I have listened to John Dzaugis opine in this paper and at Bartlett School Board meetings since 2023. Despite listening to the truth and having his storyline corrected over and over again, John continues to malign the Bartlett School Board and me. Enough is enough. Facts matter, John, and you're not espousing them. Instead, you continue to promote a narrative that portrays you and the teachers of Bartlett as victims and the school board and me as the evil empire. Let’s stop wasting time with nonsense that doesn't have anything to do with education. For the final time, I will present the facts in the order of your articles.
1. For over six years, the Josiah Bartlett School Facilities Committee has been studying and researching a fuel source change. Contrary to John’s narrative, I and other members of the Facilities Committee were encouraged by SAU Business Administrator Jim Hill to move to propane. I and others pushed back hard on that move until we saw that all three Conway elementary schools successfully switched to propane, increased efficiency, reduced maintenance costs, and use a much cheaper fuel. This move saved the town of Bartlett $2.5 million by not moving toward geothermal, which John and others were pushing. Once again, you need a propane backup with geothermal if we had gone that way.
I must disagree with what you referred to as facts in your letter, Scott. John is correct that the children at JBES are certainly NOT receiving the best education that taxpayers can afford. Under your long tenure on the school board, we have been left with a skeleton crew of staff, experiencing an average loss of 10 staff members per year for several years now. I was one of those teachers you lost! These significant losses, along with unfilled positions that require qualified teachers, have resulted in terrible declining test scores and even more current staff members considering leaving after this year. How is that going to help us?
Wait! We desperately needed a middle school science teacher this year! You mentioned you could have filled that position. If you truly want to support the school and improve test scores, Scott, get involved! If you don’t want to, what does that say about our school? Ripple, would you want your kids to attend under those conditions? How about you, Scott?
The poor choices I have witnessed you make against your staff over the past few years have left me, along with several other parents and community members like John, appalled enough to stand up and fight for our remaining staff and students.
Not only are we losing staff, but we are also losing bright students whose parents are pulling them out of JBES for Woodland. My daughter's best friend since preschool is one of those students. She is a smart girl with great, involved parents who, like me, chose this area for its strong school test scores. Since moving here, JBES has lost both staff and scores, and now students. Both girls are devastated to be separated, but I can't blame her parents. They want what we all desire: what we were promised by the board, "the best education for our children that taxpayers can afford." That is not what we are getting from you.
The legendary JBES staff we once had when I moved here eight years ago is almost completely gone. Once again, our remaining teachers and staff members are considering leaving this year. The choices you and the board have made over the years have led us to this point. I have personally raised the issues leading us to this situation for several years now. The teachers and staff were asked in surveys what the school board could do to retain them. You received many responses, both in writing and verbally at the committee meetings run by board members.
Here are some of the major responses:
1. The pay is too low. For a short drive, teachers can earn $20,000 more for the same job than they would working in Bartlett. Plus, that salary might actually allow them to afford housing in that area.
2. More support from board members. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. In fact, we were asked by one board member to "prove our value" for better pay at a meeting. You even stated, "They don’t deserve to be paid any more than firefighters" (or other local professions you named that night at the board meeting), despite many teachers carrying significant student loans and having earned master’s degrees or more. If you want to assess their value, just look at the test scores from the recent years of mass staff exodus.
3. Better administrative support for discipline when needed.
4. Allow children of JBES teachers and staff to attend our school so families can be together and be on the same schedule. Having staff members' children at the school increases buy-in and provides an incentive for staff members to stay.
While we did see a change in administration, you fought against the other requests, either making them too little, too late, or not implementing them at all. That falls on you and the board. You had the data.
The public has observed the choices you made regarding the heating system. You were so focused on pursuing Siemens from the start that it caught the attention of the community. Who else was allowed to bid to be project managers besides Siemens? Who else could provide a quote for the heating system other than Siemens? Who else had the chance to offer financing outside of Siemens? No one, that’s the answer. You mentioned that the person you worked with to secure the Siemens deal was going to receive a raise, and we understand why. It was repeatedly pointed out that you were violating your own board policies by choosing this path with Siemens. You never changed your mind or your course of action.
The majority of the board has chosen not to consider alternative energy possibilities seriously. Even though a parent and community member-driven committee formed to explore those options and requested to join the 10-district grant, you refused to do the necessary paperwork to allow us to participate. This decision made headlines in the newspaper due to community shock. You didn’t even want to make an attempt. You noted that the grant ultimately wasn’t funded, but we can’t help but wonder: could Bartlett have been the school district that secured the edge needed for success? We’ll never know because you never gave us the chance. We did notice that you were fine mentioning it had failed at the board meeting. Would you have mentioned it if it had passed? Would you have allowed the school to use the funding? It was nentoned there were other grants out there, but instead pushed through a vote with a set majority.
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(2) comments
That was an excellent rebuttal. I hope the citizens of Bartlett vote to keep you.
Hello Ripple and Scott,
The truth matters!
I must disagree with what you referred to as facts in your letter, Scott. John is correct that the children at JBES are certainly NOT receiving the best education that taxpayers can afford. Under your long tenure on the school board, we have been left with a skeleton crew of staff, experiencing an average loss of 10 staff members per year for several years now. I was one of those teachers you lost! These significant losses, along with unfilled positions that require qualified teachers, have resulted in terrible declining test scores and even more current staff members considering leaving after this year. How is that going to help us?
Wait! We desperately needed a middle school science teacher this year! You mentioned you could have filled that position. If you truly want to support the school and improve test scores, Scott, get involved! If you don’t want to, what does that say about our school? Ripple, would you want your kids to attend under those conditions? How about you, Scott?
The poor choices I have witnessed you make against your staff over the past few years have left me, along with several other parents and community members like John, appalled enough to stand up and fight for our remaining staff and students.
Not only are we losing staff, but we are also losing bright students whose parents are pulling them out of JBES for Woodland. My daughter's best friend since preschool is one of those students. She is a smart girl with great, involved parents who, like me, chose this area for its strong school test scores. Since moving here, JBES has lost both staff and scores, and now students. Both girls are devastated to be separated, but I can't blame her parents. They want what we all desire: what we were promised by the board, "the best education for our children that taxpayers can afford." That is not what we are getting from you.
The legendary JBES staff we once had when I moved here eight years ago is almost completely gone. Once again, our remaining teachers and staff members are considering leaving this year. The choices you and the board have made over the years have led us to this point. I have personally raised the issues leading us to this situation for several years now. The teachers and staff were asked in surveys what the school board could do to retain them. You received many responses, both in writing and verbally at the committee meetings run by board members.
Here are some of the major responses:
1. The pay is too low. For a short drive, teachers can earn $20,000 more for the same job than they would working in Bartlett. Plus, that salary might actually allow them to afford housing in that area.
2. More support from board members. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. In fact, we were asked by one board member to "prove our value" for better pay at a meeting. You even stated, "They don’t deserve to be paid any more than firefighters" (or other local professions you named that night at the board meeting), despite many teachers carrying significant student loans and having earned master’s degrees or more. If you want to assess their value, just look at the test scores from the recent years of mass staff exodus.
3. Better administrative support for discipline when needed.
4. Allow children of JBES teachers and staff to attend our school so families can be together and be on the same schedule. Having staff members' children at the school increases buy-in and provides an incentive for staff members to stay.
While we did see a change in administration, you fought against the other requests, either making them too little, too late, or not implementing them at all. That falls on you and the board. You had the data.
The public has observed the choices you made regarding the heating system. You were so focused on pursuing Siemens from the start that it caught the attention of the community. Who else was allowed to bid to be project managers besides Siemens? Who else could provide a quote for the heating system other than Siemens? Who else had the chance to offer financing outside of Siemens? No one, that’s the answer. You mentioned that the person you worked with to secure the Siemens deal was going to receive a raise, and we understand why. It was repeatedly pointed out that you were violating your own board policies by choosing this path with Siemens. You never changed your mind or your course of action.
The majority of the board has chosen not to consider alternative energy possibilities seriously. Even though a parent and community member-driven committee formed to explore those options and requested to join the 10-district grant, you refused to do the necessary paperwork to allow us to participate. This decision made headlines in the newspaper due to community shock. You didn’t even want to make an attempt. You noted that the grant ultimately wasn’t funded, but we can’t help but wonder: could Bartlett have been the school district that secured the edge needed for success? We’ll never know because you never gave us the chance. We did notice that you were fine mentioning it had failed at the board meeting. Would you have mentioned it if it had passed? Would you have allowed the school to use the funding? It was nentoned there were other grants out there, but instead pushed through a vote with a set majority.
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