As the second year of my term of serving on the Hooksett School Board ends, I am looking back over the last year.  Here are some of the facts.  David PearlYou can find all of these officially recorded votes and actions within the School board videos, on the Hooksett School District Website.  You can draw your own conclusions.

  • The Superintendent claimed the content of the School Board Policy book didn’t exist in electronic format, because there were no index pages.
  • The Superintendent claimed he is being harassed.  A Board Member said Manchester gave us a “crap sandwich.”
  • Public informational forums were cancelled, after similar forums were very successful and well attended.
  • Six different requests for School Board special meetings were submitted, and yet the same three Board members were consistently unavailable for all six meetings.
  • The Superintendant walked to the door during a meeting and said he would leave, unless the School Board voted a full confidence in him.
  • The Board passed the Manchester settlement without a Public hearing.
  • The School Board voted to not allow a Board member to use the overhead projector, to display data.
  • The Chair called the Police because a citizen spoke up, and had that citizen removed.
  • A special meeting continued, after the purpose of the meeting had already ended.
  • The Chair didn’t add an agenda item for validly requested legal assistance, because the Chair didn’t feel we needed it.
  • A Board member walked out of meeting because of the inappropriate actions taken.
  • The Superintendant was accused by a citizen of improper language usage against that citizen.
  • The School Board voted to not allow its own members to take part in the Pinkerton contract negotiations.
  • The Board passed the Pinkerton 10 year contract, and a 1 year in enrollment agreement, set the tuition base rate and gave the Superintendant the authority to assign students — all in one single motion.
  • Board Members were only allowed by the Chair, to speak twice to the Pinkerton contract motion due to a snow storm.
  • Meetings ended without a vote of adjournment.
  • The Board voted down the Pinkerton contract, then passed it two weeks later with virtually the same contract terms.
  • The Chair announces she has a job with the SAU, when she is not allowed to do so per official policy.
  • The Superintendant told the Board they are a “rudderless ship,” and to get out of his way.
  • The Board members discovered that the Policy committee has no postings nor any meeting minutes, in violation of RSA 91a – the right to know law.
  • A Board member emailed the administrative staff to set up a hotline to report problems and issues related to school matters, also in violation of School Board policy.  The Administration sent a letter to the School Board to complain about the Hotline email.
  • The F word was used during public input.
  • The Superintendant claims that his staff and himself are in fear.
  • The Superintendent claims he is still being harassed by a School Board member.
  • The Chair polled the Board via email to hire someone, but claimed she couldn’t poll the Board to set up a meeting with our own School Board attorney.

David Pearl

Hooksett School Board Member