REMINDER
Candidates Night in Gilmanton
Gilmanton School’s Student Leadership Team will be hosting
Candidates Night on Thursday, March 6th at 6:00 p.m. The event will
take place in the cafeteria at the Gilmanton School. Come and learn
more about each candidate before voting at the polls!
GYO (Gilmanton Youth Organization) will be having baseball, softball
and t-ball sign-ups the following dates:
March 5th from 6:30-7:30 pm in the Gilmanton School Gym. This will
also be a open gym time to warm up those arms so bring your glove!
March 10th from 6:30-7:00 pm in the Gilmanton School Gym during
Basketball Wrap-Ups
March 14th from 6:30-7:00 pm during PTA Family Luau
Read Across America With Dr. Seuss
At The Gilmanton Corner Library
READ ACROSS AMERICA is an annual reading motivation and awareness
program that calls for every child in every community to celebrate
reading on March 2, the birthday of beloved childrens’ author Dr.
Seuss. Motivating children to read is an important factor in student
achievement and creating lifelong successful readers. Research has
shown that children who are motivated and spend more time reading do
better in school.
At the time of Dr. Seuss death in 1991 he had written and
illustrated over 44 children’s books. His books have been translated
into more than 15 languages. Over 200 million copies have found
their way into homes and hearts around the world.
The Gilmanton Corner Library has over 25 Dr. Seuss books to bring
reading excitement to children! For our celebration we have FREE Dr.
Seuss hats, tattoos, badges, recipes and activity pages. Dr. Seuss
DVDs are: The Lorax, The Cat in the Hat and Horton Hears a Who!
Please come celebrate Read Across America with Dr. Seuss at the
Corner Library.
Our Purple Cap knitting group is still ongoing with 75 baby caps
knitted with the goal being 150 caps. Please join them on Saturday
mornings 10-12 and knit for a wonderful project and a good cause.
Everyone is welcomed!
Don’t forget our free museum passes to the Currier Museum,
Manchester, SEE Science Kids Museum, Manchester, and New Hampshire
Historical Museum, Concord for the winter school vacation.
Please call 267-6200 or drop by the Gilmanton Corner Library:
Mondays & Wednesdays 3 – 5 and Saturdays 10 – 12 for more
information.
The Gilmanton Cub Scout Pack 242 would like to thank all who
participated in their recent cake auction on Feb. 15. The auction
included 12 cakes and raised $94 for their overnight trip to the
Montshire Museum in March. Shown is the cake that raised the most -
made by Melissa Angle, a Gilmanton Cub Scout family. A three-layer
cake with chocolate fudge frosting.
Letter To The Editor
To the Editor:
My wife and I moved to Gilmanton in 2005, so we consider ourselves
relative newcomers. Gilmanton has many great attributes and we are
fortunate to live here. I never understood the schism the town had
over its library, which is why I began attending the GYRL Board
Meetings. They are open to the public, and all are welcomed to
attend. The first impression one receives is they are kind,
friendly, and welcoming. The next is how diligent the Board is.
They are focused on providing as much community service at the
lowest possible cost. They are constantly creating new ways to
reach out to the community, while at the same time maximizing the
efforts of their dedicated volunteers. And they have succeeded, as
borne out by the numbers. They are the most cost effective (full
time) library in the region, and possibly the state. The Board has
a lot to be proud of as does the Town. We are all fortunate to have
this resource. If anyone has a concern about the library, they
should attend a board meeting. You will quickly become more
appreciative of their efforts, and how they are open to new ideas.
I am grateful for the efforts of the GYRL Board, and I will happily
give them my vote of support this March 11.
Sincerely,
James Rood,
Gilmanton
What would Gilmanton look like
without the Year-Round Library?
Submitted By Gilmanton Year-Round Library Board of Directors
The Year-Round Library is Gilmanton’s only full-service library
offering books, periodicals, CDs, DVDs, as well as programs for all
age groups. Computers are also available.
The library matters to our town because it also functions as a
community center providing free services and activities.
Without the library the town would be giving up many services that
are free to patrons including:
** A free library, including Inter-Library Loans, which is open 29
hours per week
**Three friendly and professional library staffers who offer
personal attention
** Public Programs featuring topics such as local wildlife, some
offered with grants from the NH Humanities Council
**Story hours with accompanying activities for moms and children
encouraging literacy
** Free meeting space for a variety of groups such as Crafters,
Energy Share, and Book Club
**Activities including Lego Club, Magic the Gathering, and Teen
nights
**Movies for seniors as well as after-school movies for children
**Artist-in-the-library receptions and exhibits
**The opportunity to communicate with local authors via Skype
**Free internet access
**Free Ancestry.com access
**Seasonal events such as Summer Fling and Christmas Cookie Contest
featuring Santa
**Monthly newsletter update and website
www.gyrla.org with calendar of activities
Without town funding the library will close immediately. Please
support the Gilmanton Year-Round Library by voting YES on Article 28
on the town ballot on March 11, 2014. Voting is at the Academy
Building from 7AM to 7PM.
Please keep our library open!
Gilmanton Teachers And School Board
Reach A Three Year Tentative
Agreement
The Gilmanton Education Association and the Gilmanton School Board
have reached a three-year tentative agreement which will be
presented as a Warrant Article on March 11, 2014.
There are two major changes to this contract: Salary Schedule and
Insurance. Recognizing the stresses of the recession during the last
negotiation cycle, teachers agreed to forgo pay raises as well as
step increases. This meant no change in the salary schedule for
three years. In addition, for the 2012-2013 year, teachers did not
move on the salary schedule. This meant they did not take a pay
increase, nor did they get credit for that year’s teaching
experience. The proposed 2014-2017 contract provides for a modest
increase in salary and it allows credit for experience.
Concern over the ongoing Local Government Center’s legal battle,
return of funds to insurers, as well as rising costs of premiums for
both the community and teachers, drove a recommendation to move from
LGC to the only other carrier available to school districts: School
Care. In order to make this move, the number of plans offered was
reduced from four to two insurance plans. The $1 mail order
prescription rider currently offered as part of one of the plans
will be eliminated in the new contract.
Currently, cost sharing for the 2-person and family plans range from
79/21% to 69/31%, respectively. Only the single plan premium costs
are covered in full by the District. Under the proposed agreement,
all plans, including the single insurance plan, will share premium
costs between the District and the teachers.
These changes present an initial savings to the District of over
$23,800 for the first year of the contract and are expected to
continue saving the district in the subsequent years.
The three-year package represents approximately a 6% total increase
over the three years. This 6.0% increase, in addition to salary,
includes longevity, health insurance and fixed costs. Broken out,
the total increases are 1.07% the first year ($26,777), 2.2% in the
second year ($55,562) and 2.82% in the third year ($72,825).
Voting on all warrant articles, including the proposed teacher
contract, will take place on Tuesday, March 11, 2014, at the Town
Election polls, Gilmanton Academy from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. If you
have further questions regarding the proposed teacher contract,
please feel free to call the Gilmanton School at 364-5681 and ask
for a GEA representative.
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