Yearlong Courses Drive WHS Board Forum

Winnacunnet School Board  publicly traded views on the yearlong courses initiative recently, and while those views differed slightly, each of the individuals voiced support for the change as long as the focus remains on what children truly need.

Both of the candidates running for the Hampton representative seat — incumbent  and Leslie Lafond — and two of the three candidates running for the at-large seat —  and North Hampton School Board member Bob Copp — outlined their stances during Tuesday's candidates night in North Hampton.

At-large candidate  was absent Tuesday, which served as a follow-up to  featuring Muns and Lafond.

Lafond spoke frequently during both of those events about the yearlong courses issue, which has been a sensitive topic over the last year. Lafond said that she feels the reason why that conflict has "arisen is because of a lack of communication between the school board" and school staff.

She said, if elected, she would work to make interactions with the board more "respectful" and ensure faculty and administrators feel their concerns are heard, as well as help lead the district in a direction that supports student education.

"We need to listen to our staff," said Lafond, a lifelong resident of the Winnacunnet School District community.

Richter said she has been a "strong vocal advocate" for the sending communities, as well as yearlong core subjects. She said she would like to see some of the various community and district efforts "melded together" better during rescheduling talks, which she said in no way should involve eliminating electives.

Richter said electives are "necessary," and if reelected to another three-year term she said she would work to have "healthy discussions" which help bring a "call to action" for a change she feels the "majority of parents support."

"We need to get everyone back on board," said Richter.

Muns said yearlong courses and "ensuring students success" are among the board's "very immediate priorities," and must be accomplished by finding the "right balance" of opportunities.

Muns said the goal of education is to "spark and cultivate a sense of creativity" in students and provide them with opportunities to explore other things. He said he supports the yearlong courses plan, and he said he's running to increase the overall level of respect on the board, as he feels it's lacking.

"It all boils down to relationships," said Muns, a Hampton resident. "The best relationships are those based on transparency and mutual respect."

Copp said any scheduling changes cannot be made "without doing a lot of educational research," and said he also feels communication on the board level needs to be improved in order for the district to improve.

He said "unified arts work well" in terms of preparing students for success, and he said the board needs to keep that in mind while finding a way to make core subjects taught year-round instead of in the current two-trimester format.

"Change isn't necessarily a bad thing, although change isn't necessarily a good thing," said Copp, who also serves as a North Hampton School Board representative to the North Hampton Budget Committee.