February 1999

To the Residents of the Oyster River Cooperative School District:

Last spring the School Board developed the following four goals:

1. Address high school space needs through (a) bond proposal(s) to be approved by the voters at the 1999 annual school district meeting.

   A major portion of the School Board's time and energy this year continued to be spent addressing the facility needs at Oyster River High School (ORHS). Failure of last year's bond proposal did not solve the problems of overcrowding and aging infrastructure. There are currently ten modular classrooms at the high school, providing some relief for classroom space, but they do not solve any of the other problems. The enrollment growth the district has experienced for the past decade is now at the high school; a facility with capacity of 604 now has 680 students enrolled, with 734 expected this fall. Growth will continue through 2001, when Long Range Planning Committee projections anticipate peak enrollment of 769. Rapidly rising construction costs for materials and labor, uncertainty regarding a legislative solution to the issue of funding public education in New Hampshire, changing building codes and/or interpretation of the codes, and many other issues make this a very complex problem to solve. History has shown us that the costs have not decreased over time. The proposed design was developed with input from students, staff, administrators, board members, and many community representatives of interested local groups and is focused on meeting the educational needs of our students for the foreseeable future while utilizing as much of the current facility as possible to keep costs down.

   This is the most urgent problem facing the school district. Article #3 asks for voter support for renovations and expansion of the high school. Article #4 asks for support for the purchase of an additional 2.5 acres of land adjoining the high school property which is crucial for site development and expansion.

2. Continue to develop and implement a K-12 curriculum particularly in math, music, science and language arts aligned with the State Frameworks.

   The Board has directed the leadership team and administrators to continue efforts in this direction, and will be monitoring implementation.

3. Reach contract agreement between the Oyster River Teachers' Guild and the Oyster River Cooperative School Board, to be approved by the voters at the 1999 annual school district meeting.

   After lengthy negotiations, the Board and the Guild have reached agreement on a contract for 1998-2003. The contract was unanimously ratified by both groups this past December. Article #5 asks for voter support of the cost items in the ratified contract.

4. Develop and implement a plan to enhance student achievement through continuous improvement of teaching effectiveness, and recognize instructional excellence.

   We look at curriculum development, assessment and effective teaching as a continuum of activity, rather than independent parts. Our goal is to constantly improve learning for our students and our staff. The proposed budget supports progress in this area.

In March, Bob LaMont and David Taylor were elected to the School Board. As part of its reorganization process, the Board decided to reactivate the Policy Subcommittee. The tasks of this subcommittee include updating the policy manual, and making recommendations to the Board for improvements in current policies and for addition of new policies which may be needed. The NH School Boards Association recently published a model policy handbook, and the subcommittee is in the process of assessing our manual section by section using the model as a guideline. This is very time consuming work, but progress is being made and will continue.

We need the support of the community to make this vision statement a reality for our high school students and the future of this community. Please become informed of the facts and vote on March 9. The children of the district and the entire community benefit from your support of quality education.

Sincerely,
Joan Valentine
Chairperson

Last update on 5-Apr-99 at 11:21 PM.

http://www.orol.org/district/elections/1999/report/chair.html

This page is edited by David K. Taylor. Please send questions or comments to editor@orol.org.