Winnisquam aims to give students options after high school

TILTON — The new superintendent of School Administrative Unit 59 wants students to understand why their lessons matter.

“There was generally the sense of ‘What do I do now?’ among students without a specific career path in mind,” said Superintendent Rob Seaward, who began his new job overseeing the Winnisquam Regional School District on June 20. “We want to try and help craft a vision for their futures that’s giving kids hope.”

Winnisquam offers a broad range of academic courses aimed at “preparing students to take on whatever is facing them,” Seaward said. The school also operates a regional agricultural program that is open to students in other school districts, and it has a partnership with the Huot Career and Technical Center in Laconia so Winnisquam students have access to the courses it offers.

Beyond that, the school district is creating a pipeline to industry, through partnerships with Freudenberg-NOK Sealing Technologies and Watts Regulator Company. Seaward is looking to establish other extended learning opportunities as well.

“We want to expand with the business partnerships, with job shadowing and career partnerships,” Seaward said.

Noting that there has been a large turnover in both staff and administrators in recent years — most due to retirement — Seaward said the new leadership team is coming together to build a sense of “this is where I want to stay” among the students.

As part of the community piece, he said, they have been working on STEAM — science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics — programs to enhance what is done in the classroom. Between support from Freudenberg and the receipt of state grants, Winnisquam is looking to eventually expand robotics to kindergarten through Grade 12, even during the summer. This year, the school is expanding robotics into the middle school.

Working with a grant and a partnership with local radio station 104.9FM, the district is installing the technology to operate a high school radio station, which Seaward hopes will provide opportunities for other students as well as to extend radio into the middle and elementary schools.

Perhaps most exciting is the school’s partnership with the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, which offers “STEM in a Box” — portable instructional units for 18 trades, with sailors and other personnel bringing their experiences to the students to expose them to possible career paths.

“They’re well-established programs that the shipyard takes on the road to schools,” Seaward said. He believes Winnisquam is the only school in Central New Hampshire to be involved in the program.

One of the programs, Sea Perch, is an underwater robotics program that Seaward had a chance to see demonstrated, and he thinks it will hold a strong appeal to students.

Background

Seaward has been with the Winnisquam Regional School District for six years, previously serving as the middle school principal. He had previously been high school principal at Spaulding High School in Rochester, and he had a chance to “help out” at Winnisquam’s elementary school, so he has had a taste of the entire range of instruction.

“I came to Winnisquam in anticipation of extending my career to being a superintendent with experience at all levels,” he said.

When Dr. Tammy Davis retired as superintendent, the school board did an internal search for a replacement and chose Seaward.

With declining student enrollments across the state, plus some aging buildings, the Winnisquam Regional School Board had established a long-range planning committee to look into the future of the five schools — Sanbornton Elementary School, Southwick Elementary School, the Union-Sanborn School, and Winnisquam middle and high schools.

This summer, the district held the first public forum to discuss the issues and possible solutions. It was not to develop a consensus at that time, but to bring the public into the discussion, Seaward said.

“A space study in December showed us that we’re where we’re going to be in student enrollment,” he said, noting that the school population has leveled off after years of declining enrollment. “Of course, if there are new homes built, that could change that.”

The forum was to discuss whether the buildings should be repaired, whether classes should be shuffled around, or whether things should be left as they are.
“It was a positive and upbeat discussion,” he observed.

He noted that the Union portion of the Union-Sanborn School, which is about 100 years old, needs a roof replacement and does not meet building codes. He said the district does not yet have any cost estimates relating to the work.

If the district closed the school, it could transfer students to Southwick and Sanbornton schools, and move the fifth grade to the middle school, or have three K-8 schools in each community, he said. (Winnisquam serves Northfield, Tilton, and Sanbornton.)

“If we did this, how would that affect busing, athletics, and other programs?” he asked.

He noted that the School Board also was concerned about balance between the three communities, so no would feel left out.

“The questions at the forum were very spot on,” he said, adding that the harder meetings will follow, as the board moves into the decision-making phase.

“Almost all of the options would involve a bond,” he noted. “If taxpayers aren’t willing to bond the work, almost every option falls off, leaving only the status quo. So we’d be looking only at what’s necessary for the Union School. The roof could cost $400,000, but that’s the cheapest option.”

He noted that they are working full-day kindergarten into all of the calculations because that would affect space needs.

Seaward said his biggest focus is on providing a 21st-century education for Winnisquam students.

“We want to give them real hope that they’ll have a purpose after graduation,” he said. “Having kids think as fifth-, sixth-, and seventh-graders what they can do after graduation, that’s the goal. Both our educators and outsiders are pumped up about this.”