Rescheduling Likely for Friday Deliberative Session

UPDATE (4:52 p.m.): School District Moderator Betty Dunn announced today that a rescheduling of the school deliberative session is likely based on weather forecasts. She released the following statement:

It is apparent from the weather forecasts, that a rescheduling of the Friday evening School Deliberative Sessions is likely.

Based on the same forecasts, it is also possible that the Saturday morning Town Deliberative Session may need to be rescheduled.

If the School Deliberative Session is rescheduled, the SCHOOL meeting will be held at 7:00 pm on SATURDAY, February 9 at Windham High School.

It is possible that weather conditions will be difficult or dangerous even on Saturday at 7:00 pm.   If that occurs, I will announce that I intend  convene a meeting at the appointed time for the purpose of recessing the meeting to a later date, likely Tuesday, February 12.

If the Town Deliberative Session is rescheduled, the TOWN meeting will be held at 7:00 p.m. on MONDAY, February 11 at Windham High School.

I know that this rescheduling will inconvenience many people, but these seem like the best possible options available at this time.

Please keep checking the school and town websites, the newspaper websites, local cable,  WMUR, and the Patch for the official announcements.
Thank you,

Betty Dunn

An Earlier Story Follows:

With a massive blizzard set to hit the state this weekend, Windham's town and school deliberative sessions could both be rescheduled due to the bad weather.

We contacted representatives from both Windham town administration and School Administrative Unit 28, who explained that contingency plans for the two meetings follow state RSA.

According to both Town Administrator Dave Sullivan and SAU 28 Business Administrator Adam Steel, the moderator has the ability to delay a deliberative session up to 72 hours as per RSA 40:4, II.

The statute reads as follows:

II. In the event a weather emergency occurs on or before the date of a deliberative session or voting day of a meeting in a town, which the moderator reasonably believes may cause the roads to be hazardous or unsafe, the moderator may, up to 2 hours prior to the scheduled session, postpone and reschedule the deliberative session or voting day of the meeting to another reasonable date, place, and time certain. The date originally scheduled shall continue to be deemed the deliberative session or voting day of the meeting for purposes of satisfying statutory meeting date requirements; provided, that in towns or districts that have adopted RSA 40:13, the postponement shall not delay the deliberative session more than 72 hours. The moderator shall employ whatever means are available to inform citizens of the postponement and the rescheduled deliberative session or voting day.

In the case of Windham, School District Moderator Betty Dunn has also been appointed to moderate the annual town deliberative session. Peter Griffin, who currently serves as town moderator, is recovering from an illness.

Dunn has not announced a specific decision on the two meetings, which are both scheduled to take place at Windham High School.

The school deliberative session is set for Friday at 7 p.m., with the town deliberative session the next morning at 9 a.m.

According to an alert issued by the National Weather Service, heavy snow accumulation could total up to two feet.

That snow will reportedly begin falling tonight through at least Saturday morning.

The snow is expected to be heaviest during the times when both meetings are scheduled to take place.