Wilton-Lyndeborough Co-op School Board, 3-year seat

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Name: Harry S. Dailey Age: 49 Address: 657 Abbot Hill Road, Wilton Years of residency: 25 years Political history: WLC School Board member, 2008 to present; Chairman of the Consolidation Facilities Committee, Member of the Consolidation Budget Committee.

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Name: Dion Lewis Age: 50 Address: 401 Eastview Drive, Wilton Years of residency: 10 Political history: WLC School Board, 2005 to present including consolidation committee chair (2007-2009), curriculum and policy consolidation subcommittee (2009-present), Tridistrict Chair (acting 2009-present), strategic planning committee (2009-present). Affiliations: Assistant Scout Master (1981-1982), Scout Committee (1989-1991), American Chemical Society (1996-present), Appalachian Mountain Club Member (2009-present), Society of Environmental Toxicologists and Chemists (2009-
present), Coalition for the prevention of underage alcohol use (2008-2009).

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Alexander LoVerme Jr.

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Name: Harry S. Dailey Age: 49 Address: 657 Abbot Hill Road, Wilton Years of residency: 25 years Political history: WLC School Board member, 2008 to present; Chairman of the Consolidation Facilities Committee, Member of the Consolidation Budget Committee.

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2010 Wilton Town Meeting
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2010 Lyndeborough Town Meeting
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CANDIDATES

Name: Harry S. Dailey

Age: 49

Address: 657 Abbot Hill Road, Wilton

Years of residency: 25 years

Political history: WLC School Board member, 2008 to present; Chairman of the Consolidation Facilities Committee, Member of the Consolidation Budget Committee.

Name: Dion Lewis

Age: 50

Address: 401 Eastview Drive, Wilton

Years of residency: 10

Political history: WLC School Board, 2005 to present including consolidation committee chair (2007-2009), curriculum and policy consolidation subcommittee (2009-present), Tridistrict Chair (acting/2009-present), strategic planning committee (2009-present).

Affiliations: Assistant Scout Master (1981-1982), Scout Committee (1989-1991), American Chemical Society (1996-present), Appalachian Mountain Club Member (2009-present), Society of Environmental Toxicologists and Chemists (2009- present), Coalition for the prevention of underage alcohol use (2008-2009).

Name: Alexander LoVerme Jr.

Age: 48

Address: 19 Sophia Lane, Wilton

Political history: W/L Co-op Budget 2009-present.

Affiliations: U.S. Army Ranger 79-82 U.S. Army Reserve 83-88; Milford Rotary Club 2005-present; Florence Rideout Building Committee 2008-2009.

Three candidates are running for a three-year seat from Wilton on the Wilton-Lyndeborough Cooperative School Board. The Telegraph asked them to answer a question: “How do you see the new, combined school district as an improvement over the old system, of three separate districts? 

Harry Dailey:

One of the most overlooked benefits that will result from the consolidation of the three school districts is the ability to provide a better more aligned educational experience for our children. It will allow for one governing body to make sure that curriculum is consistent and aligned from kindergarten through 12th grade regardless of which school/town our children attend. It will also allow us to better leverage our resources be it personnel, facilities, or financial. The next few years will be crucial to the long term future of the district and will require creative thinking and looking out for the best interests of the students in the entire district not just any one school. We will need to look at all aspects of the educational process and eliminate any unnecessary costs and make sure that our children receive the best possible education that we can afford.

Dion Lewis:

The new district will allow a higher quality of education to be delivered to our students at a lower cost.

There are some benefits that have been realized ahead of consolidation. For example, in anticipation of consolidation, the office of the superintendent has been able to scale back its staffing for the 2009/10 school year following Mascenic’s departure from the SAU (and a loss of over half the office funding). If the district were not consolidating, the current staff levels would be unsustainable and we’d be spending $200,000-300,000 more each year to support the SAU.

As a board member I am most interested in educational improvements and in this regard I see several opportunities under the consolidated model: 1) curriculum alignment between elementary schools (and the state), 2) greater collaboration among teachers, 3) more superintendent time devoted to educational leadership and long term planning, and 4) less redundancy between school board members and the entire leadership team.

Alex LoVerme

The school system is a business and our business is education. We are selling our future leaders an eduction. We need to step it up Wilton and Lyndeborough. We have to stop wasting money on cell phones, oil, gas, bus services, paper supplies, rental equipment, these things need to be shopped out. The school was budgeting oil at $3.61 per gallon instead of shopping it out now and could have locked in at $2.45 per gallon a month ago. Raises need to be put on hold.

The staff in the W-L-C school district needs to be held accountable for everything they do and that hasn’t been happening. We need people working for our schools that love education and want to see our kids blossom. We need to get rid of people that want to cut teaching positions and books because it’s easier than actually working on how to make cuts that won’t effect education. Times are tough and we can’t afford to have our budget go up.