Also on today’s menu:
Getting What We Asked For
Dartmouth Leads Nation In Making College Affordable
Hannah Chaignot, 18, of Meredith, died, and the driver, Nicholas Bray, 19, of Bristol, along with three others, were rushed to Concord and Laconia hospitals after a two-vehicle collision in the area of 147 Daniel Webster Highway in Meredith. Three of the crash victims were then taken by helicopter to trauma centers in Boston.
Bray was driving Chaignot and a 13-year-old passenger in a 2009 Pontiac G6 when it collided with a 2017 Outback operated by Paul Fuchs, 87, south of the Meredith traffic circle, in the area of the Mello Moose Coffee House. Nancy Fuchs, also 87, was a passenger in the Outback.
Chaignot was dead when emergency responders arrived. All four survivors were considered to be in serious condition.
Discussion: An automatic crash notification system alerted emergency responders and sent them to the area of the crash, proving how important such devices can be. With all of the survivors in serious condition, the alert may have been responsible for their survival.
Getting What We Asked For
The March 25 meeting of the Newfound Area School Board lasted three-and-a-half hours (four for the school board members who attended a non-public session ahead of the public portion of the meeting), but it showed that the newly constituted board is prepared to debate the issues and provide better communication with the public. Chair Melissa Suckling deftly steered the meeting through some rough waters, making sure everyone had a chance to voice their opinions while also stepping in to limit comments when they started to devolve into bickering.
The board made some important preliminary decisions about acquiring a modular classroom for Danbury Elementary School, providing a second public comment period to satisfy complaints about being uninterested in what people have to say, and setting a direction for the policy governing controversial books. They also clarified the roles of board members from the three towns considering withdrawal from School Administrative Unit 4, noting that the enabling legislation provides that they will not be able to act on tuition agreements and other matters between Newfound and the newly formed special-interest school district, should voters in Hebron go along with Bridgewater and Groton who already have chosen to leave Newfound.
Interim Superintendent Steven Nilhas stepped forward to take responsibility for suggesting that the school board could use money from the Building Maintenance Expendable Trust Fund to purchase the modular classroom, saying that, in his enthusiasm about addressing the need, he had not recognized that using maintenance money for the purchase would not be legal. He said he will be looking at other ways to come up with money to move forward with the plans.
Discussion: There is a lot of news coming out of that meeting, and I’ll be writing a series of stories, once I have dealt with snow removal at my property in Wentworth’s Location. I wanted to share some highlights that indicate how well this school board is handling itself, rising to the challenges it faces on matters that are not easy to tackle. Once again, Dr. Nilhas has demonstrated his integrity and willingness to listen and act in the interest of the entire community.
Dartmouth Leads Nation In Making College Affordable
Dartmouth College President Sian Leah Beilock has announced an increased effort to make an Ivy League education possible for middle-income families, nearly doubling the “zero parent contribution” annual income threshold for undergraduates. Thanks in part to a $150 million gift from alumni Barbara and Glenn Britt, beginning with the next academic year, “undergraduate students from families making less than $125,000 with typical assets will now pay only what is required through their leave-term and expected work earnings, which is less than $5,000 a year,” she said.
“This policy change will benefit qualified undergraduates from middle-income families who will be second-, third-, and fourth-year students, as well as incoming members of the Class of 2028,” Beilock said.
Dartmouth’s new income threshold is the highest in the nation. Beilock said, “The Britts’ remarkably generous gift contributes to the heart of Dartmouth’s mission of academic excellence and our focus on recruiting, admitting, and enrolling students from the broadest swath of society who will thrive at Dartmouth, create impact in the world, and become the next generation of leaders across fields, ideologies, and disciplines.”
Discussion: College has become too expensive for many potential students to handle, and some lenders have taken advantage of the situation, ensuring that graduates will be paying off loans for a good portion of their lives. President Joe Biden Jr. has acted to alleviate some student debt, but cutting costs on the head end is a much more effective way of keeping an undue burden from limiting students’ financial future.