Haverhill
Laurie Melanson, 54, began work as superintendent on July 1 after having served as the teaching principal for six years in Warren, N.H., which along with Haverhill, Piermont, Bath and Benton comprise the towns in the SAU.
Also hired is Kathy Ducharme, a new business manager who previously worked for the St. Johnsbury School.
“There’s a lot to do here. I think we’re a good SAU and I think we could be a great SAU,” Melanson said in a phone interview on Monday. “I think we need to straighten out the financial side of our house, and I think we have done that with the hiring of a new business manager who is familiar with New Hampshire laws and regulations.”
Melanson confirmed that SAU 23 has to pay $5,225 in penalties and interest to the IRS and $14,332 in penalties and fees to the New Hampshire Retirement System. The assessments for late payments and clerical errors were reported earlier this month by the Journal Opinion weekly newspaper.
“It was a personnel matter, and all of them have been dealt with,” Melanson said.
Minutes from an emergency meeting the SAU 23 School Board held on June 17 with then-interim Superintendent Don LaPlante also indicate that the board voted to borrow $350,000 because the district treasurer had said there were not sufficient funds on hand to meet payroll.
Melanson said the SAU had not billed out invoices to the school districts in the SAU for some shared services, such as occupational therapy, and had also not submitted the proper paperwork to get special education reimbursements from the state.
She said she does not expect the SAU to lose out on the money.
“We’re still closing the books, and still balancing checkbooks for all of the districts. We’re going through everything with a fine-tooth comb,” she said.
The board voted to hire Melanson last fall, and she finished out her tenure in Warren this spring. She has been a principal for 13 years — she previously worked in Winthrop, Mass., and also taught for 12 years, much of it to first-graders. She also is a reading specialist and is certified in special education.
Melanson’s three-year contract is paying her $115,000 annually.
LaPlante, a former school superintendent in Hartford, was hired on an interim basis two years ago to replace longtime SAU 23 Superintendent Bruce Labs, who now heads the White River Valley Supervisory Union.
John P. Gregg can be reached a jgregg@vnews.com.