Selectmen Issues: May 2009 Archives
May 3 , 2009
When Tom Keane ran for a seat on the board of selectmen two years ago, he championed himself as a candidate who'd fight for lower taxes in Bow.
Although Keane has another year until his term expires, he's set his sights on the school board. This year, he's running against incumbent Stephen Elgert for a 3-year term.
If he's elected, Keane said he doesn't plan to give up his spot on the board of selectmen, which is allowed by law, according to Town Manager Jim Pitts. The board of selectmen meets twice a month and the school board once, so Keane figures he'll have enough time to do both if elected.
Keane, who's retired and has lived in Bow since 2002, said being on the school board might work to open up communication between the school district and town government - something he doesn't think is happening now.
"Because they are two politically autonomous entities, there's no requirement that they talk to each other," Keane said. "In our system, there's no coordination whatsoever."
Keane said he'd like to apply his business background, which includes a master's degree in labor relations and communications, on the school board to address what he says are some of Bow's biggest challenges, like maintaining programs that promote critical thinking while addressing the lurking issue of declining school enrollment.
And while Keane said the current board and administration have started to address those problems, there's more work ahead.
"It's a law of diminishing returns. . . . People can't afford to move in; we need to coordinate and look at this as a bigger issue.," Keane said. "We've entered a phase that, if we don't carefully manage this, housing costs are going to prohibit us from bringing people in the community that we need in our school system."
Two-term incumbent Elgert, a family physician and geriatrician who's lived in Bow for nearly 10 years, said the current board members have shown they work well together. Despite the stress of the economic downturn, voters approved both the board's flat school district budget and separate teacher contract this year.
"When you look at our school budget, a majority of what you budget for goes toward personnel in whatever form. If you really, substantially want to cut dollars, you're looking at cutting major parts of programs, or personnel," Elgert said, adding that the board cut the equivalent of four full-time teacher positions from next year's high school budget to keep costs down.
The board, Elgert said, has followed enrollment trends closely for several years. Outside of a bubble of students in this year's sophomore class, "it's pretty steady," Elgert said. "At the elementary and middle school, we have a pretty good balance of what we should have and what we need."
The board recently commissioned a study committee made up of board members, teachers and others from within the community to study high school curriculum and find ways to make it more efficient.
"We've been looking proactively at high school class sizes and trying to figure out ways we can consolidate without reducing the scope and breadth of our programs. That's tricky," said Elgert.
Elgert said the district must find a balance, and that across-the-board cuts, which he criticized Keane for supporting at this year's school district meeting, would have been "disastrous."
The polls open May 12, at the community building from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and town meeting is the following night at 7 p.m. in the high school's auditorium.
