8-6-06
Departing Fall Mountain Science Teachers Speak Out
By Charles C. Bingaman, Contributing Writer
Highly experienced Fall Mountain Regional High School science teachers Susan Smith and Mike Sanborn, frustrated with no contract and no raises for more than three years, have signed contracts to teach at other schools beginning later this month and leaving Fall Mountain to scramble for science teachers just weeks before school starts.
“I left,” said Susan Smith this week, “because I felt for the last couple of years that the School Board has not respected the teachers at Fall Mountain nor have they encouraged the community to respect the teachers. I just got tired of fighting for the respect we deserve rather then focusing on teaching the children.”
Smith, 54, has taught at Fall Mountain for six years, mostly working with freshmen in earth science and environmental studies. Prior to coming to Fall Mountain, she earned a Masters degree and was a research scientist on global science change at Colorado State University. Beginning later in the month, Smith will teach earth science at Daisy Bronson Middle School in Littleton, NH.
“I was reluctant to leave because I loved my job. It was really, really difficult to leave Fall Mountain. I love the teachers, I love the students and I love the parents. But,” Smith concluded, “it is too much to ask teachers to do what we do without fair compensation or respect.”
Smith will be paid a new salary of $44,250 in Littleton (compared to her Fall Mountain salary of $33,500) and will be expected to pay 17% of the cost of its HMO medical program, the same percentage that the state fact finder recommended but Fall Mountain district voters rejected last March. And, because Littleton has an existing contract, she will be eligible for salary increases in the future.
“I was really hoping I could stay at Fall Mountain,” she said, “but…”
Mike Sanborn had even deeper roots in Fall Mountain, having been in the first class to attend the high school for four full years. The Claremont resident had taught biology, anatomy and physical sciences at Fall Mountain since 1997. Before entering teaching, he had served in the U.S. Army, as a Claremont police officer, and as the Claremont water/sewer superintendent. He has a Masters degree in business management and a second Masters in environmental science with a teaching certificate from Antioch New England in Keene.
“I was getting a clear message [at Fall Mountain] that if I thought I could get a better offer, I should look somewhere else,” said Sanborn. “There was increasing hostility to the teachers at Fall Mountain, and I’m not someone who enjoys continuing conflict.”
Sanborn is moving to Newport (NH) Middle High School where he will teach physical sciences and earn a salary of $41,750, compared with $37,500 at Fall Mountain. He notes that he has also received a $3,000 payment for not being in Fall Mountain’s health care plan, “but the way they were going after the health care plan [at Fall Mountain], I doubted that I would have the compensating payment for very long.” Sanborn will also be eligible for salary increases at Newport unlike teachers’ staying in Fall Mountain schools without a contract.
What does the Fall Mountain principal think about these faculty losses? Principal Tom Ferenc told the Eagle Times Thursday that “Susan and Mike were integral parts of our team and respected educators. Losing such people is not uncommon in our field. You can’t really prepare for it. You hope for the best.”
Ferenc said that the district is advertising the two openings and seeking applicants in several ways including word of mouth among school administrators, teachers, etc. “Generally, we look for educators in the science field who can step in. Qualification is the issue now. With just a few weeks before school starts, the most likely candidates will be kids just out of school.”
“We will seek to fill the positions with people who have some science background such as in physical science. If that doesn’t work out, we will have to begin the year with permanent substitutes.” Ferenc noted that, if he has to begin the year with substitutes in the science classrooms, the search would be ongoing for qualified full-time teachers.
With respect to the contract impasse that motivated Smith and Sanborn to leave, Ferenc said, “it is the elephant in the room. It’s a statewide, even national, problem in our industry. The way we’re funded in New Hampshire is the crazy thing. It’s larger than our school board, and it needs to be remedied on many levels.”
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