Heartfelt Stories Save WHS JAG, Adult Ed. Program Funds

Residents overwhelmingly added $80,000 to the Winnacunnet High School budget Wednesday night after hearing highly emotional and, at times, tear-filled testimony from students and parents worried about the future of two key programs for at-risk students.

There were roughly 50 registered voters present during Wednesday's three-hour deliberative session, but there was hearty applause when students stood up to protect full funding for the high school's JAG program and the adult education director.

One of the most outspoken speakers was WHS senior and JAG vice president Cassandra Morse, who made the motion to restore $40,000 to the budget for the JAG program. Morse choked up while stressing how the nationally-recognized program helped her turn her life around and how it's helped numerous students who would've dropped out long ago without the extra support — herself included.

"I've gone through hell in my life… and I recently discovered I have a purpose," said Morse. "I won’t accept you cutting JAG because [director] Megan [Murtha] needs to be here for these kids… It’s not acceptable to cut it.

"I want it reinstated because if the high school really wants all its kids to graduate, that’s how it’s going to do it."

Voters — most of which were WHS teachers, staff members, parents, students and past and present town officials — present Wednesday agreed, unanimously approving the $40,000 JAG funding and overwhelmingly approving the addition of $40,000 to the budget to maintain a salary line for the adult education program director.

The amendments raised the proposed operating budget to $22,579,203, which is roughly $180,000 higher than the current year and is $12,611 higher than the default budget.

Administrators proposed cutting the JAG funding because the school plans to provide the program's life skills, emotional and academic support to all students during the school day using current staff, according to Principal Bill McGowan. McGowan said the JAG services wouldn't disappear just because the name "JAG" wouldn't be used under that plan.

Administrators said the adult high school director funding could be eliminated because the current director is retiring and because the school planned to divide her all of her duties among WHS' vice principals.

Winnacunnet School Board member Maria Brown was the only board member to vote against each proposal when they were announced, stating she hadn't seen a written plan that guaranteed students would still receive the same level of specialized service without the extra funding.

The entire board reversed its recommendation to cut the funding Wednesday, though, promising that they would use the $80,000 for those two programs despite the fact that they are legally allowed to spend the money elsewhere because deliberative session budget amendments are only binding to the bottom line — not to individual line items.

"I do think we need put that money back in and you absolutely do need to make this board accountable [for making sure the $80,000 goes to JAG and the adult high school program]," Brown told the deliberative session body Wednesday.

Every other warrant article will move on to the March 12 meeting polls as-is, save for Article 2, which was amended Wednesday to increase transparency about the school's HVAC replacement program.

Winnacunnet School Board member Chris Muns motioned to add $25,000 to the $80,000 article in order for the school to complete the $105,000 first phase of the replacement program — which wouldn't have had enough funding to replace the first batch of the much-maligned units had the motion not been made.

All but one voter passed the amendment. The amendment also changed the article's wording to reflect that the full replacement of all 14 degrading units won't be completed until 2025 and that in total the project is estimated to cost around $1.5 million. That said, only a $105,000 appropriation to replace three or four units is called for in Article 2, and the article's passage at town meeting won't commit the school or town to spending or bonding any additional money to replace the remaining HVAC units, according to school officials.

Among the other articles on the warrant is a petitioned warrant article submitted by Denyse Richter, a former school board member, to require WHS to implement the yearlong courses plan in 2013-14 instead of in 2014-15 as planned.

No vote by the deliberative session body was needed because that article, Article 6, isn't a money article, although Moderator Renny Cushing did mistakenly ask Wednesday whether the voters present would like to see the article forwarded to town meeting.

The article failed during the vote by more than a 3- or 4-to-1 margin, although Cushing clarified immediately after the vote that the article will go forward as-is because a petitioned warrant article can't be removed during the deliberative session process.

Voters in Hampton, North Hampton, Seabrook and Hampton Falls will decide the fate of all nine warrant articles during the polling portion of town meeting.Click here for details about polling times and locations.