Rochester Concerned Taxpayers

School Board Attendance Record

Rochester Public Forum on BSF

School Budget Overview

Special Education

Brenda Home Care – Private duty nursing
Maplestone
Strafford Learning Center
Cedarcrest, Inc.
Monarch School of NE
Easter Seal Society
Eckerd Youth Alternative
OH, Inc – Special Education
Pine Haven Boys Center
May Institute
Mount Prospect Academy
Seacoast Learning
Institute, May
Community Partners

Furniture/Curriculum Materials

School Speciality Inc.
K-Log
Hass Factory Outlet – Machine tooling
Valiant International – Machine and tools

Athletics

Satara Leos, Ltd.
Pats Peak
Wildcat
Mount Sunapee
Collins Sports

Education

Really Great Reading
Harcourt Brace and Company
Pearson Education (NCS Pearson)
Music and Art Center
Library Sparks
Education, Inc.
McGraw Hill Company
Follett Library Resources
Gander Publishing
Houghton Mifflin
Sopris West Educational Services
Super Duper Publication
Success for All
Childcraft Education
Renaissance Learning

Transportation

Goffstown Truck
Provider Enterprise
Safe Passage

Supplies/Equipment

Corporate Express
ABC School Supply
Goodwin Office Supplies
Rochester 100
Staples
Demco Incorporated
Ultiplay Parks and Playground Equipment

Computers

Cyberguys
Hewlett Packard
Govconnection
Custom Computers
Apple, Inc.
Turbotek

Insurance

Lincoln National Life
LGH Health Trust

Maintenance/Utilities

RK Gherlone – Painter
Dennis Burke – Oil
Unitil (Formerly Northeast Utility) – Natural gas
PSNH
Metromedia Energy – Natural gas
DSCI – Phones
Nextel – Cell phones

Food service

Chartwell’s
Commercial Kitchen

Lawyers

Jerome Grossman
Drummond Woodsum- Special Education Lawyer

Consulting/Teacher Training

SERESC – Southeastern Regional Education Service Center
Jim Moulton – Teacher Workshops in Project-Based Learning

Proposed Admin Contract by Position
Proposed Admin Contract Q&A
Administrator Contract Tentative Agreement
Proposed Cuts School Budget 2010 – Part 1
Proposed Cuts School Budget 2010 – Part 2

Along with several other people, Rob Gates (RCTA President), and Sue O’Connor (RCTA Treasurer) attended the public forum about the second high school Thursday, January 15, 2009 held at the Spaulding High School library. We presented comments and questions to Mr. Shea, Spaulding HS Principal and Mr. Hopkins, Rochester School Superintendent.

While we believe the dialogue helped to answer many questions and concerns (see documents section), it is clear that the work toward creating an additional Rochester high school has only just begun. Mr. Shea and Mr. Hopkins assured everyone at the meeting that public involvement would be an integral part of the discovery work throughout the entire process. However, one thing seemed very clear – Mr. Shea and Mr. Hopkins strongly believe that smaller schools provide for a better educational climate for students.

To date there has not been a lot of research done on this subject and it may be just another “fad.” The one fact that does come out regarding smaller schools is that the concept and models are generally geared towards larger cities with numerous inner city high schools and large percentages of minority student populations. There have been only 22 research reports from 1966 to 2000 when the idea of smaller schools first emerged. These reports investigate and define school size, socioeconomic status (SES), and school-size issues.

The RCTA has done extensive research on the idea of smaller schools and we have presented many links on the documents section of our website for your information. While the RCTA will continue to stay involved with this process of looking at providing a smaller high school, we encourage you to do your own research and become informed. Whether you will have children that will be impacted by the outcome of this effort or if you’re generally concerned about education performance and the cost of providing education, this will be an important step that our local school district might take that requires constant public scrutiny.

The RCTA strongly believes that parents and the public need to continually be involved with our children’s education, so we hope that you will do your very best to do your part.