.5 of these days at the
sub rate.
Please
support us by voting for Article 5 on March 13th.
Thank
you,
Northwood Educational Support Personnel Association
Letter
To The Editor
As you
know, I am running for the School Board. In the past year I have
been a member of the Budget Committee, Planning Board, Economic
Development Committee and the Capital Improvement Project
sub-committee. I’ve worked with many of you and enjoyed being part
of groups of people who worked together for the betterment of
Northwood. Very Satisfying.
I also
served on the School Board. My goal is simply to educate our
children to the best of their ability. It’s a well known "secret"
that we haven’t been doing that for years. It is also apparent that
taxpayers are tired of supporting a country club atmosphere that has
failed miserably to educate their kids despite spending far more per
pupil than sister towns. Your School Board cannot and has not been
able to work with other Northwood officials in any professional way.
Money,
money, money. There is simply never enough because this SB cannot
say no. In the budget to be voted on this March 13 is everything
that Principal Hartford asked for and everything on his additional
wish list.
Consider
this, our Special Education Director announced that we would not
have to pay for a $273,000 student, but that she had used all but
$30,000 elsewhere. A week ago she announced that NECC had saved the
District $524,000, yet we only have about $100,000 left of a
$12,172,000 budget to get us through June.
So, 6 Teachers, 4 para-educators, $12,072,000, $524,000 and $273,000
all gone, poof! Last week the SB voted 3/1 to hire a new para-educator.
This person is not in this years budget nor next years. They can’t
say No!
If you
elect me, I will get to the bottom of this morass. I will keep
asking the tough questions and demanding transparency in our
Northwood School System.
Thank
You,
Tim
Jandebeur
Northwood
Letter
To the
Citizens of Northwood:
We would
like to thank the voters of Northwood who attended the School
Deliberative Session and voted to amend the school budget to the
proposed School Board recommended budget. This budget will now be
voted on by registered voters on Tuesday, March 13 at St. Joseph’s
Parish Hall between 7 am and 7 pm. This budget is a decrease of 1.1%
or $133,514 less than the current year’s operating budget, yet will
allow the Board to hire back one of the six teachers that was cut
this year and hire a .6 time technology teacher.
Also,
this budget will support technology and curriculum materials that
have been cut over the last few years. If this budget is not voted
in, additional cuts will have to be made to Northwood School. In
addition to the operating budget, articles to approve the costs of
the support staff contract and teachers’ contract will be on the
ballot. These contracts include an increase to school staff
salaries, yet will also add 15 minutes of instructional time to the
students’ school day. Teachers will also be paying more of their
health insurance costs.
Article
9 asks for full day kindergarten. If this is approved, cost savings
on half day kindergarten transportation will cover over one third of
the cost for full day. Other articles to be voted on are monies to
be raised to put into the Special Education Capital Reserve Fund and
the High School Tuition Capital Reserve Fund. Putting money into
these funds this year may help avoid a deficit in the future if
unanticipated special education or high school tuition costs are
incurred.
For more information and how to get an absentee ballot visit
www.northwood.k12.nh.us
and click on the School Board link. Please support the
children of Northwood and vote on March 13th.
Sincerely,
Northwood School Communication Committee
Letter
To The Editor
Is It
Really About The Children?
Most, if not everyone, agrees with the common refrain heard from
many well meaning people : "educating children is for the future".
Of Course! Isn’t that what underpins a democratic society? Without
an educated population, civilization is doomed. Thomas Jefferson and
John Adams et als made this point repeatedly. We’ll revert to some
road warrior state of bare survival otherwise.
So, education is vital, of course. Education, like all goods and
services, requires resources. Money. In Northwood we spend as
a total average $17,000 plus per student - a twelve million dollar
budget for 700 +/- students. This is actually a lot of money. But
regardless of the amount, I submit for your consideration this
thought. If this is really ‘about the children’, the Quality
of education is in fact the most important issue. Otherwise what’s
the point in the whole exercise?
But it
is so much easier (confusing the way we manage to do it) to argue
over inanimate dollars while the real objective, the children’s
education, takes a back seat. And equally part of this approach is
to pretend that more money means better education. It does not.
Virtually every measure of the process of solid education covering a
period of the past 50 years has shown that simply spending more
money does not produce a superior education. The U.S. spends more
money per child than all nations but one. In N.H. our grammar school
is in the lower third - a school "in need of improvement". Something
is wrong folks, and it’s not more money.
Aside from spending money efficiently the real ongoing focus needs
to be on excellence in education not "adequate". Excellent teachers,
supported by excellent administrators, supported by a school board
and parents demanding excellence. Then and only then will it be "About
The Children."
Sincerely,
Joseph
McCaffrey
Northwood
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