By Nicholas Brown
Staff Writer

The Epsom School Board may be experiencing some growing pains, and it's happening in front of an interested public.

About 45 people attended the Wednesday, June 1, meeting at Epsom Central School. Board Chairman Andrew Turnbull said it was the largest crowd he's seen in his five years on the school board.

Three of the board's four members are recent additions, with one board position still yet to be filled. Adding to the difficulty may be that the board is having to deal with a default budget, as well as a school that has issues with overcrowding.

Kindergarten
Several issues at the meeting garnered interest from the crowd, but many said they came because of a rumor that the board was going to cut Epsom Central School's kindergarten program.

Board members said they had no intention of cutting the program next year, though member Gordon Ellis said it had been discussed as a possibility for the 2006-07 school year, citing lack of school space as a motivating concern.

Exit exams
What brought perhaps the most consternation from the crowd was a discussion introduced by Ellis, appointed to the board last August, regarding eighth-grade "exit exams."

Ellis suggested the board form a committee to create a "general knowledge test, so the board and administration can know what kids know," adding that the test should cover all disciplines.

He said the committee would ideally be composed of volunteers including board members, administration, teachers and parents of students, with the intention of creating the test by next December so that it could be implemented in the 2006-07 school year.

As the issue was opened to input from the public, many questioned the need for a standardized test, when the state already requires 14 hours of yearly standardized testing.

Several teachers in attendance said they worried a new test would mean removing other key elements of the already limited curriculum. Others wondered what would be the motivation of a new test, asking if students leaving Epsom Central have been proven unprepared entering Pembroke Academy.

Turnbull repeatedly stressed that the idea of an exit exam was still "in its infancy," and that the committee would be responsible for addressing these concerns.

District Assistant Superintendent David Dziura reminded the board that they ultimately are responsible for approving the curriculum, and that the curriculum should already reflect what the board wants students to know.

Epsom Central School Principal Jane Fargo added that the curriculum is also being updated to reflect grade-level expectations, which work toward "building coherent sets of expectations that would focus, not narrow, the curricula, and would support good instruction," according to the New Hampshire Department of Education Web site.

Turnbull said a responsibility of the committee should be to determine what expectations the curriculum is currently designed around.

Responding to a complaint that no other school district has seen the relevance of additional testing of eighth-graders, Turnbull said, "because it's not being done elsewhere seems like a weak reason not to do it."

As the discussion progressed, the role of the committee - whether it should create a test, or simply determine the need for a test - became unclear. Turnbull said the committee's charge would likely have to be established only once the committee is formed.

Ellis said suggested the committee be formalized during the board's Sept. 7 meeting.

Board member needed
Also at the meeting, the board updated the public on their search for a fifth board member, following the recent resignation of Tim Riel.

Turnbull said the board has a pool of six applicants for the position, and applicants will be interviewed at a private June 15 meeting. He added that they hope to have the new member in place by the June 29 "goals meeting," an annual meeting in which the board discusses its goals for the coming school year.

The appointee will join Bill Yeaton and Brian McCormack, both elected last March. Ellis and Turnbull round out the board.

Epsom Central School has had some other significant personnel changes recently, as Fargo is taking a leave of absence from her duties as principal next year, and filling a second-grade teaching position. Fargo will be replaced on an interim basis by the current assistant principal, Patrick Conners.