There were 16 responses to this week’s Tele-Talk question: “Is security lacking in local schools, and should more money be allocated for security?” Fourteen people said no to spending more money on security; five people said yes.



Good grief! Are will killing the taxpayer of Conway and North Conway again? Good grief! We do not need more baloney money added to this budget. Enough is enough. A taxpayer in North Conway.

No, security is not lacking in our schools and no more money should be allocated for security. Everyone is overreacting to one crazy person.

Being more familiar with the high school, there’s always improvements that could be made for security. But what concerns me is the threat that’s within the school. It’s any time you take a walk down the corridors, particularly during a change of classrooms, and you look at the students. I’d say at least a quarter of them dress so poorly, particularly the females, they look like street trash, that they look like they’ve just been released from prison. There seems to be no standard in the school as far as dress goes. And these are the people we should be concerned about. Having detectives entering the building will not take care of the problem that could be within the school itself. So it’s very important that teachers or administrators or someone have a gun. Now this can easily be encouraged by offering a teacher or administrator a $1 more a year in salary or other incentives could be provided. And the cost of these guns and added security can be taken out of the teachers’ salaries. Let them take a 5 percent cut in salary and this money can be used to buy all the security equipment and this way the teachers and the students will be feeling much more safer. However, if that cannot be done since the teachers and the teacher union all voted for the messiah, they should call the White House and ask for Obama money.

Great idea but only if the money can be taken out of another area in the budget. Continual over-reaction-add-ons are like rabbits; they continue to multiply in a way that would make Malthus happy. This fiscal insanity must end. Hmm, maybe the school board members could weigh in on this one. Totally Disgusted.

Absolutely not. There are so many other things that $12,000 could be more constructively spent on. These days it seems almost every week there is another budget problem, or the district can’t seem to find the money to pay quality teachers, purchase necessary upgrades, or perform basic services. What real security threats has any school in this area ever seen? Spending that money on programs that improve the lives of students, such as Tin Mountain and other extra curricular activities would be a much wiser investment. If there was a surplus, that’s one thing; but when each and every tax dollar is hard to find, we must ask ourselves: Is this really in the best interests of the students? This is Ben in North Conway.



The following Tele-Talk responses were posted on The Conway Daily Sun’s Facebook page:



No, no it’s not.

I like that you have to get “buzzed in” at Kennett middle and high schools, but there is nothing like that at the elementary schools. Anyone can walk right in. Scary!

Let’s remember that we live in a safe country where violence is an anomaly, not the norm. No need to be afraid.

How about instead of spending millions on trying to make the schools safe from people with guns, we make it harder for people to get guns to use to shoot people in schools and treat their mental illness so they don’t want to shoot kids in schools? Mandatory gun registration and regulation on how many you can have, what type you can have and you have to lock them up when you aren’t actively using them alongside increased funding/insurance coverage for mental health. Let’s treat the illness not the symptom.

Kennett has a decent system but not the elementary schools.

Better security. We do not live in a safe community anymore. No one does. We are not safe from children who are sad, medicated, angry and have access to guns. Changing the gun laws will not change the minds of the creepy and crazy.

When did this Tele-Talk question ask if you wanted gun control? I believe the question was relevant to the security of our schools, not how hard it should be or how many guns my “lovely” government allows me to have. If the government has it his way, only the criminals and drug gangs would have guns and you would be their prey!

At Kennett High, no one will get past YaYa! She’s awesome!

Someday YaYa will retire. But, yes, she does a fantastic job and is always polite.

The simple answer to a complicated question is yes and yes. Elementary school staff have known this for a very long time. The Albany School Board shared their concerns during several meetings in 2009. Minutes can be found at http://www.albanynh.org/schoolboard/documents/June2009SB.pdf. As well as http://www.albanynh.org/schoolboard/documents/August2009SB.pdf

Where, specifically, are we going to find the money to pay for this? Maybe when we can afford to pay teachers a decent salary, this should be revisited.

There were 10 responses to this week’s Tele-Talk question: “Do you support the new Conway teachers’ contract?” Two people said they support the contract; eight said they do not.

I think the teachers at Kennett High School and in the Mount Washington Valley do one heck of a job but I think they need to step back and all those union members and realize that the country’s in trouble and they need to bite the bullet. Everybody else in the private sector is having to do that and it’s time for them to do that. And maybe a few years from now and things turn around and we finally get a change in the White House, it’ll make a big difference.

I absolutely do not support the new contract. You need a merit-based pay system for teachers. If Conway gives this up, they’ll never get it back. Teachers will continue to get raises even if they do not perform at an exceptional level and cost the private sector a lot of money. Vote no.

No contract with the National Education Association is a good, fair contract.

Have you ever counted how many aids and office personnel there are in the school system. Why aren’t the teachers doing their job. It seems as if there are more aids than teachers. I think they could save money by cutting some of the extra help. How much do they pay toward health insurance. Why do they need the best plan there is when the ones paying for this, which are the taxpayers, often do not have any coverage for this because they cannot afford this on the valley wages. Conway taxpayer.

Yes, I definitely support the teachers’ contract. In order to become a teacher you have to spend a minimum of $110,000 to $250,000 acquiring the education and training that is necessary to become a certified teacher. They are also effectively unable to earn a living for at least four years, which means they had to forego another $100,000 in income. This means they start out at $210,000 to $350,000 in the hole compared to a high school graduate who immediately goes to work. Most have large student loans to repay for being educated and trained to be able to teach. For all of this effort, they earn less than a dump worker, a cop or a postal worker. They also work at least 50 hours a week at preparation, classroom presentations, correcting tests and other papers and taking courses to maintain their certification and professional credentials. They should start at at least $40,000 per year.

I do not support this new teachers contract, basically because I do not know what the Social Security Index is. How many of your readers actually do? The Conway School Board was intimidated by the union, thugs, the NEA, the teachers union — and just gave in. Now this has got to stop. I can’t even afford to go to McDonald’s anymore. McDonald’s did away with the dollar menu and everything is 19 to 30 cents more. Now if you go to the gas station, the gas goes up 3 or 4 cents every day, and I’m just supposed to have to pay a new teacher a $500 increase? This is absolutely ridiculous. Now, I was told by Obama; I was told by our new governor, Hassan; I was told by Sen. Shaheen that the middle class were not going to get a tax increase. I got a tax increase of $58 per month. Now, what’s that all about? The poor folks of Conway and North Conway constantly being lied to. Now if the Conway School Board wants to increase teachers salaries, let them pay for it, or give a call to the White House, get some Obama money.

I don’t support the Conway teachers’ contract. I believe that there should be two causes on whether they get a pay raise or not: One, it should be are our students’ scores higher or lower from the previous year that they taught, and the other thing is it should be it should be tied to the cost of living that the Social Security Index provides. So when they’re talking about a 10 percent increase in the school budget then the homeowners, which are an aging group of individuals, don’t get a 10 percent cost of living raise, then they shouldn’t get a 10 percent cost of living raise. So whatever the cost of living raise is, that’s what the teachers should get. They’re not princesses and princes. They’re supposed to be doing a job for us, but we’re like hands off and they can do anything they want. It’s wrong.
When the union president says, “This was one of the better bargaining sessions we’ve had,” you know the taxpayers have just been had. With the inept amateurish school bargainers at the table, you can rest assured that it can only mean bad news when we get our tax bill. No bargaining session with a union in the year 2013 should be perceived as “good and fair.” Whatever happened to saying “no?” This smells of the naive  buffoonery of Dick Klement. Let’s hope the budget committee sees through this chicanery and doesn’t recommend it, keeping in mind that some on the budget committee like Mike DiGregorio will mindlessly support anything brought forward by the school at the taxpayer’s expense. Nauseated.

Yes, I absolutely support the teachers contract. Both sides met and came up with an agreement that is fair. There is absolutely no reason not to support this contract.

Who cares anymore?  Year after year the school system, under Nelson, comes to the taxpayers for more money; $1.5 million, $2 million,  $1.3 million; we want higher starting salaries, better insurance, lower deductibles, more staff, shorter school year, more time off; more, more, more; give me, give me, give me.  Meanwhile, enrollment is declining? Why? Because young families can’t afford to live here anymore. Anywhere but here! I would never recommend my kid live in Conway! They bleed you dry in Conway! Nelson, the pathetic administrator, and aggressive supporters like Paul Baer have destroyed the lives of so many seniors who have been pushed out of their homes because they can’t afford the high taxes on their fixed incomes. I don’t blame the school system; they only care about what they can get; sadly that’s human nature.  It’s the voters who continue to approve these ridiculous budgets, and half of them are not taxpayers! Only taxpayers should get to vote! I am all for education, but what you spend in Conway is completely out of control. You can get the job done for less. A lot less! But Nelson, and Baer, and the rest of them have you believing it’s about the money! Just like the federal government, the whole system will collapse soon, and unfortunately, that’s what is going to have to happen in order to correct things. As for the teachers’ contact; sure why not; I’ve already moved!