Local author Jeanne Fournier will hold a book signing for “Grieving With Grace” at the Chesley Memorial Library on Saturday, February 7, from 10:30am-12:30pm.  Jeanne is a New Hampshire native and her book is a sensitive, gentle, compassionate memoir of caring for a dying child.  Copies will be available for purchase ($10.00) and questions are welcome throughout the signing.  Light refreshments will be served.

Letter To The Editor

Common Core and Kindergarten

Two Warrant Articles Northwood voters will be voting on this year are whether to support all-day kindergarten and whether to withdraw from Common Core.  The two questions came together in a recent Washington Post article “Requiring kindergartners to read — as Common Core does — may harm some.”

The article is based on a new January 2015 report from two organizations that support early childhood education: Defending the Early Years, and Alliance for Childhood. Among the findings outlined were:

“NO research documents long-term gains from learning to read in kindergarten.”

Common Core State Standards require reading instruction in kindergarten despite the fact that some children aren’t ready for reading.

Common Core expects kindergartners to meet more than 90 standards.

“The adoption of the Common Core State Standards falsely implies that having children achieve these standards will overcome the impact of poverty on development and learning.”

Common Core kindergarten standards replace developmentally appropriate play-based learning with academic instruction, despite what we know “from decades of research in cognitive and developmental psychology and neuroscience.”

Placing children this age in inappropriate educational settings, “can cause them great harm, including feelings of inadequacy, anxiety and confusion.”

“The promoters of the standards claim they are based in research. They are not….Two recent studies show that direct instruction can actually limit young children’s learning. At best, the standards reflect guesswork, not cognitive or developmental science,” says University of Hawaii Professor Stephanie Feeney, chair of the Advocacy Committee of the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators.

Since the Northwood School District has adopted the Common Core Standards, we can expect them to be implemented in full-day kindergarten, should it be approved by the voters.  Unless, of course, Northwood citizens vote to withdraw from Common Core.

Michael Faiella

Northwood

Letter To The Editor 

What is Common Core?

According to Bill Gates, of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation a substantial backer of Common Core, Common Core is:   “a very basic idea that kids should be taught what they are going to be tested on.   Kids should also be taught the same way.”  To Bill Gates this is “a technocratic issue,” akin to making sure all states use the same type of electrical outlet.”

Initially, I saw a purpose to Common Core; students should be able to go from state to state and be required to learn developmentally appropriate core basics, especially in the Elementary Level.   I want students to be competitive with the rest of the world, but Common Core is not benchmarked internationally.  Also, it is more of the same.  When I say this, it is just greater “No Child Left Behind, NCLB.”   Einstein described “insanity:  doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.”

Education has become more about taking tests than it has been about experience.  Yesterday, I saw the “Laker” Northwood School’s Monthly Newsletter.  I could not believe the Testing Schedule.  How many tests do students have to take?  For teachers and administration to determine what our children know and don’t know.  So, they can either re-teach or prove mastery.   Are these tests just testing what our students know or don’t know?

 Next week, I will write more about the Smarter Balanced Assessment scheduled this spring and Senate hearing I attended for SB101.

Sincerely,

Marie L. Correa

Letter To The Editor 

To the Editor,

“A politician is a fellow who will lay down your life for his country.” Tex Guinan

Think three times before you vote away our right to elect Northwood’s Road Agent. This retread warrant article is on the March 10th ballot. Vote no. This position is somewhat independent of the vagaries of political whims, cronyism, and the incredible pressure to put family and friends into positions. Check out our history and you will find that the reason we have an elected road agent is because a relative was hired and boy did we have a mess. That is why the town voted to elect our road agent and this has worked well. Our road problems are not the fault of our road agent.

Similarly, for years I have been asked (and sorely tempted) to file a petition warrant article to disband the police commission here in town which would put the police back under the jurisdiction of the Select Board. But again history will tell you that in the late 90’s the town voted for a police commission and for good reason. Check it out. I’ll say right out loud that the Northwood Police Commission has lost its way. Instead of being a liaison between the citizens who voted them in and the police department they instead are just a big rubber stamp. Sad!

What to do, what to do? It is simple. Be informed, pay attention and vote out those not doing the job expected. Politicians will learn if the worst are dealt with out behind the woodshed. They will get the point. OUCH!!!

Tim Jandebeur

Northwood

Banner Year For Coe-Brown Art Students

Twenty Coe-Brown Students representing 39 works of art receive statewide recognition in The Scholastic Art Awards of New Hampshire 2015

The Art Department at Coe-Brown Northwood Academy is pleased to announce that the following students received recognition in The 2015 Scholastic Art Awards of New Hampshire Competition administered by The New Hampshire Art Educators’ Association - A Regional Affiliate of the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, Inc. Seven hundred and ninety pieces of Gold Key, Silver Key and Honorable Mention Award winning works, including the works of CBNA students, are currently on display through Sunday, February 8 at the Stockbridge Theater on the campus of Pinkerton Academy, Derry, NH.  The exhibition is open to the public Mon. – Fri. 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM.  An awards reception will take place in the theatre on Sunday, February 8.  Students in grades 7-9 will be honored at a ceremony beginning at noon, followed by grades 10-12 at 1:00 PM.  The exhibition will close at 3:00 PM.

Coe-Brown Student recipients are as follows:

Barrington

Abigail Ahern (12) Gold Key Award & American Vision Nomination – Drawing - Title: Confusion

Silver Key Award - Drawing Title: Does Life Really Repeat?

Silver Key Award - Drawing Title: The Pledge

Silver Key Award - Drawing Title: Wanderlust

Silver Key Award – Art Portfolio            

Olivia Drew (12) Gold Key Award – Photography Title: Blank Space

Silver Key Award – Photography Title: Not So Silent Night

Strafford

Alandra Beaver (12) Honorable Mention Award – Drawing Title: After it Rain

Hannah Eaton (12) Gold Key Award – Drawing Title: Through the Cracks

Silver Key Award – Painting Title: Self-Discovery

Alexander Yonchak (11) Gold Key Award – Portfolio 1                

Gold Key Award – Portfolio 1

Silver Key Award – Photography Title: Clouded View

Honorable Mention Award – Digital Art   Title: Seamless Color Split

Honorable Mention Award – Digital Art   Title: Windows

Honorable Mention Award – Digital Art   Title: Seabirds

Erika Grand (12) Honorable Mention Award – Painting Title: Face Paint

Danielle Grove (12) Honorable Mention Award – Painting      Title: The Beauty of Fall

Honorable Mention Award – Drawing     Title: One Great Summer

Jacquelyn Stevens (12) Silver Key Award – Drawing Title: This Moment

Nottingham

Andrew Lambert (12) Gold Key Award – Photography Title: CBNA Snap Shot

Tess Lambert (12) Silver Key Award – Photography Title: Doodle Cup

Erin Carey (10) Gold Key Award – Printmaking Title: Burning Maze

Gage Desrosiers (11) Silver Key Award – Drawing Title: Deep Sea

Northwood

Megan Leduke (12) Gold Key Award – Drawing Title: Features

Silver Key Award – Drawing Title: Runaways 

Honorable Mention Award – Drawing Title: Rebel

Honorable Mention Award – Drawing Title: The Gardner

Jesse Ohrenberger (12) Honorable Mention Award – Drawing     Title: How Sweet it is

Billie Pingree (11) Gold Key Award – Drawing Title:  Grand Theft Autumn

Gold Key Award – Drawing Title:  Bombs Away

Gold Key Award – Drawing Title:  Voodoo doll

Silver Key Award – Drawing Title:  Harder to Breath

Haley Ruth (12) Gold Key Award – Drawing Title: Saying Goodbye

Julie Souryavong (11) Honorable Mention Award – Photography Title: Reading in Isolation

Veronica Swindell (12) Honorable Mention Award – Drawing     Title: Trophies of the Dead

Sydney Welch (12) Honorable Mention Award – Photography Title: Peafowl

Epsom

Allison Jones (12) Silver Key Award – Mixed Media Title: Creativity in Buttons

Honorable Mention Award – Photography Title: Complex World

Letter To The Editor

Kindergarten History

Did you know that Northwood was one of the first New Hampshire towns to offer public kindergarten to its children?  Long before kindergarten became the law of the land in the late 1990’s, our school board implemented it twenty years earlier, in the late 1970’s.  But kindergarten in Northwood started long before that.

In the early 1950’s, Northwood had its own Baby Boom of sorts, and mothers at that time – including me – encouraged Gladys Gardner to offer kindergarten for our children.  This she did for the next 24 years, first at her home at 534 1st NH Turnpike, and then at her second home at 488.

So many children benefited from this opportunity, that when Gladys retired in 1977, the School Board voted to fill the void with a town-supported kindergarten.  If it was good for the kids whose parents could afford it, it was good for all the kids. 

At a retirement reception in her honor, Gladys was presented with a quilt with one square for each of her 24 years of classes.  Each square bears the names of the boys and girls she prepared to move forward with their educations.  I hope to bring it to the deliberative session tomorrow night.

Now, the town has the opportunity to take the next step and make kindergarten a full-day program.  It’s time to take that step.  

Joann Bailey

Northwood Town Historian

Letter To The Editor

More School, More Better

In my initial letter about the petition warrant article to fund all-day kindergarten, I noted that similar warrants had been supported unanimously by the Northwood Budget Committee in 2012 and 2014.  This time, I was gratified to find that it was supported 10-2. (Two of those absent had supported it previously, so I think that would have made it 12-2 if they had been in attendance.)

I was pleased to find that the support came from all quarters. Chair Ginger Dole and Vice-Chair Betsy Colburn voted for it.  And when the discussion bogged down in the financial details, Betsy was heard to comment, “let the School Board figure it out.”

Town Moderator Hal Kreider joined the majority.  He pointed out that many other towns now have all-day kindergarten and that “our kids will be competing with those kids.”

School Board Representative Tim Jandebeur expressed some hesitation because the Board had not voted on this warrant, but in the end, he, too, voted for it.  If you read his letter last week lauding the efforts of the Berlin School District to educate their children in the face of economic adversity, this should come as no surprise.

Important support also came from Nikki Roy whose young children have given her the most current first-hand experience with elementary education.  And I would add that her views seemed similar to those I encountered as I gathered signatures for the petition.

Parents and grandparents noted how disruptive the half-day program is to their lives.  A two-hour snow delay sends them scrambling for childcare when the morning program is cancelled. Early release does the same in the afternoon.  Kids in the morning miss school assemblies in the afternoon and vice versa.

But the real bottom line is: more school, more better.

Tom Chase

Northwood

Letter To The Editor

Please Support All-Day Kindergarten in Northwood

As parents, we have a duty to provide our children with the tools necessary to succeed in life. A large part of this responsibility entails helping them build a solid educational foundation. 

Full-day kindergarten allows young students to develop strong academic, social and emotional skills. Children in full-day kindergarten classes demonstrate greater reading and mathematics gains than those in half-day classes. Full-day kindergarten also supports children at risk of school failure and interventions can be made sooner, rather than later.

As parents of small children heading toward Kindergarten in the near future, we ask the voters to please support us and our children and pass Warrant Article #11 on March 10th. 

We have also created a Facebook page to gather support. Please like and share the page!

https://www.facebook.com/northwoodalldaykindergarten

Thank you,

Ryan and Amy Hanavan

Doug and Becca Rohr

Mike and Christine Kennedy

The Cox Family

The Seymour Family

The Demers Family

Gordon E. Smart

November 7, 1931 - January 20, 2015

Gordon E. Smart passed away at his home in Northwood on Tuesday, January 20, 2015 after a brief illness.

Born in Portsmouth NH on November 7, 1931, he was the son of Gay E. and Dora M. (Howe) Smart.

Gordon was a 1949 graduate of Portsmouth High school, graduated from UNH in 1953 with a BA in Mathematics and Texas A&M in 1965 with a MS in Computing Science.  

He was commissioned into the US Air Force as a 2LT in 1953 and retired after 20 years of service as a Lt. Colonel.  In 1973 he moved to Northwood and was the Assistant Headmaster and teacher at Coe-Brown Northwood Academy until his retirement in 1991.

Gordon was predeceased by the love of his life, his wife of 54 years, Barbara, who died on January 10, 2009.  He is survived by 5 children; Gregory and Holly Smart of Epping, NH; Suzanne and Owen McLean of Taylorsville, North Carolina; Gary Smart and Cynthia Warianty, of Northwood, NH; Daniel and Rebecca Smart of Biddeford, ME; Peter Smart of Advance, North Carolina.  He is also survived by 14 Grandchildren and 3 Great-Grandchildren who knew him affectionately as ‘Grandpapa’.

Private interment will be in the Pine Grove Cemetery, Northwood in the spring at the convenience of the family.

Memorial Donations may be made to Coe Brown Northwood Academy, 907 1st NH Turnpike, Northwood, NH 03261 or Cornerstone VNA, 178 Farmington Road, Rochester, NH 03867.