By Nathan Duke
Staff Writer

The Goffstown School Board chairman said a public kindergarten will open in September 2006 if the transfer of the proposed site across from Glen Lake passes at the March 8 election.

Board chairman Ellen Vermokowitz addressed the proposal at the School District Meeting on Monday, Feb. 7.

Goffstown voters passed the kindergarten plan last March, a lawsuit blocking building brought by abutters to the original Tibbett’s Hill Road site forced the board to look for other properties.

The proposed 58-acre Elm Street property was purchased by the town in 1974 and never developed. The school board is seeking 15 acres to use for the new school.

Vermokowitz said the board has determined the parcel to be the most appropriate of the proposed sites so far. She listed good soil, road access, access to public water, a gentle slope, and availability for parking and a playground on the property as key elements in choosing the site, as well as possibilities for future expansion.

“When the time comes when we need another elementary school, the property has been determined by architects to be suitable to create on the same site,” she said.

However, some residents think the process of transferring the land has not been properly completed.

“I am an ardent supporter of bringing a kindergarten to Goffstown, and if the Glen Lake parcel is shown to be the most appropriate parcel, I would fully support it,” said resident Collis Adams. “But we have not done due diligence to finding the proper site for the kindergarten.”

Adams said that when residents of Goffstown authorize selectman to conduct land transactions, provisions include written recommendations from the town planning board and conservation committee, as well as public hearings relative to the transfer of specific parcels.

He said that the town is owed an explanation as to why this process has not been followed.

“By not following the process, (they) circumvent the public’s right to be informed and to comment and question the transaction,” he said.

Selectman Robert Wheeler quickly responded to Adams’ remarks.

“The board is comfortable with the process,” he said. “We have done our due diligence.”

Article 5, which authorizes the school board to accept gifts of property, specifically a donation of land from the town of Goffstown that can be used as a potential site for the kindergarten, was approved uncontested at the School District Meeting and will be placed unaltered on the March 8 ballot.

An opening date for the kindergarten must be named by June for the district to receive 75 percent state building aid. The $3.3 million building would then cost taxpayers $256,000, a one-time 52-cent increase per $1,000 of assessed value. The amount appears in this year’s tax rate.

Also discussed at the Feb. 7 meeting were the school board’s operating budget for 2005 and the need for development at several local schools.

Article 2, which asks voters to appropriate $187,500 for construction and landscaping to expand parking and field facilities at Goffstown High School was approved for the March ballot.

Also approved for the ballot was Article 3, which will appropriate $25,000 to fund a study to determine how to maximize use of Bartlett Elementary School. School Board member Scott Gross said that Goffstown’s elementary schools are both in need of expansion.

“We are tight on space at both of our elementary schools,” he said. “There are too many students for the existing facilities (at Bartlett). That is why we have portable classrooms. It’s the same thing at Maple Avenue and they have no music room or art room either.”

This year’s operating budget, should Article 6 pass, is $29.5 million, which includes staff additions at all four schools, increases in special education tuition, adult education-related costs and additional year-end programming, summer assessment time and summer library services at Bartlett.

If the article is defeated, the default budget will be $28.9 million.