Londonderry News

Editor’s Note: With the approaching elections, we will publish all candidate position papers, letters in support of candidates, and Letters to the Editor regarding the election.

My name is Bob Slater and I am proud and excited to be running for one of two open positions on the Londonderry School Board. I ran for one open position last year against a incumbent and came up just short! I am a citizen of Londonderry for over 34 years. I have had three children graduate through the Londonderry School system and currently have two grandchildren in our schools. In addition to being a long time resident we have owned a company in Town for over 30 years and I personally have been involved in coaching youth and High School sports in Town for over 27 years. This includes coaching experience for the High School Boy’s Lacrosse and football teams, as well as coaching the High School Girls varsity lacrosse team from 2006 to 2016. I am proud to say that 40 girls that I had the privilege of coaching went on to receive college scholarships, and that is much more important to me than the success they had on the field.

With my grandchildren currently in our schools I have a vested interest in making sure we are providing our children and teachers with everything they need. While our current standards are high, I’m always looking to find solutions to make things even better. We need to be sure we are able to responsibly support our teachers and children with the modern programs and tools they need to continue to move forward. This includes policies, curriculum (including trades) and technology.

Our school district has significant capital projects and decisions on the horizon (check out the 5-Year capital improvement plan). I feel my extensive business experience can be an asset to the board in this area at this very important time. It has been a pleasure to work with the Town in the past and if I am fortunate enough to be elected I would look forward to continuing to work closely with the Town, schools, our teachers, our taxpayers and our entire community as a School Board member.

During my time in Town I have built an addition on the back of the High School at no cost to the schools or community (all donations) which is currently used for classroom space, stepped in to help cut costs and develop the current Cable Studio at budget and have constructed a large percentage of all the dugouts and retaining walls at the LAFA fields and High School at cost. Moving forward, if elected, I would not complete any work for the schools or Town unless it was done at cost or through donations. I was proud to accept the Bob Lincoln Youth Service Award in 2011. I’ve always been interested in serving the taxpayers of our Town and helping to make our school system the best it possibly can be for our teachers and children.

I have attended nearly every school board meeting for the last two years and have made great strides in working with the current school board and administration. I am a member of the Facilities Study committee which is a sub-committee to the school board. This committee is currently charged with developing a 10 year Master plan for all facilities for our district including all schools and the district office. This process will allow us as a district to make the most prudent decisions moving forward in terms of capital improvements and space needs.

I also joined the C-3 committee this past year which covers topics such as curriculum, technology, wellness and facilities. The members of this committee are primarily teachers and administrators.

I look forward to taking the knowledge I have gained over the last several years and working with everyone to be sure we are providing all we need to support our schools, teachers and children to the highest degree moving forward while also maximizing every dollar to be sure we are being responsible with our taxpayer’s money. I want our community to be involved and bring their ideas to be heard. The more support, ideas, and participation we have from our community will only benefit our schools and our children. As I have learned in business, when you collaborate and work together, it benefits all involved.

I look forward to speaking with you. Please reach out with any questions or concerns you have. You can reach me on here or at bobslaterforschoolboard@gmail.com. Please follow me on my Facebook page. Thank you for your consideration and I hope to earn your vote and see you at the polls on March 10th.

Vandalism, a post-election occurrence or just business as usual in Londonderry?

My husband and I moved to lovely Londonderry about six months ago, from Massachusetts, and could not be happier with our choice of a New Hampshire town. However, having just experienced vandalism aimed at our mail box, which was severely damaged by a man driving a dark car, at approximately 11pm, Saturday, November 19, we are beginning to have second thoughts about how safe our new neighborhood is in reality.

The trespasser was caught on our security camera, but when we called the local police, apparently, they claimed, several other homes were victimized Saturday night, and we were given the choice of just reporting by phone, or having a police officer come to our location and write a full report. My husband chose to just report the incident on the phone, and intends to take further action if the incident repeats itself.

The incident, which happened 11 days after Trump was elected President, left me wondering if the other vandalized homes belong to Trump supporters or to those who voted for his opponent, a figure that is frequently disparaged by postings around the town’s flea market. The question is also pertinent, on account of thousands of incidents of aggression and vandalism that erupted in our country after our general elections.

My hope is that this is not connected with the new political situation in the country, though the damange to us and the sanctity of our home can not be taken lightly.

I would like to appeal to all residents of our town to remain vigilant and to discourage any other attempts at trespass of homes in our neighborhoods.

May there be peace, respect of neighbors and friendship among all residents of Londonderry and our great state.

Luisa Piette

Just a reminder that the filing deadline for the Low and Moderate Property Tax Relief form is due June 30th. It’s two page form with 5 pages of examples, instructions and tables that can be downloaded by googling “NH DP8″.

It is a refund of part or all of the Education Tax paid with your town property tax in December, 2015. To qualify you must have lived in town on April 1, 2015 and if single, have income less that $20,000 and if head of household or married less than $40,000. If you qualify, the max amount would be in the $220 range. Might be worth looking into…

Betsy McKinney
Londonderry
432-5232