{"id":401,"date":"2008-11-29T14:48:23","date_gmt":"2008-11-29T18:48:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cnht.org\/news\/?p=401"},"modified":"2008-11-29T14:48:23","modified_gmt":"2008-11-29T18:48:23","slug":"monadnock-school-board-loses-another-member","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cnht.org\/news\/2008\/11\/29\/monadnock-school-board-loses-another-member\/","title":{"rendered":"Monadnock School Board Loses Another Member"},"content":{"rendered":"

November 26, 2008
\nMonadnock Loses Member
\nKeene Sentinel<\/a><\/p>\n

SWANZEY \u2014 And then there were 12.<\/p>\n

What sounds like an Agatha Christie novel has become the Monadnock Regional School Board\u2019s reality show as, one by one, representatives have abandoned its ranks.<\/p>\n

Swanzey representative Kristen Goodenough is the latest member to quit \u2014 the third since September \u2014 and each departing member has given his or her resignations effective immediately.<\/p>\n

There are 14 seats on the Monadnock school board, serving the district towns of Fitzwilliam, Gilsum, Richmond, Roxbury, Sullivan Swanzey and Troy.<\/p>\n

With former board member Colline M. Dreyfuss\u2019s Swanzey seat recently filled by Eric Stanley, Goodenough\u2019s pending resignation \u2014 which school board members, in a formality, will likely vote to accept or reject on Dec. 2 \u2014 brings the vacancy count to two.<\/p>\n

Another seat has been empty for about seven months. Although Sullivan representative Timothy Aho hasn\u2019t resigned his position, he hasn\u2019t been to a school board meeting since April. Aho did attend an official-ballot first session for the teachers contract in August, but said he\u2019s been unable to attend board meetings because of business conflicts.<\/p>\n

This morning, Aho repeated his intent to return to the board in the future.<\/p>\n

Goodenough was elected to the school board in March for a three-year term and served briefly as chairman of the community relations committee. She was also chairman of the Be True to Your School committee, a group that links school officials, students and parents in an effort to raise funds for the high school.<\/p>\n

In an e-mail to The Sentinel Monday, Goodenough became the latest exiting board member to point to the district\u2019s contentious politics as weighing heavily on her decision to resign.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am discouraged and frustrated with the current direction of the board,\u201d she wrote. \u201cThe issues are so BIG \u2026 Bigger than simple volunteerism can resolve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goodenough\u2019s e-mail also describes a lack of funding for improving communication with voters and speaks of \u201cstrong, mean-spirited factions in our community\u201d blocking school board efforts to raise student achievement.<\/p>\n

The two other representatives to jump ship in recent months expressed similar frustrations.<\/p>\n

At a Sept. 16 meeting, Dreyfuss, of Swanzey, announced in a letter that she was quitting the school board.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel that I can serve my district better as a watchdog of those who skirt the truth and promote dysfunction in our cooperative district,\u201d she wrote in the letter, while later describing to The Sentinel other personal reasons that factored into her decision.<\/p>\n

Five weeks later, Karen A. Cota \u2014 who had served as the school board\u2019s longtime facilities chairman and Roxbury\u2019s sole representative \u2014 also threw in the towel.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the last six months it has become more apparent that this board is not interested in the welfare of our students,\u201d she said, reading her resignation letter to the school board Oct. 21. \u201cI believe this board is more interested in power trips, and personal egos are at an all-time high.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her e-mail to The Sentinel, Goodenough wrote, \u201cI feel that there are other, more productive, ways that I may be able to contribute without the restrictions imposed by being a board member.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet, as district budget hearings approach, Swanzey is down one school board member. And Roxbury and Sullivan \u2014 should Aho continue to be absent \u2014 are left without any representation at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s disheartening to have this happen,\u201d Nancy L. Carlson, chairman of the Swanzey Board of Selectmen, said Monday.<\/p>\n

With the passage of the teachers contract in September and the strong message of change Monadnock Regional High School Principal Brian S. Pickering gave this summer in a documentary on Cheshire TV, Carlson said, \u201cThings just seemed to be running and heading in a positive direction. And then the school board doesn\u2019t seem to be on the same page.\u201d<\/p>\n

As with Dreyfuss, Swanzey selectmen will choose a replacement for Goodenough, according to Carlson.<\/p>\n

This person will finish the year, she said, but will need to be re-elected by voters in March to continue serving on the board.<\/p>\n

This could present a problem, Carlson explained. She said the endpoints of school board terms are staggered in a way that prevents large turnovers \u2014 yet three of Swanzey\u2019s six seats will open this March.<\/p>\n

But Roxbury has even more immediate troubles.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d like to fill our position as soon as possible, but we just haven\u2019t found the person,\u201d said Daniel E. Stockwell, a Roxbury selectman and former principal of Monadnock Regional High School. \u201cAt this point, we haven\u2019t found anyone interested.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stockwell also lamented losing Cota because of her experience on the school board.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe worked very hard for the district,\u201d he said. \u201cShe did a lot on the facilities committee.\u201d<\/p>\n

Superintendent Kenneth R. Dassau echoed him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m concerned that the board is losing experienced members. When you have a (Colline) Dreyfuss and a (Karen) Cota leave, I mean that was years of experience and two of the hardest working members on the board,\u201d he said while describing Goodenough as bringing marketing skills and enthusiasm that will be difficult to replace.<\/p>\n

As for the fact that Roxbury \u2014 like Sullivan \u2014 currently has no one at school board meetings acting on the town\u2019s behalf, Stockwell said, \u201cWe certainly pay taxes and send our kids there and would like to have a representative there when they\u2019re making decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n

Note from Monadnock Taxpayers Association: The people who have quit the school board are among the biggest tax and spenders in the district. They contributed heavily to the large school tax increases that we see on this December’s tax bill. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

November 26, 2008 Monadnock Loses Member Keene Sentinel SWANZEY \u2014 And then there were 12. What sounds like an Agatha Christie novel has become the Monadnock Regional School Board\u2019s reality show as, one by one, representatives have abandoned its ranks. Swanzey representative Kristen Goodenough is the latest member to quit \u2014 the third since September […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles-nh","category-right-to-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cnht.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cnht.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cnht.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cnht.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cnht.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cnht.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cnht.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cnht.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cnht.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}