In an eye opening article in the Wednesday edition of the Keene Sentinel, the proficiency of the students being taught at our school has been brought to light in a very unflattering manner:
Winchester Students Are Far Behind
Who's responsible for the test results of juniors at Keene High School, is it the principal and his staff or the staff at the five schoolswho send students to Keene High? Keene officials agree more work has to be done at the high school; but Tuesday night, they saw graph after graph, showing 11th - graders from other towns vastly outperforming their peers from Winchester.
Of the 50 Winchester students who took the New England Common Assessment Program test at Keene High School this fall, 60 percent failed the test! If they are that far behind when they are juniors, it stands to reason they are already well behind when they get there. The scores do show progress has been made in the five years that Winchester students have been attending Keene High, but it's evident that there is a long ways to go to get to a level of proficiency with their peers from schools in Chesterfield, Nelson, Harrisville, Marlborough, Stoddard and Westmoreland.
"We are seeing growth; but the bottom is so low, even with great gains, we still don't get to a level of proficiency", Principal Alan E. Chmiel stated. A high number of low scores can drag down the average for the entire school and Winchester students are "a large group". "And it's a large, large problem", Keene Board of Education Chairman Neil Donegan said. Donegan also stated that it may not be a problem for Keene much longer if the voters in Winchester decide they want to break their contract with keene and re-open Thayer High School.
"Let'em go if they want to go", he stated,If they're not gonna try
(to ready the students for high school) why should we care". Carol Brown, chairman of the Keene Board of Education was a bit more sympathetic; but said even sympathy runs out eventually. "I care about the students and the greater community as much as anyone; but I'm not going to carry the water for them. I think they are squandering an opportunity for their students ".
Wow, sure doesn't sound like a glowing review for the education system in our town of Winchester. It doesn't seem that these students, nor their parents or the overly taxed taxpayers of Winchester are getting their monies ( $10,475,158.00 ) worth, now
does it?
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44 comments:
What say you Colleen Duquette, how much more money will you squander on more staff and perks while our children remain uneducated. And to think these teachers and staff all got raises and more benefits. They should hang their heads in shame and offer a public appology to their students and all of us parents who put our faith and trust in them.
What ever happened to the fact that the teachers in Winchester do not teach to the test. Someone needs to ask Mr.Donegan why the teachers in Keene teach to the test. Oops-I am apalled that Mr. Donegan would even suggest that our students are "lacking in knowledge"-perhaps if our teacher spent hours teaching kids how to take a test they would score better. As a matter of fact someone needs to ask Mr. Donegan why Keene High was not good enough for his daughter. Food for thought.
He needs to be replaced along with Ms. Duquette who wanted studnents there so her children could graduate from Keene. Please cast your vote prudently and wisely.
Boy, did this article get my blood boiling when I read it. I wanted to call everyone in town that I could think of to discuss the issue at hand. This is a matter that should be discussed at length. And I look forward to hearing what my neighbors think.
Unfortunately, the Keene School board has gotten the wrong inital impression from our Warrant Article #5. An article that hasn't even been voted on. This article may have been signed by a dozen or more residents, but this does by no means indicated that the rest of the town agrees. These same citizen signed an article that had a complete different meaning. At the deliberative session, it was reworded to ask the voters if they are in favor of "exploring" the idea of reopening Thayer. Wereas the original warrant asked if you wanted it reopened. To assume that the voters agree with this warrant is hasty and inconcievable.
They should get off their high horse until they have heard from the voters in March. For the Chairman of the Board to make such ugly statements as, "Let'em go if they want to go...If the're not gonna try, why should we care?" That is not what we want to hear out of the mouths of our educators. Or those in charge of our childrens' education. THEY SHOULD CARE! grrrr
As a parent of two children at the school, and with one about to enter Keene High School next year, I can say from experience that our childrens' educational problems should not be placed solely on the shoulders of the teachers. The parents of each student needs to take an active role in their children's education. I have seen first hand over the past nine years the dedication of the teachers. The students have a far superior education to what I was taught over 25 years ago.
We have not received the report of the NECAP testing here, but that should be a BIG indication as to whether KHS accusations are substantiated. And if the test score are subpar, then fire away on the teachers.
As we are all painfully aware (our pocket books are screaming from the large taxes we are paying), we have a large number of "special education" children. Face it, we live in a poor town, with poor people who do not believe in education as a means of improvement. Who do not place a high value on education.
I believe that a lot of teachers would agree that we would be doing our children a disservice by reopening Thayer. Not only will it be very costly, but we were on the brink of loosing our accreditation as it was. They obviously have more opportunities at Keene HS than we could possible offer them here. It is all the more obvious that Keene High School has not been active in achieving a cohesive relationship between the two schools.
Something needs to be done and soon! Shame on you Neil W Donegan.
Here we go again. The Winchester school system is a failure. Kind of like being between a rock and a hard place. Time to hire a commandant instead of a principal to run the place.
To the above Anonymous ( two posts up ); I wish you had put your name on your blog post, that was great! We need you and we could write your name in for school budget committee and send Ms. Colleen Duquette and her budget increases packing. The town budget committee tried to send the school admin. a message..if you don't get our school children's standards up, you're not getting our tax dollars to waste. Send Colleen Duquette a reminder, it's our tax dollars you're wasting election day.
To say those things at a public meeting was disgraceful and to embarrass our children in such a manner as to imply they are so far behind other schools is an outrage. Even if these allegations hold some truth, those comments should never have been made or printed in the newspaper. How do they think they've made our children feel? Too much emphasis is put on these so-called general standard tests instead of the old 3 R's. I think a public apology and a retraction is in order.
Gee, I have a million things to say on all this but I think my most important issue here is NOT money. Not teachers, Not the building or town government. Its our Parents,
I have personaly seen countless times that parents want everyone else to do what they should be doing with their own kids. I know for a fact a lot of these kids dont have the type of family's
that Mom or Dad or both sit with them every night and work on homework and life lessons they have the attitude the teachers can do it all, they are not teaching these kids to be respectfull, listen and try hard in class. I see the same thing with our non school activities parents not involved with the kids sports or other interest. To many Dads are not going outside and throwing the baseball around, its that simple!
For these kids to learn and grow its the actual parent who should be doing the most work! Teachers and Coaches and Cub scout leaders etc. cannot be responsible for the raising of our children it should be us.
Shame on you Keene sentinal for printing such a harmfull article. Issues like this should of been discussed among boards and parents
not front page headlines for these kids to read
All of the sudden the whole town is awake and pissed. I hope they stay awake throw march.
I hope the School Board meetings will have more attendees in the future. It would be a shame for everyone's voice not to be heard by the decision makers (school board.) Next meeting is Feb 19th at 6:30 PM at the school.
Thank you Mr. Davis however, I do not wish to be on the school board now. I believe that I can do that more being on the sidelines. Those of you need to understand that the teachers of students in the system are fantastic. They teach your students to think "out of the box" That is not what Keene does. I had the priviledge of teaching your students for five years. Many of my students did very well in college. Please do not discount the idea of a new Thayer High. You will get teachers that want to be there instead of those that have to be there. I truly miss the students that have hopes and dreams. We did our best for your students.
A few things:
1. Donegan has a right to demand answers from the schools that send students to Keene high. Low NECAP scores for the high school get attached to KEENE high school. But the end product (high school juniors) is only as good as the ingredients (the education and motivation for younger students). He just wants better ingredients so he can turn out a better end product, because its got his district's name on it.
2. I agree parents have more influence over their kids than teachers do. What about looking into how far behind Keene students they are when they start 1st grade?
Again, Winchester teachers can only do so much with what they're given. If the kids aren't taught at home the importance of doing homework, reading lessons and really WORKING to understand the materials, how on earth do you expect the teachers to make them learn? They can only stand up there and teach. They can't turn on the brains.
That's your job, Mom and Dad.
3. When students at Monadnock Regional High School grew tired of their situation, they got active and set about changing it. Don't shield children from the truth. Let them hear it, digest it, and react to it in constructive ways.
4. Bob, I have to question what good you really think will come of ripping funding away from a school in need? I understand that people are upset and feel they're sending goo dmoney after bad, but running a failing school on no money is impossible.
It takes money to change - to buy new curriculum materials, and train teachers in new methods that are more effective. And change takes time. Even more if every effort the board makes is challenged by the budget committee, which obviously has only one agenda: keeping taxes low. Funding a school isn't always about low price, it's about best value, and no, those aren't always the same thing.
Bob, I think you are trying to - intentionally or not - ruin the school. Whatever the reasoning behind it is, I think you should be honest with the people on this site and in town. I'm going to ask pointe blank and see if this even gets posted for long before it's taken down, but Bob Davis, is it your intention to drive the school so far into the ground the State closes it, and students have to go somewhere else? Because that's what's going to happen.
Unless you know how to get blood from a stone?
Lobby the state to even out the burden. Don't pull the floor out from the under the school.
And to the Anonymous who posted second, "teaching to the test" is a cheap scare tactic. The test asks students to do certain skills. The teachers try to teach those skills. If they teach them to read so they can read the quesiton, is that teaching to the test as well? For God's sake.
Its hard to make a ligitement decision when the people that run the schools don't like to be questioned.I don't think its out of line to discuss and research better ways to get more for our money or better value[education] for our tax dollars.
To the anonymous poster who questioned Mr. Davis' motives and accused him of trying to ruin the school; you couldn't be more far off if you hopped a bus. For your information, Mr. Davis is very concerned about our school situation, and the children in town. In fact it was he, who took the initiative and attempted to discuss the situation with both the budget committee and Selectmen over the ever increasing school budget and seek some kind of a solution to the high costs of busing our students to this school and that one, constantly adding more support staff and the feasibility of possibly reopening our own school again and yes, to save the taxpayers some money, by keeping and teaching our children right here at home. Your accusations couldn't be further from the truth and if you'd like, we can post exactly where all the money goes, busing costs, salaries etc. for all to see and decide for themselves if reopening the school wouldn't be such a bad idea.
As for teachers not being able to "turn on their brains", perhaps they need to look more closely at themselves and ask how they can make their class more interesting and peak the curiosity of the students they are entrusted with, instead of sticking to the current methods, that obviously don't reach some students and just labeling every problem child a special needs student is a cop out in my book. If you expect students to put forth the efforts to learn, why shouldn't we expect the same of our teachers too. ( not saying they don't ) It's quite evident that there are problems that need immediate attention and solutions.
It's going to take the effort of the whole town, parents, teachers, students and town government working together to find the answers, failing our children is not an option.
February 20, 2009 8:40 AM 
Last night's board meeting was very enlightening and I was glad to see that several residence showed up to voice their disgust about the Sentinel's headline article. Nothing was resolved, of course. However, we were given some statistics that can shed some light on the issue.
For those of you out of the school system loop, the NECAP tests are given to EVERY student to take. It does not matter what your IQ level is. (Thank you "NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND") It important to note that there are a large number of Special Ed students in the junior class this year. It was also mentioned by Mr. Funkhouser that Keene High School lumps all of the special education children that have come from the Winchester School (we teach the autistic children from all over the area), even if the child is from Troy, Hinsdale, etc.
Wait until they receive our eight grade class next year. There are 60 students, of which 21 are labeled “special ed” students. That is over 30% of the class! My son is part of this class and has had any where from two to five Special Ed classmates in his classroom (a unit of 20 or more students), since Kindergarten. He comes home frustrated from taking the NECAP test, because all of the Special Ed students have aids that assist them with taking the test. I have not been clear on why they administer the tests in the same room. My thought has always been, are the aids actually smart enough to pass the test. Opps, sorry that just slipped out….
Dr. C mentioned that in Hinsdale the new principal discovered that the method in which they administered the tests hurt their scores and they have changed their ways and vastly improved their scores this past year.
Last year, from Winchester there were 43 graduating seniors and 25 of those students went on to higher education. I say that it is too soon to say with any certainty if Keene High School has improved our children’s chances of finishing High School and going on to college, but I truly believe that we would find that the stats have vastly improved.
If our children are behind in their education when entering Keene, keeping them here is NOT the solution (as some have suggested). Things have to improve here. We need to insist on getting our moneys worth from Unit 38. If our teaching methods don't improve here, perhaps we should be looking to send them all to Keene. How do we improve on the way our children are accepted at the school? Not writing ugly articles in the paper would be an improvement!
Dr. C mentioned that legally the interviews for the principal are a public session. There are eight (8) candidates that they plan to interview on Friday March 13 at 6, 7 & 8 PM. Also, on Saturday the 14th at 8:30, 9:30 & 10:30 AM. NOTE that Colleen Duquette was quick to point out that they have never done it that way. They let the public meet the final candidates after they have come to their decision.
In my opinion, it would be nice to see a candidate principal that is NOT from the immediate area, who has fresh ideas and learning techniques – primarily so that nepotism is no longer a factor in making decisions at the school. Mind you, I don’t mean that Mr. Funkhouser is related to anyone at the school, but hopefully you understand what I am saying!
Mr Davis & Mr Informer
I can clearly see why people may feel that you dont care about the kids or school. Time and Time again all you worry about is the money and taxes
not that money isnt important but if you read every post you 2 write it seems all you worry about is money.... not the kids
I know it must be hard for people who never had kids or if they are all grown to worry about other peoples kids that are still school age, but you must.
It may be a accident that your post seem to only care about your tax dollars and not our actual children, You always talk about saving money and not wasting tax dollars, What we need are the answers to the problem for the good of the kids and our community.
If you go at it from that angle you may reach more of us and actually help our kids and maybe save some tax money.
People think that you only pretend to care about our school, in the end it really seems all you care about is your wallet.
With that said I also believe that we could double our school budget but it may not raise a single score because I dont believe money is the problem
I'm glad to see there are some other people out there who agree The Informer and Bob Davis are either not taking the right tact, or are not on the side of the school.
And as for the Informer saying teachers need to make their lessons more engaging: the kids have no attention spans, or manners. Is it the teachers job to do that too?
You want the schools to do more than ever, on less money, and when they don't deliver, you take away even more money. Where is the logic?
I agree, if you can see that a teacher is being ineffective, replace them. Don't start firing teachers and not replacing them, big class sizes will only make things worse.
Again, I am really excited by the energy I'm feeling from the town about this. What was the board meeting last night, Highland Croft? I missed it, but I want to hear more.
WOW! I have just read all the comments. Quite a lot to swallow! I too read the article in the Keene Sentinel. My first thoughts were -- RRRRR - then I thought; can you imagine what the kids in Keene are saying to our children in the hallways at school? Then I thought... is there something here that we are all missing? Sometimes the truth hurts.
Parents need to push harder. I know first hand some parents allow their children to stay up all night. Some may think this is no big deal, but sleep is a very important tool for an education. Some parents don’t bother making their children do their homework. Some parents depend on the ACCESS program to get the job done. I am not bad mouthing the ACCESS program – I’m happy we have that for our children. However, I feel the parents need to at least look at what their children are doing. I also know a few parents that when the child doesn't get their homework done it's always someone else’s fault. Of course the list goes on and on . But, the fact remains the same, the PARENTS NEED TO BE MORE INVOLVED WITH THEIR CHILDRENS EDUCATION!
SOME of the Teachers are also a bit lackadaisical. Not pushing our children, or not planning a well balanced day. Some of the aids for our Autistic Children and/or our Special Needs Children don’t take the child’s education seriously at all. They just go through the motions and collect a paycheck for it. This allows the child to slip through the cracks. Some of these Aids even go as far as to blame everyone but themselves ... taking advantage of the child’s problems and not bothering to educate or even trying! Some of the Aids actually just sit around and gossip about the children.
Please note: I do think we have some excellent teachers and Aides. I too have seen some WONDERFUL dedication and caring Teachers throughout the years. On another note, there are also some wonderful parents out there as well - just a few bad apples in the bunch.
I don't care how poor you are or what your background is – you should always have the opportunity for a fantastic education. – We may be poor but our home does not need to show it and our minds can still be enriched!
Here's some wonderful grammar from the Chairman of the board: "Let'em go if they want to go...If they’re not gonna try, why should we care?" Well, Mr. Donegan - we all should care – no matter if we have children in the system or not.
On another note: Bob Davis, I am going to vote for you this coming election … I just hope we can get a few more people in their whom has our towns best interest at heart…
Sonja Robbins, Winchester
Anonymous said:
"Mr Davis & Mr Informer
I can clearly see why people may feel that you dont care about the kids or school. Time and Time again all you worry about is the money and taxes
not that money isnt important but if you read every post you 2 write it seems all you worry about is money.... not the kids
I know it must be hard for people who never had kids or if they are all grown to worry about other peoples kids that are still school age, but you must."
Speaking for myself, I care about all kids, mine ( all grown up ) yours and everyone elses. My wife and I have friends who have an autistic son and another friend of ours has two boys stricken with Ecto-Derma Displasia and we care deeply for them and how they are treated and have seen first hand how some people in the education field couldn't be bothered with what they see as damaged goods. I care about wasting tax dollars on things that don't work and throwing good money after bad. I care about our rising tax dollars because I'm on disability and can't keep up; no one gives me a performance bonus, cost of living raise or pays for my insurance and the 14 medications I take daily. I care about people in all walks of life and by starting this website I've attempted to shed light on subjects that will and are going to affect every citizen in town, one way or another. I welcome comments, both pro and con and welcome all to participate. The topics I post come form other town citizens, the newspaper and my own experiences with town government. You don't have to agree with me, like what I post or how I feel; but please don't ever tell me I don't care about children. Nothing could be further from the truth.
concerned again said:
"And as for the Informer saying teachers need to make their lessons more engaging: the kids have no attention spans, or manners. Is it the teachers job to do that too?"
Is it not a teachers job to teach? Is it not a teachers job to try and help students when they error and correct mistakes? Perhaps if today's teachers took a little extra time to research their students and be aware of their problems and discussed these situations with their parents they could come to some equitable solution and just maybe one more kid would be saved from wasting their potential. This is not a perfect world, to only want to teach model students and pass the rest onto someone else won't solve anyone's problems, least alone the student's. You have to care enough about the student and love your job enough to take on the challenge. Isn't that what teaching is all about? As a former mathematics tutor, I can tell you first hand, that the rewards are so much greater working with a challenged student and watching them succeed.
I was informed of the wages we are paying the school librarian, i don't want to put the amount down, because i find it hard to believe. If its true its more than some teachers. It gets old to hear if you want accountability and efichency you don't care about the kids.
We're starting a space for this dialogue at www.SentinelTalkBack.com
I am really interested in the conversations this article has started and I want to hear what the town has to say.
Come join the Sentinel's conversation at http://www.sentineltalkback.com/
Perhaps if the Winchester school board, would accept the fact that they work for the taxpayers, there might be a way out of this mess. As they treat the average citizen as being ignorant, then they might well have reaped what they sowed.
To concerned about the direction these comments are taking;
…I didn’t awake one morning and decide to start some controversy and as the blogger stated, "destroy the school"! I haven’t formed any opinion one way or the other, on whether we should have our children stay in Keene or move back to Thayer. We must wait until the voters decide on March 10th. What I am guilty of, is caring about our tax dollars and the strain they have on our struggling citizens, our children's education and how the tax dollars are being spent. What I am also guilty of is raising a dialog about important issues that deserve deeper examination given the impact they have on our town, specially the people we elected and entrusted to look out for the best interest of the tax payers and not their own self-interest or their friends. I know who they are and together we can make a difference and vote out these people who do not have the town's best interests and those of their fellow citizens. I am not out to destroy anything, but I am committed to raising awareness to some of the problems I have uncovered while serving on the Budget Committee. If you visit the Winchester Informer home page and follow the link on the left side of the page to the town's website and read the budget committee minutes, you'll see, that one thing I have insisted upon is thinking about the people of Winchester first when the board made their decisions. We are heading into hard economic times and it's only going to get worse according to top economic advisers and we should prepare for the worst by cutting out some of the Selectmen’s requested increased spending now. I will continue my efforts educate the tax payers whether I am elected selectmen or not. I know some people may not like me personally or ever agree with some of the things I have to say or done; but that will not deter my efforts to name,blame and shame the guilty ones and serve all of the people in Winchester if given the chance.
4. "Bob, I have to question what good you really think will come of ripping funding away from a school in need? I understand that people are upset and feel they're sending good money after bad, but running a failing school on no money is impossible".
If you had been at the school deliberative session, you would have heard me point out that the town budget committee made a $200,000.00 cut from the proposed school budget increases of $686,395.00 to last years budget, because of the additional state education aid coming to Winchester for 2009-2010. Winchester’s share will be $529,445.00 or more, now that the President has signed the stimulus package, as billions have been set aside for education and schools. We can only hope this and more money will come. The town budget committee felt that $200.000.00 of the increase that was requested, should be held back to help struggling overwhelmed tax payers in town to give them a little break in the tax rate. We are currently the forth highest taxed town in the state and we believed that a lot of tax payers need the relief from the rising costs. For this I get berated and accused of ripping funding away from the schools, when in actuality, we were keeping money that would have been given back to us next year anyhow, just paring back proposed increases in an attempt to help our fellow citizens this year. We told School Budget Chairperson Colleen Duquette this was our intentions, yet she still amended Article One for the $200,000.00 back into the budget. Blame, blame the chairperson and do not shot the messenger!
Bob needs to go back to his original platform.....Loud race tracks. Mr Informer needs to back to his concerns with RVD
All this other stuff you 2 & the Keene Sentinal have stirred up has brought winchesters "reputation" backwords 10-20 years.
I have been 1 of the people stating that I think the town has changed for the better and hopefully my kids will see the day when we are thought of as a nice town by other people in other towns.
with issues like this getting spread around those days are far away again
everyone wants to point fingers but the problem has to be with us.
for as long as anyone can remember we have had a certain "reputation"
I would like to think its something in the water that make us this way but that would be wishfull thinking.
I know my kids who go to the elementary school are on the honor roll, I know that the other parents we have become freinds with live decent lives, are involved with the kids and the town
so where does this reputation come from????
We need change, We need to stop drawing lines in the sand and setting up for battle, Like someone I knows says "United we stand divided we fall"
I am coming to think its not the spending driving our tax rates up its the Fact we have so few single family homes with a kid or 2 we have a lot of trailer parks and large apartment buildings with lots of kids and very little tax base. All the tax cutting in the world wont change that fact.
Over the years I have watched towns like Hinsdale, Troy, Marlborough pull themselves out of the reputation they had, change the direction they were going in and today I think they are wonderfull towns.
If we stop fighting each other and work harder we can do it also.
Explain to all of us how bringing serious problems to light and promoting open discussion in hopes of getting more people involved and hopefully through those discussions, an equitable solution to these problems can be found, would be cause for setting the town of Winchester backwards 10-20 years? I have nothing to do with the reputation this town has or has had in the past. Perhaps you can't see the forest through the trees, as the old saying goes. The subjects posted on this blog have come directly from members of the community, that are just as concerned with matters as Mr. Davis and I are and are hoping that others in the community will get their heads out of the sand and start participating and getting involved with the matters that most affect all of us. People like yourself who point fingers at others and blame them for all of what's wrong with Winchester because they are willing to stand up and attempt to do something about the real problems are really what is wrong with Winchester. I'll sum it all up for you in one word .. Apathy. You mention the town has issues with too many multi-family homes and trailer parks; who's to blame for that? I could provide the answer for you; but then again if you don't open your eyes to see the bigger picture than all the discussions in the world won't change your tunnel vision view of any situation brought to light. Ignoring the problems and the issues doesn't make them go away. If you don't like what is being said about the town, then get involved and do something to help change it besides whining when others try on your behalf. Usually where's there's smoke, there's fire.
Several people have posted completely off topic and have attacked Mr. Davis for his comments and his views .. THIS WILL NOT CONTINUE .. Stay on subject or don't post as I will remove your comments.
If you call starting this sight being "involved" in making things better you are on to many meds.
How come you cant see that this sight has actually made everything worse. I dont call hiding behind blogs and talking about cutting everything a way of bringing change. And now you threaten to censor everything that you dont agree with while at the same time allowing this sight to post what you and Mr Davis say, Now you are shedding some real light on the real problems. the Problems are with people like you you stir things up, point out the things we allready know but not once have you tried to come up with a answer to help these problems your only answer is cut cut cut. But the real issues are not money.so how does cutting or raising anything going to make things better when that is not really the problem.
The people that I think are bringing the change we need are trying to work with and help the school, these same people give time to places like the ELMM or other organizations trying to do better by our kids with coaching and mentoring, The people who organize the pickle festival, any one who gives time to girl scouts boy scouts etc. These people are getting out from behind the keyboards and are actually doing something besides fanning the flames. This town has a lot of beautiful things going for it, but people like you will destroy all of them with your little wars against selectmen and planning boards
Sadly you may have a point with some of your issues, but I dont see how destroying everything that most of us think are good will better us in the end
Im sure it would be wrong for you to start censoring the opposition and doing something like that will hopefully get this sight closed dowm, so go ahead censor away it will help me prove my point
If you wish to continue on with this
mud slinging, then email me your comments and a name for the topic and I will start a new blog; otherwise stay on topic as you have been asked to do and stop this drivel or I will remove your childish posts. For what it's worth to you, I have attended many of the towns meetings, spoken with board members and selectmen and have GOTTEN INVOLVED .. what have you done besides attempt to slander Mr Davis and blame this site for all the problems of the town? Answer me in an email ..
This site has done the citizens of Winchester a very valuable benefit, in the form of democratic dialog. Sweeping the dirt under the rug, still makes it dirt. Free and open discussion of our problems, is the best way for our community to find reasonable answers to the questions. The elected officials, do have the obligation to work with all of the people, regardless of idealogy. Education in Winchester, should be no different.
This sight has done more for the people of this town than anything I have ever herd of before. Never before did we, the people of Winchester, have a way to get information about town issues that were not published in a news paper. This sight is not to change the town directly, it is to help "inform" the people of the town so that they can make it a better place to live. It is up to you to make a change and by complaining about how someone must be up to no good because they care about one thing and not another. If they didn't care then they would say it. If you are one that thinks like this than you should be ashamed of yourself and think before you speak.
Good Morning everyone,
To anonymous – you have a lot to say and you feel you are right – who are you? I don’t think you understand how wonderful this sight is. Would you have known ALL of these things without coming in here and reading? I certainly would not have. I am one of the guilty ones who only go to one or two meetings a year for the Town and or the School. If we all were to go, can you imagine what we would get accomplished? I look forward to this sight to help me understand what is going on.
I for one LOVE Winchester, I own two homes here and pay over $9,000.00 a year in taxes. I am also the first one to complain about the water/sewer bill being so high. I too, have helped out the community with the Pickle Festival, I have also contributed time and effort into the school – I (with a friend of mine) started the PTSA back up again a few years back. I have sponsored several fund-raisers for the school and other various activities regarding our community. I wonder; did you attend ANY of them? I know not too many towns’ people showed up at all. However, I keep plugging away trying to do what I can. Every little bit helps.
I don’t have children in school anymore – but I have a lot of grand-children and a lot of friends who have children in school. I most certainly care about the kids and the people in my community. After all – this is my town. We all care; we just can’t afford it any more.
We need to cut cost – in our homes, our communities and our schools. That’s just how it is. There’s not too much any of us can do about that.
Sonja Robbins
Please take the time to read the "letter to the editor" in the Keene Sentinel on 2/24 from Helen Bouchard. Here is a person, a former Keene board member, who puts this problem in the proper perspective. She also chastises Mr. Donegan for not giving the students the tools that they all need to be succesful.
If we consider that then we can work to solve this problem. Just remember that our students are being faced with the fact that Keene perceives them as stupid.We need to focus and help the kids.
I don't have the education answers, but like Gov. Douglas of VT said in a speech recently, we rely on a hand full of so called experts to spend are dollars and some don't know what they are doing and some are feeding us a line. We need some honest people with education experience to get involved. I'm not suggesting that everyone in the ed. business is dishonest, but with some of the people in charge its business as usual, we need new ideas. Lets start with looking into bring the kids back, i don't like being held hostage by Keene.
We must start by re-thinking who we elected to the school board..Colleen Duquette and Gary O'Neal they are to chummy with the SAU people. We do not have the time for or the money for chummy.
PLUS -
Wendy does nothing but doodle in her notebook and watches the crowd. When it comes time to vote, she is right there with whatever Colleen does.
As much as Brian's approach annoys me at times (like a hyper school boy who ate too much candy), at least he is speaking out and asking the important questions.
Thank you Brian!
Sounds like we need Brian back in the town hall. A vote for Brian Moser and Robert Davis would be a vote for tough questions.
Dear "Anonymous":
I certainly appreciate your acknowledgement and comments on my "doodling" skills at the school board meetings. Call it what you will-"doodling/note taking" but it does provide me with details of what is being discussed at the meeting. (As you may have noticed our meetings are "not" tape- recorded)and my "doodling" has provided information to the board on questions that have arose from previous meetings. I am not sure if you watch Good Morning America- but this morning(2-27-09)it was stated that doodling during a meeting you are 29% more likely to remember the details. You also may or may not have noticed that we can not speak during a meeting unless we are allowed by the chair to do so.
Your preception might be that I go along with others and their way of a vote, but honestly I am very capable of making a sound decision of my own when placing my vote.
Why aren't school board meetings taped? Are they not public meetings and should not the citizens of Winchester be made aware of the what was discussed and decided at these meetings? Why does it seem that many of our elected officials continuously take efforts to hide and censor information in this town at their meetings? Honest folk walk in the open with nothing to hide, it is them that fear scrutiny that cling to the shadows to avoid the public's eye.
dont rely on tapes go to the meetings yourself!
Thank you for your informative comment. If I could attend meetings I would, but working second shift in Milford makes it impossible to do so.
to anonymous who is referencing our elected schoolboard members...as chummies, a doodler,and Hyper-boy. I wonder how many school board meetings you actually attend because it sounds like you haven't attended enough of them with the comments you are making towards the members.Just because Colleen and Gary are willing to listen and work with the SAU doesn't mean they are chummies. What is the definition of chummies? I personally think its wonderful and very important that they get along and work together with the SAU.So is it a secret or can you share what Wendy is doodling? Is she an artist? What you said about Brian was 1/2 right he does ask alot of important questions and is always looking for answers. The part you are incorrect on is Brian is a man -not a hyper boy!
Thesaurus: chummy
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Home > Library > Literature & Language > Thesaurus
adjective
Very closely associated: close, familiar, friendly, (intimate)maybe not. Informal thick. Slang tight. Idioms: hand in glove with.
or a Natural Wild Alaska Salmon Treats At Waggin Tails-Your Trusted Source.
How many school board meetings have I attended.. Answer: Not enough. You pick what definition fits.
We all know that this is a touchy subject and when it comes to our children we all get very defensive; but could we please keep our comments to the subject at hand and stop the name calling and bickering? Thank you everyone.
Stuff like this gets me aggravated and ashamed to say that I am actually fighting on the same side. We need answers and not defense strategies. I have been talking to people from the Sentinel Talk Back forum and getting some answers. Unfortunately I am only getting info from Keene and SAU issues and none from Winchester issues. I don't care what is being "doodled" and who is "hyper", tell us something that is happening to help our children.
Winchester informer I certainly will respect your asking to keep to the subject. People who choose to use "anonymous" (have a right as it is an option on this site) but obviously these are the people who choose to slander others and not stick with the subject. I find it difficult not to respond to someone who is choosing to slander me. Respectfully Wendy Hildreth
Wendy most people know you're doing your best and should be commended for your work. Most are finding out the fact now your up against a team of experts from SAU38 led by Chairperson Colleen Duquette as their spokes person.
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