Grantham’s School District meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 5, at the Grantham Village School. Town Meeting will be held at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, March 12, at Town Hall, with ballot voting between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m.
GRANTHAM — Voters who take to the polls early next month will have a decision to make about who they hope to see on the School Board and Selectboard in the coming year.
School Board incumbents Christine Conroy and Denise Sullivan are facing a challenge from Tanya McIntire, a 13-year resident who vows to take a hard look at the budget. Two of the three women will be elected to the five-member board.
Meanwhile, longtime Selectboard incumbent Constance Jones is facing a challenge from Pavel Zagadailov, a scientist who is running for public office for the first time.
McIntire, who unsuccessfully petitioned the school district and state last year to have taxpayer dollars fund the cost of her son’s private school tuition, said she would like to see changes in the way policies are administered.
More specifically, McIntire, who recently ran and lost for a New Hampshire House seat as a Republican, said she would advocate for children who are experiencing educational hardships to be able to attend other schools using district funds.
Conroy, who has served roughly 3½ years on the board, and Sullivan, who stepped in in April of last year to fill a vacancy, both say their backgrounds and experience in education give them the edge. The retired teachers also stressed the importance of balancing education needs with spending.
“I think I have been effective on the board, and I really enjoy it,” Conroy said.
“I look forward to working more with the community and being a contributing member,” said Sullivan, who added that she has “real concerns for the state of public education.”
On the town side, Jones, a retiree who has served 21 years on the Selectboard, said she has the experience to get the job done and the time to devote to it.
Zagadailov, who moved to Grantham in 2015 and worked for the now-shuttered Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility program at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, said he can bring a “fresh pair of eyes” to town finances. He said he hopes to improve transparency on the board, so townspeople can have increased access to information. Zagadailov owns Clinical Outcomes Research Group in town.
Another driving factor for running, Zagadailov said, is to represent “my peers and working families here in Grantham.”
Jones contemplated stepping down this year but reconsidered when it came time to file. Not a lot of people were “banging on the door to run,” she said, which played into her decision to rerun.
“I have the time, and I have the experience,” she said.
There also is a contested race for two trustee spots on the Dunbar Free Library board. Incumbents Carl (Tod) Llyod and Beverly Marshall are vying to retain their seats against Mark Kendall.
Voters will cast ballots for town and school candidates by Australian ballot on March 12.
The proposed School District budget of almost $9.9 million represents a spending increase of about 3.4 percent, something Superintendent Sydney Leggett said is due in part because of an increase in tuition; Grantham will send 17 more students to Lebanon High School in this budget cycle.
The School Board also has budgeted $35,000 to test the waters of adding an in-house preschool program at the Grantham Village School.
A teachers contract also is on the warrant this year, and includes step increases totaling $305,220 over three years.
Voters also will act on two citizen petitions, which both were circulated by McIntire, the School Board candidate.
If adopted, Article 5 would allow the district to reassign a student with specific educational needs to another district, private school or homeschool and have the money allotted for that student in the district follow them. Article 6 would allow children to come to Grantham from other districts under the same accord.
Neither article is supported by the Grantham School Board.
If all of the articles on the warrant pass, the estimated tax rate impact would be about 53 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation, or $133 on a $250,000 home.
Grantham residents will act on a general government budget of $1.35 million, which represents a 9 percent decrease in spending, thanks in part to a savings in health insurance costs.
Despite that decrease, the estimated tax rate increase — if all of the articles on the warrant pass — would be 33 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation, or $83 on a $250,000 home.
Among the 18 articles on the warrant, residents will be asked to make the final $14,740 lease payment on the 2017 Dodge Charger police cruiser; purchase a new highway dump truck at $200,000; and replace the highway garage roof at $20,000. None of those articles would impact the tax rate.
Articles that ask to replace the highway department generator ($7,500) and the transfer station generator ($18,000) would impact the tax rate.
Voters also will be asked to approve the purchase of a 386 acre wooded parcel off Upper Dunbar Hill Road at $415,000. About $115,000 of that would come from private donations and the remainder would come from surplus. Purchasing the land would permanently protect it for recreation uses.
Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com or 603-727-3248.
Correction
While Grantham’s School District meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 5, at the Grantham Village School, Australian ballot voting for school and town candidates will run from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m on Tuesday, March 12. An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated when voting for school candidates will take place.