Derry Offers No Incentive for Renewable Energy
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“Anything that can help indirectly reduce energy costs is critical,” said Burtis, who has not committed to purchasing solar panels for his home yet. “I wish Derry was more progressive in assisting the taxpayers on things like that.”
While the town council agreed to update the elderly tax exemption earlier this year, a renewable energy tax exemption was not on its radar.
“I haven’t made a decision about use in residential yet,” said Councilor Brent Carney, who spearheaded an initiative for green building construction and vehicle use at the town level. “It seems like something that I would like to look into more. It would certainly be worth a discussion.”
Part of Carney’s green initiative was passing requirements for the town to work with businesses and the community to improve their environmental impact.
“There are a whole bunch of different options we can look at,” said Carney. “Part of that would be to see if tax credits would be appropriate.”
After meeting with contractors, Burtis found that the location and the orientation of his home would work well with photovoltaic cells. The roof is unimpeded from obstruction and faces southerly for optimum sunlight exposure.
Yet, while a movement to push homeowners away from fossil fuel-based energy reliance is being promoted nationally, Burtis has found little to help defray the hefty expense of upgrading to solar power. The federal government extended a tax credit program that covers 30 percent of the cost of installation, up to $2,000. The state offers to compensate homeowners who produce more energy from renewable resources than they use in their homes, a mechanism called net metering.
On the town level, however, no help is available in Derry.
It may stay that way, at least while the economy remains jittery. Councilors Brian Chirichiello and Kevin Coyle said they were wary of supporting tax exemptions that placed a greater burden on other residents.
“You have to understand when you give a tax (exemption), you need to make cuts at the local level to support that or it’s putting a burden on other people. For someone who can’t afford to install solar panels on their home, the burden shifts to them,” said Chirichiello.
“Tax exemptions come at a cost to everybody. I’m kind of a little leery. It’s got to be beneficial to everyone,” echoed Coyle, who proposed the tax exemption increase for elderly residents in Derry earlier this year.
Last year, Londonderry passed a tax exemption of $5,000 from the town’s property tax, based on assessed value, for taxpayers who use solar or wind-generated electricity. According to Tax Assessor Karen Marchant, no resident of Londonderry has applied for the either the solar or the wind exemption.
A handful of people claim solar exemptions in the town of Chester, which offers a similar exemption, along with 11 other communities in Rockingham County, according to the New Hampshire Office of Energy and Planning.
Council chairman Rick Metts said he would like to learn more about what other communities offer before seriously considering a tax exemption for Derry.
Earlier this month, Town Administrator Gary Stenhouse told the town council that he was directing town staff to consider ways to reduce the town’s energy consumption by 20 percent for the upcoming year. He hoped to outline the town’s plan for energy reduction before the town council in August.
Until a councilor proposes the exemption, it would not be considered by the town council.
“I wouldn’t chew it out completely, but I don’t want to shift the burden onto other people, especially with the way the economy is going right now,” said Chirichiello. “It just may not be the right time.”
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School District Staff Prepare to Welcome Kindergarteners
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While each of the 15 prospective kindergarten teachers hail from within the district’s staff, few have experience teaching 5-year-olds.
“This is a good rug activity,” advised Shaw, an instructional coach with a doctorate in early childhood curriculum development. “Throughout the day, you’ll need a break for movement.”
Everyone settled into their foldable chairs situated next to metal desks that came up to an adult’s knees. Each person had a packet full of instructional activities in front of them, along with a paper plate decorated with sculpted Play-Doh.
That morning, the group had designed colorful pictures illustrating a character, an action and a setting with the salty-smelling dough.
“Talking to (the children) constantly about their CAS (character, action, setting) and getting them to verbalize it to you is a form of prewriting for them,” said Shaw. “Take this plate and put it right next to them when you get ready to write.”
While kindergarten teachers avoid the frenzied preparation for educational tests that are common at the higher grade levels, they must undertake the considerable challenge of teaching 5-year-olds the fundamentals of reading and writing. Many children are not familiar with the phonetic sounds of letters when they arrive at public school.
“It starts here,” said Shaw.
Most of the teachers selected to teach kindergarten this fall were previously elementary school teachers in the district. Shaw warned the group about the difference between a 10-year-old and a 5-year-old.
“As far as being a kindergarten teacher, it is the level that teachers want to get to, because it’s going to be something that you will absolutely love,” said Shaw, a teacher in South Carolina for the past 25 years. “But you’re going to see that there is something huge that falls on your shoulders. You are their first experience in school and their first attempt at literacy.”
Shaw emphasized that kindergarten and first-grade teachers instill basic reading skills in their students for their future development.
“If they don’t have it by the end of the first grade, it is so difficult. It is almost impossible to catch a kid up,” she warned. “A great kindergarten teacher can make a difference in a child’s life.”
Soon-to-be kindergarten teacher Stacy Campbell said she was ready for a change after five years of teaching fifth grade.
“It’s going to be a big transition, but after just these two days (with Dr. Shaw), I feel really prepared,” said Campbell, a new mom who wanted to teach younger children.
A private kindergarten teacher before entering the Derry school district as a fourth-grade teacher, Deb Konstant said she couldn’t wait to return to the younger grade level.
“It’s very different from what I’ve been doing in fourth grade. In kindergarten, it’s so important to learn how to read,” said Konstant. “I love teaching reading. It’s my strength and my passion.”
Kim Rivers, a teacher in the Derry Early Education Program (DEEP) and a former middle school instructor, said the difference in the grade level can take some time to get used to, but “it becomes fun.
“The big difference is to not assume they know how to do anything,” said Rivers, who said she learned to self-talk and be constantly enthusiastic with her students. “You do feel silly, but kids just eat it up.”
The largest school district in the country without public kindergarten, Derry, along with 11 other school districts in New Hampshire was ordered by the state last year to implement a kindergarten program for the fall of 2008. While the state recently allowed schools another year to start kindergarten, Derry is ready to go for this fall. Kindergarten will be offered at each of the district’s elementary schools.
The immediate mandate came as a shock to the district, which had limited time, classroom space or financial aid to jumpstart a 250-student kindergarten program.
Yet, school staff said the change was long called for. Previously, first-grade students entered the district with experiences ranging from three years of private schooling to nothing at all.
“We had children coming in and cutting their hair because they didn’t know how to use scissors and had never been to school before,” said Tricia Pantalone, a teaching aide for first-grade teachers and for students with special needs. “Some of them don’t recognize letters.”
With a uniform kindergarten program in the district, Pantalone said the playing field is more fairly leveled.
“It’s nice, because I will know where these children need to go now,” she said.
Over the course of the next month, teachers were advised not to be concerned with workbooks or worksheets and to spend their time scouring discount stores for rhyming and alphabet books and, perhaps, a rocking chair.
“They need a chance to be surrounded by those books, be read a story and to check out a book,” said Shaw, who advised the teachers to construct reading corners in their new classrooms during the next month. “Just make it real cozy for them.”
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Police Union Web Site Charges Brought to Council’s Attention
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Among the top concerns broadcast by the Web site is the loss of 11 officers within the past 13 months, a fifth of the total department.
“The once proud Derry Police Department has now become a training ground for other area Police Departments. Because of the downward spiral of the morale within the Derry Police Department we can no longer keep valuable and experienced police officers,” states the union’s home page.
The union claims the high turnover is costing taxpayers “thousands of dollars in salary, benefits, and training that the town will never be able to recover.”
Coyle insinuated that the officer loss is more than what meets the eye.
“I know that some people might say it’s the retirement system. Well, I would point out that the fire department has the same retirement system and not one person has left, so I don’t really believe that,” said Coyle, a police prosecutor for the town of Londonderry.
Mike Houle, patrolman’s union president, agreed. “This has been an ongoing thing,” he said. “Granted, a lot of them do have the time and age, but some were not ready to leave the police department but left anyway.”
The union’s Web site points fingers at the police department’s administration, calling it “the Good Ole Boy network.
“The D.P.P.A. has been seeking a review of the morale within Derry Police Department for several years. Unfortunately our requests have fallen on deaf ears,” the Web site states.
“I honestly feel the town is burying their heads in this issue,” said Houle, a senior master patrolman and a detective.
Last month, the Derry Police Patrolman’s Association filed for arbitration to settle a change from compensatory time to overtime pay for officers who worked longer than their allotted shift. According to the Web site, the town switched the policy without negotiation, a change the union is calling a breach of contract.
The post on the Web site condemns Police Chief Ed Garone for the removal of the benefit, which occurred the day after the union won a grievance hearing at the town administrator’s level, the site claims.
“The Chief of Police IS OUT OF CONTROL and out of touch with the modern police science,” the Web site states. “His ideas are old and outdated and his leadership is non-existent [sic]. We are telling you that the majority of those officers would still be with the Town of Derry if not for the Chief of Police and his petty politics. He is responsible for the lack of leadership within the Administration and the resulting low morale within the department.”
“That kind of concerns me,” Coyle told the council at last week’s meeting, to which he heard no response from other councilors. “I know that we’ve discussed it before, but I really think that we need to look into that.”
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