Board Appropriates Money for Failed Addition, Study

The North Hampton School Board unanimously withdrew $8,235 from the School Building Capital Reserve Funds Thursday night to pay for engineering costs for a proposed addition to North Hampton School. 

The proposed $2.5 million addition failed at this year's school district meeting in March, although the district still has to pay Dan Bisson, an architect with the Portland, Maine-based Harriman Engineers and Associates, for his work on the addition plans.

Board member Victoria Kilroy made the motion to withdraw the funds, while Anne Ambrogi seconded the motion.

There was no discussion about the withdrawal, and no comments were made during a two-minute public hearing about the funds before the start of the regular meeting.

The school board also unanimously voted Thursday to appropriate $3,000 from the current year's undesignated fund in order to pay for an enrollment and demographics analysis.

Board member Henry Marsh said he preferred to fund the analysis, which will be performed by the New Hampshire School Administrator's Association, in the current year's budget because the fiscal year 2012 budget is "pretty lean" and because the analysis should be done as soon as possible.

"My feeling is we ought to get going on this because it's crucial to CIP and everything in the community," said Marsh, who made the motion to appropriate the funds.

Board Chairman David Sarazen said they hope to use the analysis to get an idea about "what's coming down the pike" over the next 10 years as they try "to pin down future classes" and other things they need to plan. 

There is an option to also add an educational program facility analysis, which would provide more detailed information, although the board decided Thursday not to set aside the additional $8,500 for that study.

The district is leaving the option open, though, and could decide at a future meeting to use fiscal year 2012 funds to pay for the study.

The North Hampton School Board will meet next on Thursday, August 11. The board will hold a special work session at 5 p.m. that day to discuss their 2012 goals, while the regular business meeting will begin at 7 p.m.