Local
author Jeanne Fournier will hold a book signing for “Grieving With
Grace” at the Chesley Memorial Library on Saturday, February 7, from
10:30am-12:30pm. Jeanne is a New Hampshire native and her book is a
sensitive, gentle, compassionate memoir of caring for a dying child.
Copies will be available for purchase ($10.00) and questions are
welcome throughout the signing. Light refreshments will be served.
Letter To The Editor
Common
Core and Kindergarten
Two
Warrant Articles Northwood voters will be voting on this year are
whether to support all-day kindergarten and whether to withdraw from
Common Core. The two questions came together in a recent Washington
Post article “Requiring kindergartners to read — as Common Core does
— may harm some.”
The
article is based on a new January 2015 report from two organizations
that support early childhood education: Defending the Early Years,
and Alliance for Childhood. Among the findings outlined were:
“NO
research documents long-term gains from learning to read in
kindergarten.”
Common
Core State Standards require reading instruction in kindergarten
despite the fact that some children aren’t ready for reading.
Common
Core expects kindergartners to meet more than 90 standards.
“The
adoption of the Common Core State Standards falsely implies that
having children achieve these standards will overcome the impact of
poverty on development and learning.”
Common
Core kindergarten standards replace developmentally appropriate
play-based learning with academic instruction, despite what we know
“from decades of research in cognitive and developmental psychology
and neuroscience.”
Placing
children this age in inappropriate educational settings, “can cause
them great harm, including feelings of inadequacy, anxiety and
confusion.”
“The
promoters of the standards claim they are based in research. They
are not….Two recent studies show that direct instruction can
actually limit young children’s learning. At best, the standards
reflect guesswork, not cognitive or developmental science,” says
University of Hawaii Professor Stephanie Feeney, chair of the
Advocacy Committee of the National Association of Early Childhood
Teacher Educators.
Since
the Northwood School District has adopted the Common Core Standards,
we can expect them to be implemented in full-day kindergarten,
should it be approved by the voters. Unless, of course, Northwood
citizens vote to withdraw from Common Core.
Michael
Faiella
Northwood
Letter To The Editor
What is
Common Core?
According to Bill Gates, of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation a
substantial backer of Common Core, Common Core is: “a
very basic idea that kids should be taught what they are going to be
tested on. Kids should also be taught the same way.” To
Bill Gates this is “a technocratic issue,” akin to making sure all
states use the same type of electrical outlet.”
Initially, I saw a purpose to Common Core; students should be able
to go from state to state and be required to learn developmentally
appropriate core basics, especially in the Elementary Level.
I want students to be competitive with the rest of the world, but
Common Core is not benchmarked internationally. Also, it is more of
the same. When I say this, it is just greater “No Child Left
Behind, NCLB.” Einstein described “insanity: doing the
same thing over and over again expecting different results.”
Education has become more about taking tests than it has been about
experience. Yesterday, I saw the “Laker” Northwood School’s Monthly
Newsletter. I could not believe the Testing Schedule. How many
tests do students have to take? For teachers and administration to
determine what our children know and don’t know. So, they can
either re-teach or prove mastery. Are these tests just
testing what our students know or don’t know?
Next
week, I will write more about the Smarter Balanced Assessment
scheduled this spring and Senate hearing I attended for SB101.
Sincerely,
Marie
L. Correa
Letter To The Editor
To the
Editor,
“A
politician is a fellow who will lay down your life for his country.”
Tex Guinan
Think
three times before you vote away our right to elect Northwood’s Road
Agent. This retread warrant article is on the March 10th ballot.
Vote no. This position is somewhat independent of the vagaries of
political whims, cronyism, and the incredible pressure to put family
and friends into positions. Check out our history and you will find
that the reason we have an elected road agent is because a relative
was hired and boy did we have a mess. That is why the town voted to
elect our road agent and this has worked well. Our road problems are
not the fault of our road agent.
Similarly, for years I have been asked (and sorely tempted) to file
a petition warrant article to disband the police commission here in
town which would put the police back under the jurisdiction of the
Select Board. But again history will tell you that in the late 90’s
the town voted for a police commission and for good reason. Check it
out. I’ll say right out loud that the Northwood Police Commission
has lost its way. Instead of being a liaison between the citizens
who voted them in and the police department they instead are just a
big rubber stamp. Sad!
What to
do, what to do? It is simple. Be informed, pay attention and vote
out those not doing the job expected. Politicians will learn if the
worst are dealt with out behind the woodshed. They will get the
point. OUCH!!!
Tim
Jandebeur
Northwood
Banner Year For Coe-Brown Art Students
Twenty
Coe-Brown Students representing 39 works of art receive statewide
recognition in The Scholastic Art Awards of New Hampshire 2015
The Art
Department at Coe-Brown Northwood Academy is pleased to announce
that the following students received recognition in The 2015
Scholastic Art Awards of New Hampshire Competition administered by
The New Hampshire Art Educators’ Association - A Regional Affiliate
of the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, Inc. Seven hundred and
ninety pieces of Gold Key, Silver Key and Honorable Mention Award
winning works, including the works of CBNA students, are currently
on display through Sunday, February 8 at the Stockbridge Theater on
the campus of Pinkerton Academy, Derry, NH. The exhibition is open
to the public Mon. – Fri. 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. An awards reception
will take place in the theatre on Sunday, February 8. Students in
grades 7-9 will be honored at a ceremony beginning at noon, followed
by grades 10-12 at 1:00 PM. The exhibition will close at 3:00 PM.
Coe-Brown Student recipients are as follows:
Barrington
Abigail
Ahern (12) Gold Key Award & American Vision Nomination – Drawing -
Title: Confusion
Silver
Key Award - Drawing Title: Does Life Really Repeat?
Silver
Key Award - Drawing Title: The Pledge
Silver
Key Award - Drawing Title: Wanderlust
Silver
Key Award – Art Portfolio
Olivia
Drew (12) Gold Key Award – Photography Title: Blank Space
Silver
Key Award – Photography Title: Not So Silent Night
Strafford
Alandra
Beaver (12) Honorable Mention Award – Drawing Title: After it Rain
Hannah
Eaton (12) Gold Key Award – Drawing Title: Through the Cracks
Silver
Key Award – Painting Title: Self-Discovery
Alexander Yonchak (11) Gold Key Award – Portfolio 1
Gold
Key Award – Portfolio 1
Silver
Key Award – Photography Title: Clouded View
Honorable Mention Award – Digital Art Title: Seamless
Color Split
Honorable Mention Award – Digital Art Title: Windows
Honorable Mention Award – Digital Art Title: Seabirds
Erika
Grand (12) Honorable Mention Award – Painting Title: Face Paint
Danielle Grove (12) Honorable Mention Award – Painting
Title: The Beauty of Fall
Honorable Mention Award – Drawing Title: One
Great Summer
Jacquelyn Stevens (12) Silver Key Award – Drawing Title: This Moment
Nottingham
Andrew
Lambert (12) Gold Key Award – Photography Title: CBNA Snap Shot
Tess
Lambert (12) Silver Key Award – Photography Title: Doodle Cup
Erin
Carey (10) Gold Key Award – Printmaking Title: Burning Maze
Gage
Desrosiers (11) Silver Key Award – Drawing Title: Deep Sea
Northwood
Megan
Leduke (12) Gold Key Award – Drawing Title: Features
Silver
Key Award – Drawing Title: Runaways
Honorable Mention Award – Drawing Title: Rebel
Honorable Mention Award – Drawing Title: The Gardner
Jesse
Ohrenberger (12) Honorable Mention Award – Drawing
Title: How Sweet it is
Billie
Pingree (11) Gold Key Award – Drawing Title: Grand Theft Autumn
Gold
Key Award – Drawing Title: Bombs Away
Gold
Key Award – Drawing Title: Voodoo doll
Silver
Key Award – Drawing Title: Harder to Breath
Haley
Ruth (12) Gold Key Award – Drawing Title: Saying Goodbye
Julie
Souryavong (11) Honorable Mention Award – Photography Title: Reading
in Isolation
Veronica Swindell (12) Honorable Mention Award – Drawing
Title: Trophies of the Dead
Sydney
Welch (12) Honorable Mention Award – Photography Title: Peafowl
Epsom
Allison
Jones (12) Silver Key Award – Mixed Media Title: Creativity in
Buttons
Honorable Mention Award – Photography Title: Complex World
Letter To The Editor
Kindergarten History
Did you
know that Northwood was one of the first New Hampshire towns to
offer public kindergarten to its children? Long before kindergarten
became the law of the land in the late 1990’s, our school board
implemented it twenty years earlier, in the late 1970’s. But
kindergarten in Northwood started long before that.
In the
early 1950’s, Northwood had its own Baby Boom of sorts, and mothers
at that time – including me – encouraged Gladys Gardner to offer
kindergarten for our children. This she did for the next 24 years,
first at her home at 534 1st NH Turnpike, and then at her second
home at 488.
So many
children benefited from this opportunity, that when Gladys retired
in 1977, the School Board voted to fill the void with a
town-supported kindergarten. If it was good for the kids whose
parents could afford it, it was good for all the kids.
At a
retirement reception in her honor, Gladys was presented with a quilt
with one square for each of her 24 years of classes. Each square
bears the names of the boys and girls she prepared to move forward
with their educations. I hope to bring it to the deliberative
session tomorrow night.
Now,
the town has the opportunity to take the next step and make
kindergarten a full-day program. It’s time to take that step.
Joann
Bailey
Northwood Town Historian
Letter
To The Editor
More
School, More Better
In my
initial letter about the petition warrant article to fund all-day
kindergarten, I noted that similar warrants had been supported
unanimously by the Northwood Budget Committee in 2012 and 2014.
This time, I was gratified to find that it was supported 10-2. (Two
of those absent had supported it previously, so I think that would
have made it 12-2 if they had been in attendance.)
I was
pleased to find that the support came from all quarters. Chair
Ginger Dole and Vice-Chair Betsy Colburn voted for it. And when the
discussion bogged down in the financial details, Betsy was heard to
comment, “let the School Board figure it out.”
Town
Moderator Hal Kreider joined the majority. He pointed out that many
other towns now have all-day kindergarten and that “our kids will be
competing with those kids.”
School
Board Representative Tim Jandebeur expressed some hesitation because
the Board had not voted on this warrant, but in the end, he, too,
voted for it. If you read his letter last week lauding the efforts
of the Berlin School District to educate their children in the face
of economic adversity, this should come as no surprise.
Important support also came from Nikki Roy whose young children have
given her the most current first-hand experience with elementary
education. And I would add that her views seemed similar to those I
encountered as I gathered signatures for the petition.
Parents
and grandparents noted how disruptive the half-day program is to
their lives. A two-hour snow delay sends them scrambling for
childcare when the morning program is cancelled. Early release does
the same in the afternoon. Kids in the morning miss school
assemblies in the afternoon and vice versa.
But the
real bottom line is: more school, more better.
Tom
Chase
Northwood
Letter To The Editor
Please
Support All-Day Kindergarten in Northwood
As
parents, we have a duty to provide our children with the tools
necessary to succeed in life. A large part of this responsibility
entails helping them build a solid educational foundation.
Full-day kindergarten allows young students to develop strong
academic, social and emotional skills. Children in full-day
kindergarten classes demonstrate greater reading and mathematics
gains than those in half-day classes. Full-day kindergarten also
supports children at risk of school failure and interventions can be
made sooner, rather than later.
As
parents of small children heading toward Kindergarten in the near
future, we ask the voters to please support us and our children and
pass Warrant Article #11 on March 10th.
We have
also created a Facebook page to gather support. Please like and
share the page!
https://www.facebook.com/northwoodalldaykindergarten
Thank
you,
Ryan
and Amy Hanavan
Doug
and Becca Rohr
Mike
and Christine Kennedy
The Cox
Family
The
Seymour Family
The
Demers Family
Obituaries
Gordon
E. Smart
November 7, 1931 - January 20, 2015
Gordon
E. Smart passed away at his home in Northwood on Tuesday, January
20, 2015 after a brief illness.
Born in
Portsmouth NH on November 7, 1931, he was the son of Gay E. and Dora
M. (Howe) Smart.
Gordon
was a 1949 graduate of Portsmouth High school, graduated from UNH in
1953 with a BA in Mathematics and Texas A&M in 1965 with a MS in
Computing Science.
He was
commissioned into the US Air Force as a 2LT in 1953 and retired
after 20 years of service as a Lt. Colonel. In 1973 he moved to
Northwood and was the Assistant Headmaster and teacher at Coe-Brown
Northwood Academy until his retirement in 1991.
Gordon
was predeceased by the love of his life, his wife of 54 years,
Barbara, who died on January 10, 2009. He is survived by 5
children; Gregory and Holly Smart of Epping, NH; Suzanne and Owen
McLean of Taylorsville, North Carolina; Gary Smart and Cynthia
Warianty, of Northwood, NH; Daniel and Rebecca Smart of Biddeford,
ME; Peter Smart of Advance, North Carolina. He is also survived by
14 Grandchildren and 3 Great-Grandchildren who knew him
affectionately as ‘Grandpapa’.
Private
interment will be in the Pine Grove Cemetery, Northwood in the
spring at the convenience of the family.
Memorial Donations may be made to Coe Brown Northwood Academy, 907
1st NH Turnpike, Northwood, NH 03261 or Cornerstone VNA, 178
Farmington Road, Rochester, NH 03867.
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