Gravel Driveway Repair in Rindge, NH

According to a report by Keene Sentinel's Michael M. McMahon, the Jaffrey-Rindge School Board in New Hampshire has approved a $3-million cost cutting plan which will include the elimination of the entire competitive athletics department at Conant High School. The cuts were necessitated after voters elected to slash the boards budget.

The Orioles are not just some run-of-the-mill high school in the state of New Hampshire, as Conant features prominent basketball programs on both the boys and girls side. Between the two programs, since 1985, they have won a total of 21 state championships in basketball.

According to the report, the Jaffrey School Board had to slash $3 million from its budget and part of that total was the $366,978 athletic budget. That total is apart of the cost cutting plan in order to meet their budget plan for the 2025-2026 school year and beyond.

According to the report, voters knew that the cost cutting measure would remove athletics moving forward, but community members are looking at other solutions in order to maintain competitive sports.

Fundraising the funds needed to run athletics are being looked at, per the report, but as it stands right now, Conant is facing a future with high school sports not being apart of it.

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The Jaffrey-Rindge School Board officially voted on a series of cuts on Monday – including athletic programs, cocurriculars, 24 1/2 employee positions and universal access to pre-K– as a result of district voters passing a budget with a $3 million cut from the board’s original $33.76 million proposal.

Residents at the deliberative session in February voted to put the reduced budget on the ballot, and it passed during the March 11 election. District officials had encouraged residents to vote against the budget, which would have put the $33.86 default budget in place.

“Tonight is a step we have to take,” said Lisa Wiley, who took up the mantle of School Board chair after a unanimous vote on Monday. She said the district is required to submit an update budget to the state within 20 days of the election.

Among the cuts approved on Monday were a total of the equivalent of 24 1/2 full-time positions. Among them were a sixth-grade English and language arts teacher, three unified arts teachers for the elementary school (two techs and a librarian), a general music teacher at Conant Middle High, a STEM teacher at Conant Middle High, a French teacher at Conant Middle High, a middle school special education teacher that is currently unfilled and one elementary classroom teacher each at Jaffrey Grade School and Rindge Memorial School. Also cut were four full-time teachers and 3 1/4 paraprofessionals for the universal 4-year-old preschool.

Superintendent Reuben Duncan explained that the preschool program would not be cut in its entirety, but would be reduced to a half-day, and a lottery system would be reinstated.

“Losing universal access to pre-K is deeply personal and terrible,” said Duncan, who had led the charge on expanding the program to be universal and full-day.

Savings from cutting athletics include athletic stipends, an athletic trainer, game transportation, referees and a coordinator, as well as eliminating a groundskeeper and 1 1/2 custodian positions due to less need for maintenance and cleaning related to athletics programs.

Cocurriculars are expected to be reduced, and summer programs, including summer school and credit recovery, will not be offered. Field trips will be eliminated, as will programming extensions where outside educators such as from the Harris Center provide programs for students.

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Among administrative staff, all non-union staff pay increases will be reduced, the out-of-district coordinator position will be reduced, and the 504 coordinator will be reduced to half-time. The assistant principal for the middle/high school will be reduced, and one of the elementary assistant principals will be eliminated, as will an administrative assistant.

Residents react

Parents, teachers and students at Monday’s meeting expressed dismay at the cuts.

Mike Perrault of Rindge, who has two children at Rindge Memorial School, spoke to any students who may be present or watching the livestream of the meeting, saying, “None of this is your fault. Many of you, like me, are feeling gutted, anxious, maybe even a little betrayed by the adults in your communities.”

Perrault said many had been working to fight the cut budget, and many would continue to find ways to fill the gaps left by the cuts.

“None of this is your fault, but it is now your fight, and I’m proud to be in that fight with you,” Perrault said.

Tarah Castiglioni, executive director of TEAM Jaffrey, said the organization would be willing to join that fight, suggesting that some of its summer programming such as the summer Concert on the Common series or farmers’ market could work as fundraising opportunities for cocurriculars or sports stipends for teachers to keep programs afloat.

Anne Maher, a Rindge resident and one of the district’s preschool teachers, spoke about the importance of early childhood education.

“Access to quality education for early childhood is not a luxury,” Maher said. “It’s an essential foundation for lifelong success.” She said pre-school education had been tied to higher graduation rates, a likelihood of pursuing higher education rates, and economic stimulation.

Several students spoke in support of the role athletics and cocurricular activities have had on their lives.

Hunter Schultz of Rindge said he is a student and an athlete, and puts an equal amount of work and passion into his sports as he does his academics in hopes of continuing his baseball career at the college level. He said he doesn’t know how he’ll achieve that without a sports program his senior year.

“I put just as much hard wok in on the court, field, and in the weight room that I do in the classroom. It is who I am,” Schultz said.

Scarlett Castiglioni, the current president of the Conant Drama Club, said she found her niche with the club.

“They’re genuine family to me,” she said. She said she felt awful that her underclassmen coming up from the middle school were going to miss out on the experiences that have been so important to her.

School Board member Sandra Stewart said the cuts were “ugly.”

“I wish we didn’t have to do it. We’re never going to get it back – it’s going to take years,” Stewart said. “We’ve got so much of the budget that we can’t cut, there’s only a small pie to pick from, and none of us want to pick from it, but the voters have spoke, and we must do.”

Speaking to suggestions of a paid model for sports or preschool, the board clarified that expenses in the budget must be cut, not just offset with unanticipated revenue that may or may not come. However, Duncan said line items would be left with a nominal amount of $1, which would allow the district to accept donations related to those programs.

Wiley said that while the board was obligated to make decisions on cuts quickly, work was not done, and there would be many future opportunities for conversations.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172, Ext. 244, or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on X @AshleySaariMLT.

JAFFREY, N.H. —

The Jaffrey and Rindge School District is working to chop $3 million from its budget after voters approved the cuts earlier this month.

Residents voted on Town Meeting Day to cut the school budget by about 10%. Rindge voters approved the budget cut 1,011-682, while voters in Jaffrey were opposed, 612-788, for a total vote of 1,623-1,470.

"This was a devastating cut," said school board chairwoman Lisa Wiley. "Nothing will look the same."

Parents and school officials said they're worried about what will happen next.

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"It was heart-wrenching, honestly, and there's not much you can do about it, because the two towns have voted and said that's what they wish to do," said parent Shawn Marsh.

Marsh's son plays three afterschool sports but might not be able to continue, because district officials said they will have to make deep spending cuts to staff and extracurriculars.

"It's a devastating amount of money for us. It is nearly 10% of our entire budget," Wiley said. "So, we looked at every single line item that could be legally cut and then prioritized what would be more costly to cut."

That includes cuts to about 24 full-time staff positions, transportation and custodial positions from sports and extracurriculars. The preschool will also be significantly downsized.

"This is an historic cut," Wiley said. "I've never in my dozens of years in education seen anything like what's about to happen."

Some parents said they're weighing their options.

"We talked to him about potentially changing him to private school or even selling the house and moving to a new school district," Marsh said.

District officials said they're trying to plan for the future.

"We are all anxious and truthfully, we're angry," Wiley said. "And we have to use that to be able to move forward."

The new budget will go into effect July 1. Wiley said she's hopeful that between now and then, the district will find a solution to keep some extracurriculars, such as the athletic program.

The Jaffrey-Rindge Cooperative School District voters approved a budget that had been cut by $3 million during the district’s deliberative session, which has had the School Board discussing possible deep cuts to programs and teachers for the coming school year.

The original budget put forth by the School Board was $33.76 million, but after the cut, the majority of School Board members advocated a no vote, which would put the district’s default budget into place. The default budget would have been $33.86 million – above the district’s original proposal.

Jaffrey voters supported the default budget, with 788 votes against the cut budget and 612 for it. Rindge voters supported the cut budget 1,011-682, and overwhelmed the gap in the Jaffrey votes.

“Yesterday was a devastating day for the students, parents and educators of the Jaffrey-Rindge School District,” School Board Chair Chris Ratcliffe stated Wednesday. “The reckless and short-sighted decision to impose severe budget cuts on a school system that is already among the lowest-funded in the state will have dire consequences – diminishing the quality of education and stripping away opportunities for the next generation.”

The School Board has discussed several possible scenarios for if the cut budget passed, including some combination of eliminating early childhood programs such as preschool and full-day kindergarten, reducing unified arts, eliminating co- and extracurriculars including sports, staff reductions, summer program, increasing elementary school class sizes, cutting professional development and delaying facilities improvements and purchase of materials.

“These cuts are not the fault of the administration or board members who supported the initial, responsible budget, but rather of those who championed a $3 million reduction without fully understanding – or worse, disregarding – the impact of their decision,” Ratcliffe stated.

Larry Cleveland, who was elected as the new Rindge Select Board member on Tuesday, said that he was running on a platform of keeping taxes low. He publicly advocated for voting yes on the proposed budget, and no on a proposed Career and Technical Education center for the district.

“I’m paying more in taxes than I am on my mortgage,” Cleveland said at the polls Tuesday.

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Several residents sporting “No on 3” signs, advocating for the default budget, said that the issue lies with how the state funds adequate education aid. Hannah Bissex, at the polls Tuesday, said that inadequate funding from the state has put too much pressure on small towns.

“We should be mad at the state, not the schools,” said Bissex.

Susan Shaw-Sarles, a former Jaffrey-Rindge elementary principal and Rindge resident, said she was really hopeful for a no vote on the budget Tuesday, saying she has seen the struggle of balancing costs and quality education. She agreed with Bissex that state aid would continue to be a pressing issue for districts trying to create balanced budgets to put before the voters.

Ratcliffe agreed, citing what he called “irresponsible educational policies and fiscal mismanagement at the state level, led by Commissioner Frank Edelblut and legislators like John Hunt, Jim Qualey, and Rita Mattson. Instead of supporting public schools, critical funding is being siphoned away to private, religious schools, charter schools and voucher programs – often with little oversight --while unfunded mandates on public schools continue to grow.”

A majority of Rindge voters voted no on every issue on the school warrant, with the exception of the budget. However, aside from the proposed Career and Technical Education Center addition to the middle/high school, which failed, Jaffrey voters made up the difference, and all other articles ultimately passed. Approved articles included a two-year contract for adjustments to the nursing salaries and benefits. Rindge voted against the measure 875-791, but Jaffrey voted in favor 876-496. The total was 1,667 for, and 1,371 against.

A request for $50,000 from the end-of-year unreserved fund balance for the special education reserve also passed in Jaffrey and failed in Rindge, but ultimately gained approval when both towns were tallied.

Similarly, $400,000 from the fund balance for the buildings and capital equipment reserve passed in Jaffrey and failed in Rindge, but passed overall.

There were no contested races for district offices this year. Chris Ratcliffe and Sandra Stweart will return to the board for Rindge and Jaffrey, respectively, and Judy Wilson Ferstenberg will join them as a new member for an at-large seat. Bob Schaumann returns as the district moderator. Though Ratcliffe ran unopposed, a write-in candidate, Jared Reini, did receive 544 votes for Ratcliffe’s seat, though Ratcliffe remained the winner, with a total of 908 votes.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172, Ext. 244, or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on X @AshleySaariMLT.

I am honored to seek reelection to the Jaffrey-Rindge Cooperative School District Board. I have pursued cost-effective improvements that enhance student outcomes while ensuring fiscal responsibility. I have worked to engage with the community, listen to concerns and advocate for our students. In 2024, I was elected chair, and our board's efforts were recognized with the 2024 NH School Board of Excellence Award.

The most critical votes this year concern key budget decisions. Article 3 proposes a reckless $3 million cut that would have long-term consequences for our schools and communities. Some suggest we could avoid these impacts by cutting from other areas or increasing efficiencies, but that is not true. We are already one of the lowest-spending districts in the state, and there is little to trim without harming essential programs and services. These cuts will increase elementary class sizes, reduce staff positions and potentially eliminate pre-K, full-day kindergarten and extracurricular activities. The loss of these programs would negatively impact students' academic growth, social development and future opportunities.

Article 2 presents a rare opportunity to establish a CTE center, providing skills-based learning in the trades. This initiative is set to receive 75% state funding. Supporting Article 2 will equip students with workforce skills, strengthening our community and local economy. Investing in these opportunities ensures that our students are prepared for a variety of career paths and lifelong success.

I urge the towns of Rindge and Jaffrey to understand the seriousness of these decisions and make their voices heard March 11. Please vote against Article 3, for Article 2 and against the withdrawal study in Rindge. Let’s protect the quality of education while balancing fiscal responsibility. I would be grateful to continue serving this district and appreciate your support.

Chris Ratcliffe

Rindge