The story
The year is drawing to a close, so we sat down with Mr. Fournier to reminisce and look forward.
And?
As far as reminiscing, he’s happy with how the year went. He came in and stabilized the “situation”; he hired an investigator, and closed the issue…well, almost. But, we mean, we feel pretty stable. And now, with this year under his belt, he knows how to effectively deal with school faculty who write character reference letters for a convicted child molester. What can we say－he’s an asset.
So forward
One of his goals: streamline communication from the school board, somewhat to combat the “negativity” of social media. And, he could be referring to any social media platforms－Twitter…Instagram…Facebook…it could be any of them.
Anything else?
The most specific step forward for next year: trying to bring a program called “Know and Tell” to the faculty of the schools. It would essentially train teachers from pre-k to 12th grade on how to handle a student reporting sexual assault, besides telling administration.
How’d this start?
Remember that Youth Risk Behavior Survey? You don’t really want to. There were some disturbing statistics about sexual assault (even though their validity might be a little questionable). Originally, last summer, the board discussed a sexual assault task force. However, it was decided later in the year that it wasn’t the best solution.
The Runaway
This year was a trial by fire. Fingers crossed that this summer is…uneventful…
What to say…
When the school board wishes they could have their own trip to Cardigan…
What’s stopping them? Absolutely nothing. This past weekend, the board went on a little bonding retreat to SNHU. And despite what it sounds like, they weren’t all roasting marshmallows together. The biggest topic of interest discussed: a capital reserve fund. It would essentially allow the board to save for big expenditures, like the replacement of the BHS/Lurgio roof, which could end up costing millions of dollars. In Mr. Fournier’s opinion, it would be hard for one budget to take on that cost. So, what about saving each year’s leftovers, or the “unreserved fund balance?” The district always has money leftover, but the board chooses to give it back to the taxpayers, because they’re really, really nice. Mr. Fournier guesstimates that there’ll be about $2 million leftover this year, which would be enough for the Memorial nurse office, and the turf, and everything else that was cut, with about $700,000 leftover. But it’s incredibly unlikely that the board will ever change their minds. We don’t know if it’s because they’re truly that fiscally conservative or it’s just out of pure fear of Bedford residents.
When the year is wrapping up and you’re praying to get through without any problems…
Oof, good luck. It didn’t seem to work out for the school board. The former Dean of Student Services, Zanna Blaney, has filed a lawsuit and, among other things, is demanding her job back. Mr. Fournier wouldn’t really talk about it, so all we have is the press statement:
“The Bedford School Board and the Administration regret that Ms. Blaney has chosen to file this lawsuit. The District respects the first amendment rights of employees and does not believe is decision in this case violates those rights. The decision to not renew Ms. Blaney’s contract was upheld by the School Board and was not appealed to the NH Board of Education. Therefore, we consider this decision final.”
Besides that, all we were told is that the lawsuit is in no way the main focus of the board right now. They have more important things going on, like how to make the perfect s’more.
When you just realized that there are still sports going on…
Riiiiightttt, there’s a spring season too! We won’t go into details, but, to say the least, some teams are killing it, others aren’t, and that’s okay! It’s all about having fun, right? Well, maybe in Keene. Boys tennis is undefeated, and in first. Girls lacrosse is in second, having only lost one game to Pinkerton. Girls tennis is 7-0, but they’re in third (having played less matches than other teams). Baseball is in eighth (7-5). Boys lacrosse in in tenth (4-8). Softball is in 12th (6-5). And track is running very fast.
When you were betting on Bran Stark to sit on the iron throne…
It’s a pipe dream. We found out from Mr. Fournier that, when asked by a board member if IB and AP could coexist, Mr. Jozokos said yes. You hear that? It’s the sound of all your hopes and dreams being crushed.
Things to Know
All You Smarties
Underclassmen awards are on Tuesday at 6:00! Congrats if you got one, and congrats if you didn’t! Let’s just say it’ll be a long two hours.
Partayyy
Do we even have to tell you? Prom is on Friday!