Gravel Driveway Repair in Bow, NH

At Bow Elementary School, Shannon Bader’s son learned to identify different colors as his aide took him on walks around the building, pointing out different shades of green, blue, red and brown along the way. Later, the aide taught him to spell his name through a song.

Bader said her son’s teachers were great, but they simply didn’t have the time to give him the extra attention he needed while also keeping up with students who were further ahead.

The new contract for support staff, which increases their average salary from $29,678 to $33,365, still isn’t enough, Bader said at the annual school district meeting on Friday.

“These are not just unskilled folks that are just walking around our hallways. These are loving, caring, dedicated teachers,” said Bader. “I’m kind of embarrassed by our numbers. This was not a living wage in my mind for these aides and so going forward, let’s bump it up.”

While voters approved the new contract, they agreed with Bader, applauding the call for the school board to ensure the next salary review truly reflects the worth of the support staff.

The school district’s operating budget of $36.78 million, reflecting a 2.8% increase from last year, was approved without any discussion from voters. This increase will raise the school district tax rate to $12.56 per $100,000 of assessed property value, marking a 4.8% jump.

Field lights

A good portion of the meeting was spent debating the installation of lights at the Bow High School athletic field for $350,000.

Angela Hubbard, a school board member, said that having lights at the field would help encourage more people to move to Bow and improve community spirit during games.

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“We need the lighting of the premier field in order to continue to attract people to move to Bow,” said Hubbard. “Sixty to 90% of the residents say that they’re relocating here for our school system. This helps to enhance that and attract families in the school district.”

Currently, the district rents the lights for $3,500 per game, and they are only used for the boys’ football games, typically held on Friday nights.

Hubbard said that owning the lights would provide opportunities for athletes on other teams as well.

Deb Schumacher, who has attended both Friday night games and other games, said that the crowd at night games is always larger, and those games tend to generate more revenue through ticket sales.

“I know that’s a lot of money, but I feel like it would be worth it, and it would increase everybody’s school spirit,” said Schumacher.

Others expressed concerns about the smell of diesel fumes from running the rented lights.

While voters approved the article, the associated costs were questioned.

Filipe Miranda noted that, given the current political climate, it might not be the right time to spend thousands of dollars on lights.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow,” said Miranda. “Trying to justify it to keep the home prices up, I don’t think we need lights to keep the home prices up. I don’t see a house staying on the market for more than a week in Bow now and they are always gone above the asking price.”

All warrant articles passed at the meeting, except for a petitioned article calling for Bow school district to live stream and record school board meetings.

Bryce Larrabee, chair of the school board, voiced his opposition to the proposal, explaining that the board had only recently updated its policy and was already open to live streaming and recording. He said the proposal is unnecessary.

He said that if the proposal passed, the board might have to halt meetings due to technical glitches, and noted that the recording equipment is only available in the Bow High School auditorium. If the space is unavailable, meetings would need to be canceled.

“All I would say is. I think the board just would like you to trust us and we want the flexibility to be able to make it just work best for us,” said Larrabee. “Obviously you can vote us out if we are being untrustworthy.”

Although the proposal failed, it was clear that most of the residents wanted to have the school board meetings live-streamed and recorded.

Martin Jenkins said it’s appropriate for public bodies to keep their meetings available if residents can’t attend in person.

“I appreciate that the board has a policy. They adopted it after the petition, but you might change it at the next board meeting,” said Jenkins. “We don’t want that. We want to say what the policy is.”

Sruthi Gopalakrishnan can be reached at sgopalakrishnan@cmonitor.com

During “quiet time” in one of the rooms at the Bow Youth Center on a Tuesday morning, one boy was bent over his paper, sketching scenes for a comic book, while others were lost in their coloring pages. A few kids sat with books in hand.

Upstairs, the energy shifted with squeals and laughter as children worked with glue sticks and colorful paper scraps.

Darcy Little, director of Bow’s Parks and Recreation Department that runs the center, said the before and after school programs for elementary and middle school students offer a variety of fun activities, from dramatic plays to arts and crafts and plenty of playground time.

“Everyday is different for the kids. They have a lot of fun,” said Little. “There is a lot of planning, but it works out well.”

The Bow Youth Center, purchased by the town in 2021, hosts these programs for K -8 students, including children from the Celebrating Children Preschool.

Despite being run by the town, all the programs are funded by user fees, not taxpayer dollars, Litte said.

At Wednesday’s annual town meeting, Bow voters will weigh in on a petitioned warrant article that aims to set clear guidelines for how funds from the youth center and the Celebrating Children Preschool should be handled.

The proposed article suggests that any funds can only be used for the programs’ ongoing operational costs. It also places a $25,000 cap on spending that the town manager can approve, with anything beyond that needing a green light from the Select Board .

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Any remaining profits at the end of the fiscal year would have to be transferred to the general fund.

David Stack, Bow’s town manager, said some residents have become concerned that surplus funds from the programs have been used for other reasons within the Parks and Recreation department. Stack said the suspicions, especially those directed at him – are unfounded.

“I’m named as the person that can authorize expenditures from there because I sign all the manifests,” said Stack. “If there’s excess, I’m not just going to myself say, ‘All right, go do this, or build an addition.’ It’ll be brought forward to the board of selectmen.”

At any given time, the center has 13 staff members in the building, including 10 in the classrooms, along with an assistant director and site coordinator.

Volunteers occasionally help out as well, said Little.

For the last fiscal year, the Bow Parks and Recreation revolving fund generated $377,033 in revenue from the preschool, before and after-school programs, summer camps and other activities.

Of that, $234,935 was used for operational costs. After other expenditures toward capital projects and building improvements, the fund had $121,255 left.

“It’s helping to offset admin, some other programs and building repairs,” said Stack. “The good thing is we’re not raising any taxes for any of these programs.”

The youth center can accommodate 150 children at a time and is open five days a week.

“Parents really appreciate having this as an option,” Little said. “The kids get to socialize and just enjoy free play.”

At Town Meeting on Wednesday, Bow voters will be asked to decide whether the town should invest money to protect undeveloped private land.

Tom O’Donovan, vice president of Bow Open Spaces, said the local land trust is backing the Conservation Commission’s push to adopt this provision, which is already in place in many towns across New Hampshire.

“We’re deeply committed to this balanced approach of protecting natural resources and conserving land across town, and so that’s why we’re supporting this optional power,” said O’Donovan.

O’Donovan is also a member of the town’s drinking water protection commission.

This law would benefit longtime residents of the town who wish to donate land for conservation, allowing them to preserve it in memory of their family for generations to come.

O’Donovan said that if the town owns the land, there is no guarantee it will keep the property owner’s name associated with it permanently.

More than 40 towns, including Hopkinton, Webster and Bradford, have already adopted RSA 36-A:4-a I(b), offering this option for land conservation.

Apart from receiving tax benefits for conserving land, the option would also allow Bow landowners to secure additional funding.

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“If we’re going to develop land, let’s also put money into conserving land so that we maintain the balance in Bow,” said O’Donovan.

Sruthi Gopalakrishnan can be reached at sgopalakrishnan@cmonitor.com.