Voters will select new Pasquaney school board

BRIDGEWATER — Voters in the three towns comprising the new Pasquaney School District will be casting ballots for the first time to elect school board members and a district moderator on Tuesday, March 11, with a school district meeting to follow on Tuesday, March 25.

Until now, a selectboard-appointed steering committee has been preparing for the school district — assigned as School Administrative Unit 108 — to officially open July 1. The steering committee’s role has been to establish board policies to ensure a smooth transition from membership in the Newfound Area School District.

There is one contested position for Election Day, and two other warrant articles have to appear on the ballot. The remainder of the ballot will be discussed during the district meeting later this month.

Robert Dakel and Jennifer Larochelle are seeking the three-year school board seat for Hebron. Bethany Sharp is running unopposed for the three-year seat for Groton, and Mara Capsalis is unopposed for the two-year seat in Bridgewater. After 2027, the Bridgewater seat will be for three years.

Roger Larochelle, Hebron’s town moderator who was appointed to serve as school district moderator when the Legislature approved the three towns’ withdrawal from Newfound, is running unopposed for district moderator, and will be conducting the school district meeting on Tuesday, March 25.

Bridgewater and Groton normally hold elections on Tuesday, March 11, but Hebron’s elections and Town Meeting occur in May. As it has done in the past, as part of the Newfound district, Hebron holds a separate school election in March, rather than hold up school election results for two months.

Newfound school board members are elected at-large, but in establishing the Pasquaney School District, the steering committee chose to have each town elect its own member. Julie Converse, Bridgewater’s administrative assistant who has been keeping the records for SAU 108, said the change was made to avoid the confusion of voters being asked to choose people they don’t even know, with some of them writing in other names.

Also on the ballot is Article 2, a proposed amendment to the Pasquaney School District’s articles of agreement to increase the number of school board members from three to five by adding two at-large seats. If passed, the change would be effective in March 2026. The initial term of one at-large member would be for two years, with the other being three years.

Article 3, also on Tuesday’s ballot, seeks to amend the articles of agreement “to simplify the minimum contribution from each town to a minimum of 15 students. ... Should student enrollment fall below the base student maintenance number in a member town, the town will be assessed an ADM [average daily membership] charge of 15 students and the differential deducted equally from the remaining towns.”

If approved, articles 2 and 3 still would have to be approved by the state Board of Education before taking effect.

The school district meeting, which will take place at the Bridgewater-Hebron Village School at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 25, includes the proposed operating budget of $6.6 million. It appears as state form MS-26, the official report required by the Department of Revenue Administration.

“We do not have the accounting software fully up and operational, as we’re not even operating yet,” Converse explained as the reason for presenting the budget on the state form.

In addition to the regular budget, voters will be deciding on a $39,003 appropriation to fund the first year of a three-year collective bargaining agreement with regular-education teachers; $14,413 as part of a three-year agreement for special programs; $8,773 as part of a three-year agreement for student support services; and a $1 lease of the Bridgewater-Hebron Village School from the village district responsible for plant operations and maintenance. The total add-on if those warrant articles pass is $62,190, with another $100 if voters agree to establish an expendable trust fund for technology, and another $100 to create a special education capital reserve fund.

Altogether, the proposed spending amounts to $6.65 million, offset by estimated revenues of $432,214 and an expected state education grant of $1.9 million, leaving $4.3 million to be raised by taxes.

Another warrant article would allow the school district to retain up to 5% of the year-end unassigned general fund balance as a contingency fund, rather than using the money to offset taxes.

Voters also will decide whether to ratify a reciprocal tuition agreement with Newfound for students in middle and high school, and a memorandum of understanding with the Pemi-Baker Regional School District for students in grades nine through 12 who wish to attend Plymouth Regional High School.

The final article asks voters to designate the trustees of trust funds for the Town of Hebron “to hold and administer gifts, legacies, or devices made to, and accepted by, the Pasquaney School District,” as well as the trust funds created by the district.

Access to information

Converse said the Pasquaney School District has been working on a website to provide citizen access to information about the school, with a target date of July 1. She said she is hoping to have it operational by the end of April, so parents will be able to use it to register students.

Asked about video coverage of school board meetings, Converse said it came up in discussions, but the steering committee has been focused on other things, and it would be up to the elected school board to decide whether to pursue such an option.