SAU#75 Superintendent Newsletter

I received the information below via email and am passing it along to our seniors.

Each year the New Hampshire Junior Chamber International (JCI) Senate contacts New Hampshire schools regarding the grade-based scholarships given by the NH JCI Senate and the United States JCI Senate organization to selected high school seniors. There are two applications depending on the type of postsecondary education desired:

1. For students with a GPA of 3.75 or higher seeking acceptance to an accredited two or four-year college, NH JCI Senate will be submitting two applications to the national level of our organization. In April, 2026, grants of $1,500 will be awarded by the US JCI Senate to a yet to be determined number of students. In 2025, 50 grants were given nationally. We are very proud that many New Hampshire students have been named winners over the years.

2. For students with a GPA of 3.25 or higher and above and seeking acceptance at an accredited vocational, trade, or industrial school, NH JCI Senate will be submitting our finalist in this category to the US JCI Senate for national scholarship funds.

An application must be completed in its entirety and the hard copy sent before January 12, 2026. Each application will be screened based on scholastic ability, extracurricular activities, neatness, financial need and correctly following directions. Very eligible students have been disqualified in the past for not following directions. Electronic submissions will not be accepted.

Please see the two attachments below if interested in the scholarships.

In late July, Grantham School District and Board joined a state complaint related to the enforcement of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Prohibitions that went into effect on July 1, 2025. On July 11th, NH Superintendents received correspondence from the Commissioner of Education indicating we had until September 5th to submit a certified report to the New Hampshire Department of Education (NHED) that indicates public schools must review all program, policy, training, or initiative to identify DEI-related provisions and ensure that:

• “No state funds shall be expended to public schools for DEI-related activities, including but not limited to implicit bias training, DEI assessments, critical race theory, or race-based hiring, promotion, or contracting preferences.”

• “No public school shall implement, promote, or otherwise engage in any DEI-related initiatives, programs, training, or policies.”

• “No public school shall enter into, renew, or amend any contract that includes DEI-related provisions, including requirements for contractors to implement DEI programs, conduct DEI training, or comply with DEI-related reporting obligations.”

In addition, the correspondence included:

• “Should a public school fail to abide by any section of the DEI provisions to HB 2, either knowingly or unknowingly, the Commissioner of the Department of Education shall immediately halt all sources of public funding to that public school, until such time as the school comes into compliance with all sections of this subdivision.”

• “The Commissioner of the Department of Education shall notify the state treasurer if a public school is not in compliance with this subdivision, at which time the treasurer shall halt all forms of public funding to the school until the Commissioner has certified the school comes into compliance with this subdivision.”

All materials contained in that message can be found using this link.

A preliminary injunction was granted by US District Court for NH on October 2, 2025. Link to Court Order. The state missed the deadline on November 3rd to file an appeal against the preliminary injunction. The case is now on track where litigation will take place via trial court, which can take from 8 months to two years. While the case is litigated to final judgment, the law will generally not be enforced.

Please reach out with any questions. I can be reached at cdowning@gvshawks.org. I will continue to provide updates through Superintendent newsletters.

We have been busy filling various positions. We are excited to welcome the following staff to the Grantham School District.

• Brent Murray, our new van driver!
• Madeline Wolfe and Kaitlin Glidewell, new substitutes
• Katie Cenkus - new paraprofessional

We are now fully staffed in terms of our teachers, paraprofessionals, and transportation department. This is great news!

We are always looking for general substitutes to provide coverage due to staff absences. If you are interested, please check out our website (link provided below).

• Phase 1 - Installation of most equipment is complete!

• Some fencing (primarily gates) will be installed in the next few weeks with full fencing completed in the spring. In addition, rubber surfacing will be completed at that same time.

• Thank you to our community and regional partners for the support to make this happen!

• About 20 students and families attended a kick-off event on November 10th. Here are some pictures and videos.

• I have scheduled Wednesdays from 4:30pm to 5:30pm for practices. 1st practice will be December 3rd at GVS in the Gym. More details can be found here. Please complete the permission form if your student is interested in attending practices. The form is included below.

UPDATE: Due to the snow storm on December 2nd, the Grantham School Board has rescheduled its monthly meeting to Monday, December 8th.

The Grantham School Board will be reviewing the first draft of the school budget. Our Business Administrator, Meredith Butler, and members of the administrative team have been conducting meetings to develop budgets for the various departments. It is our goal to bring forth a fiscally responsible budget.

Here is a link to important dates regarding the school district budget process.

All materials for the December 2nd Board Meeting can be found in the attachment below.

You can also join the board meeting remotely using this link.

Conval Lawsuit - Grantham School District was involved in this lawsuit. We received $19,742.92 in reimbursement from our involvement with the Conval Lawsuit. These funds are court ordered to cover the cost of legal counsel.

What is Open Enrollment?

Are you hearing this phrase more often? Are you wondering what this is all about? I have attached an information sheet that was created by the NH School Administrators Association (NHSAA).

In general, an open enrollment school accepts not only students from its district, but also students from other districts outside their attendance area. New Hampshire state law (Title XV, Chapter 194-D:1) provides this definition: “An ‘open enrollment public school’, ‘open enrollment school’ or ‘open enrollment program’ means any public school which, in addition to providing educational services to pupils residing within its attendance area or district, chooses to accept pupils from other attendance areas within its district and from outside the district.”

Open enrollment has been discussed in various news stories, including a recent NH Supreme Court case. The court decision stated, "a sending school district is required to pay tuition under RSA 194-D:5, I, to an open enrollment receiving school in another district even if the sending district has not adopted an open enrollment program."

Here are additional media resources:

https://newhampshirebulletin.com/2025/11/18/as-prospect-mountain-dominates-nh-school-districts-weigh-open-enrollment/

https://www.concordmonitor.com/2025/11/13/open-enrollment-school-tuition/