Special meeting to make Newfound school budget legal is Monday

BRISTOL — Superintendent Paul Hoiriis reviewed progress on the Newfound Area School District’s five-year strategic plan during the school board’s June 22 meeting. Community members expressed concern about school consolidation and the closing of Danbury Elementary School at the end of the month.

Prior to the meeting, the school board held a hearing on the upcoming special meeting to cure improper procedure during the annual meeting budget process. The single-session meeting to legalize and ratify the actions taken by the district at its Jan. 31 Deliberative Session and on the March 10 ballot is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Monday, June 29, in the Newfound Regional High School auditorium.

Errors the meeting will correct include failing to post the budget, default budget, and warrant articles through the state Department of Revenue Administration portal by the last Monday in January, as required by law. While the information was posted to the public on time, the district did not put it on the proper state forms.

The other defect was the Newfound Area School District Budget Committee’s failure to recommend a budget, as required by law. The school board drafted a budget to meet the terms of the district’s tax cap, but budget committee members objected to that budget, because it would constrain spending they felt was essential. By law, they could not recommend a higher budget figure, because it would violate the citizen-imposed tax cap, so they let the school board’s budget go before voters without their own recommendation. The Municipal Budget Act requires voters to act on the budget prepared by the budget committee, rather than that prepared by the school board.

When the issue was brought to the attention of state staff, Hoiriis said, its attorneys “weren’t sure” about the implications, but said the procedural defects meeting would correct any legal concerns. School district attorney Barbara Loughman also avoided declaring the budget committee’s actions illegal, saying “that may be arguable,” according to Hoiriis. “Definitely, the board cannot vote down their own budget, but she’s a little doubtful on the budget committee; but she said, at any rate, a procedural defect meeting will correct all defects, whether or not that could be argued or not.”

Regular meeting

The school district is one year into a five-year strategic plan, and Hoiriis gave a brief overview of the steps administrators have taken so far, highlighting improvements in curriculum, student wellness, and technology. The entire 28-page progress report is available at sau4.org.

During the public comment period, Glenn Dorr, of Bristol, spoke of George Corrette, the district’s first superintendent after Newfound withdrew from the Inter-Lakes school system, noting when the current high school was built, Corrette said it would hold up to 800 students. The district’s current investigation into consolidating schools — making the middle school a K-6 facility and the high school a 7-12 school — should take that into consideration.

“The high school is a beautiful envelope, which could be improved in the inside, rather than building a new addition on the outside,” Dorr said. “As a contractor, most contractors will say, ‘Well, if you don’t do it all at once, it’ll never get done.’ What it really means is, ‘If you don’t do it all at once, I won’t get paid.’ But it’s like you can’t tell your mother, ‘I’ll pick up my room bit by bit.’

“If you mortgaged the towns for a total of $40 million, it’s going to put a damper on your ability to give raises to teachers, and teachers do have choices: They can live in other towns, or they can live in this town and teach in another town.”

Diane Blasotto, of Danbury, was concerned about the fate of Danbury Elementary, and had questions about a proposed charter school, asking about the school property and whether the charter school might combine with the public school. She also thought district voters’ attempt to add $1.4 million to the school budget had something to do with the charter school.

Members of the school board clarified the charter school is entirely separate. Current law requires public school districts disposing of real estate to give charter schools the first right to purchase it while, in the past, Newfound simply transferred the schools it closed — Bridgewater, Alexandria, and Hebron — to the communities where they were located.

Before the school board can place a question on the ballot asking voters to allow a charter school to purchase the Danbury Elementary School property, the state would have to certify the charter school’s operating plan. The school is going through its certification process now, which can take time, and may not be completed before the 2027 school district meeting.

The Danbury community is pursuing “a public charter school built by and for the families of Danbury and the surrounding area,” and the concept has the support of Sen. Daniel Innis, Chris Bartlett of Proctor Academy, the Danbury Country Store, Myrl Phelps Woodworking, Blazing Star Grange, Hinton Farm and Bakery, Erick Piper of the Pasquaney School District, Ed Crowley, Donald and Marilyn Godfrey, Jane Hamor, Ruby Hill, and Lauren Moran, according to its website, danburycharter.org.

Supporters are conducting a fund drive, asking for donations from DES alumni, to help support the effort, which includes possible withdrawal from the school district. Although the proposed charter school does not own the property, the website lists the Danbury Elementary School address.

House Bill 1374, which awaits the governor’s signature, would modify the withdrawal procedure for cooperative school districts to allow a majority of voters in a single member town to elect to withdraw. Currently, the entire district would have to approve a town’s withdrawal. Bridgewater, Groton, and Hebron were able to withdraw from Newfound last year to form the Pasquaney School District, because of the special legislative status of the Bridgewater-Hebron Village School.