Monday, September 15, 2008

New candidates come forward at the last minute

Editor's Note: This is a corrected version of an earlier post.
As of 4 p.m. today, two new candidates have revealed themselves in the race for Concord Board of Education [school board].
Auburn Street resident Clint Cogswell has signed up to be a candidate for the 1-year seat against John Stohrer. Cogswell, an undeclared voter, retired as a principal at Walker Elementary School in 2006.
In the race for three 3-year seats, former city councilor and South End Republican Paul Halvorsen has signed up to run joining Bill Glahn, Dr. Kevin Fleming, and Eric Williams.
Halvorsen is the former Ward 7 city councilor. He attended a June city council budget hearing where he voiced criticism about how the city has been spending its money of late. He stated that the council seemed to be concentrating on wants, not needs.
Halvorsen also assisted Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign this last cycle and is an assistant city prosecutor, according to the city's Web site. Halvorsen donated money the Merrimack County SPCA for a cat condo. In 2000, he was admitted to the N.H. Bar Association and had a practice in Laconia.

9 comments:

Trish said...

Where do these candidates stand on the school consolidation issue?

Tony said...

Hi Trish,

We don't know where all the candidates stand yet. Bill Glahn, the only incumbent running, vote for the consolidation plan. Last year, Eric Williams campaigned to preserve the neighborhood schools.

It will be interesting to see where the other candidates stand, especially when you look at their backgrounds!

Tony

Anonymous said...

The comment on the blog that I was a resident of Laconia in 2000 when I was admitted to practice law is not correct. I've lived in Concord since shortly after I retired from the Air Force in 1997. I was working in Laconia when I was admitted to practice law. Please note that I was also elected to the Concord City Council in 1998 and re-elected in 1999.

Paul Halvorsen

Tony said...

Hi Paul,

Thanks for reading and for the information. I have changed the original post.

Tony

Anonymous said...

Trish, I don't think any candidate or the public has enough information to support or not support the consolidation. My husband would like to see all of the numbers, financial and non-financial to find out how it effects the taxpayers and students. Making sure it doesn't have a negative impact on the students, is priority number one. I am not sure that Concord has even done any testing or analysis on this.

Trish said...

Hi Anonymous,
Do you get the feeling then that there is a push from the current board to find/finance or provide the necessary details of those studies in order to support consolidation?

Maybe it's just the overwhelming media that continue to push the consolidation to the forefront of residents. However, I am left the the feeling that the school board believes that they have exhausted other options. As a preservationist, and a strong proponent of small, neighborhood schools, I hope that the media continues to show how the school board is pursuing other options. As, Tony has done in this article.

I am sure that other residents of Concord would like to be informed of the potential neighborhood and pedagogical impact of all considerations.

Anonymous said...

Trish,
I get the feeling that they don't what us to know how it's going to effect the kids. I would love for my little ones to stay at their schools. I don't want them to merge, we are scared to death once they get to Rudlett, do they just become a number,
I haven't seen any studies about what happens to the kids.
How many houses does the school own, that it bought up without anyone knowing about it, how about if we sell them, improve teh current schools, how much would that cost?

Trish said...

Hi Anonymous,

Have you considered sending email messages to the school board members? http://www.concord.k12.nh.us/new/sau.asp?fcpath=conferences/sau-www/board .

Because Concord does not have school board districts as the City Council does, all of the people listed on that site represent you and your children (and me, too). I have a son in college and a daughter that is a senior, I do appreciate what our local school does for my community, as I am sure you do, too. Otherwise we might not be grieving the possibility here.

If you do write to the school board, please post the outcome here. I'm interested - as are soooo many others.

Anonymous said...

Hi, Trish. I didn't mean to post anoyomous, but I don't have an account. Because of this mess with the schools, my husband Kevin Fleming is running for school board.