Board of Aldermen Page 17
December 13, 2016
arranged for representatives from the Academy of Science Design and the Micro Society to be here. He asked
them if they had any problems. We are talking about $70,000 for ASD and $20,000 for the Micro Society. The
ASD guy we are okay but the Micro Society representative said that their lease is at $180,000 and it goes up in
$20,000 increments and they owe $170,000 and they have difficulty making the money and $20,000 would
certainly help them. They can’t go out and raise taxes or fees, they have to beg parents for money which can
be difficult for them to do. You wouldn't even allow them the $90,000. The teacher ratio is usually 20 to 1 and
the Nashua School District it's 14 to 1. | didn’t vote for Donald Trump but he appointed a staunch charter
proponent to be Secretary of Education. | did vote for Chris Sununu for Governor of the State. Chris Sununu
also says he is for charter schools. | hope we start proposing charter schools. The views on this Board
against charter schools is just unacceptable. It a bias. There’s 491 kids that reside in Nashua go to charter
schools. All the taxpayers in the state contribute $5600 to the student of a charter school. A cost of a student
in the Nashua School District is $13,000 a year. That’s a big difference. IEP kids in the schools are high. It’s
20 percent. | just checked with the school district this afternoon. One out of every five kids have an IEP. | find
that difficult to believe. One out of five kids is dysfunctional. I’ve used that word and I’ve been criticized for it.
We need to support charter schools. The school district is always complaining they don’t have enough money.
| mentioned it earlier and I'll go over it again. Since 2001, 2002, the state population went down by 2,218
students. That represents 17 percent of the student body. Most of the kids have come down in the elementary
schools and the middle schools: 1918 kids less. It keeps going down, but we still have the same number of
schools. This was recognized in 2007 when the school district sponsored a study. They didn’t draw a
conclusion; there’s no conclusion in the report. | find it hard to believe that they spent $100,000 or $40,000 -
$50,000 on a study and there’s no conclusion but they do talk about closing a school. Mount Pleasant was the
one most likely. You close Mount Pleasant down because they don’t need a school. They’ve got plenty of
space. They even have a gym at the Mount Pleasant School for free to a charter school. That’s the kind of
thinking that needs to take place instead of just looking at percentages. It’s never enough and they always
complain. | hope this carries a message. Thank you.
REMARKS BY THE MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN
Alderman Lopez
Next Wednesday, December 21, at 5:00 p.m. in front of the Main Street Methodist we are holding a vigil to
remember the people who have passed away that are homeless. It’s the longest night of the year so we
thought that was appropriate to remember them. On a slightly lightly note, we’re organizing the decoration of
the Delanis Hall, the veterans housing program. Anybody who has extra Christmas decorations, it would help
the veterans decorate their halls.
Alderman O’Brien
Over the last month of December, we lost two retired firefighters. Artie Paine did a lot of good years of service
to the community and the fire department. Another, Lt. Michael Dolan, who upon his retirement sought a
second career and worked very hard with the Salvation Army and gave a lot of himself to that organization.
Both of these people are wonderful human beings that will be sorely missed. | would like to thank everybody
on the board the best of the holiday season and to all the constituents and citizens of Nashua the same.
Alderman Moriarty
| do want to apologize | missed last Tuesday’s Planning & Economic Development Committee and | forgot to
all ahead. | was on business on Ohio and at the time was on a plane. | just want to wish everybody a Merry
Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Alderman LeBrun
Today | had the pleasure of welcoming 70 4" graders from Main Dunstable Elementary School at the State
House. We had quite a conversation for about two hours. They presented with a challenge. They gave me a
