More Coffee, Please

Wow, the difference two days make.

I had planned to talk about ways to improve education in the district, specifically by bringing parents into the classroom and ways to make sure our kids were getting the attention they need.

Life seems to have had other plans.

First, there was the Keene Sentinel article informing the district—including many budget committee members—that they were still responsible for paying for Surry’s administration costs.

You got it—rather than saving the district money, the taxpayers of the Monadnock district¹ still need to pay for Surry—and, actually, since they already set a budget without Surry’s contribution, it seems pretty clear the default budget (already too small for everything needed) will now need to cover the costs of a fourth and equal district in the SAU.

Does anyone else want to cry? Does anyone else notice that everything the Monadnock Taxpayers Association recommends ends up costing more money in the long run, and usually results in a lawsuit from someone? How many bad ideas and failures is it going to take before it becomes blindingly obvious to everyone they have no clue what they’re doing?

The beautiful part? Monadnock Taxpayers Association members protesting at a school board meeting that they had no idea about the costs…despite being on the committee that discussed and looked at the Surry withdrawal.

But then, not knowing what it is they’re doing seems SOP. I believe we had this same problem with the “evergreen clause” in the teacher’s contract—something else members claimed not to know about.

I’ve been wondering for awhile what they do know about. ²

The newspaper announced today that Kim Carter, the Director of MC², will be retiring at the end of the school year. It’s now official, so I can talk about it here—the staff has known for awhile, and the students and families for nearly as long.

I’m not honestly sure how to talk about all this. I’ve known Kim for a number of years, first as a teacher when I was completing my Masters at Antioch, and later as the Director of MC². I found out a little later that she was a teacher of one of my good friends at Souhegan, and finally she’s served as my mentor—and my boss—for the last year.³

Of course she’ll be missed. But the flip side of knowing Kim is also knowing that she’s far from finishing her work, that her task has always been the improvement of education in New Hampshire, and (to a slightly lesser extent) the nation. MC² has been a large part of that, but not the end—and as MC² continues to gain attention and continues to serve as a model for the State of New Hampshire, it provides the opportunity for her to further school change on a larger scale.

For MC², it’s change—something the school has always dealt with, and I’m sure will see more in the future. In many ways it’s on far more solid ground now than it has been in the past, with a solid curriculum, school board support, and state and national attention.

At the same time, what won’t be read in the papers—but is official—will be MRHS dealing with its own change of leadership.

Mr. Joe Smith, the principal of MRHS, will be the principal of Cutler Elementary next year, with Mr. Brian Pickering taking his position as principal of the high school.

So—even more change, and this in a district without a contract for four years, a brand new district in the SAU, and a high school where 38 letters of recommendation have been asked for—or written—for a teaching staff of about 80.

It’s in the dips that we succeed—but man, is it going to be one heck of a climb out.

1 Actually, Hinsdale, Winchester, and Monadnock now all pay for Surry. I wonder how the taxpayers in those towns feel about the situation? Or should we no longer care about our neighbor? ↺

2 Besides wrecking schools, I mean. ↺

3 Much more the former than latter, I’m grateful to say. Anyone who has met Kim learns something from her, and I’ve spent the last year shaking my head at the volumes of what I thought I knew and didn’t, and grateful for every moment of learning. ↺

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Monadnock Community Connections School, Monadnock Regional School District, Monadnock Taxpayer’s Association, School Change

Gregarious

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