The Issue

  1. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) committees have been meeting since at least the spring of 2019. They have done so without public notice, public involvement, minutes or proper governance and in violation of New Hampshire Right to Know (RTK) and open meetings laws.
  2. On May 6, 2021, the Dresden School Board voted to make the SAU70 Equity committees accountable to the board.
  3. At present, it is unclear how many committees there are, who the officers are, how many times they have met, what decisions they have made or how much impact they have made on the curriculum.
  4. At a PTO meeting on March 18, 2021 parent Alison Kapedia gave an update regarding the transformation of the popular “Colonial Days” module into “Colonization Days” and that she and others were working on curriculum changes with Associate Principal Nan Parsons and others [link to recording]. When parsons was asked about the changes, she refused to answer and stated “decisions will be made.”

Public Documents

An equity audit [link to PDF] was performed in 2020 that was overwhelmingly positive.

Yet upon further review [link to PDF], the equity committee came back with several criticisms including that it seemed too positive. According to the committee, the report erroneously assumed that:

  • “Curriculum needs to become less centered on logic and argument.”
  • “Equity needs to be part of the fabric of everything”
  • “Equity should be on every agenda of every meeting”
  • “Curriculum – must be overhauled completely”
  • “Parents need education”
  • “Curriculum needs to talk about racism with students from an early age”

 

What’s more, casually scrolling through the official website for Hanover High School, it proclaims:

  • “The concentration of whiteness and wealth in our community is symptomatic of the systemic racism that has shaped our nation’s history and current reality [link].”
  • “We also must equip white students and staff to examine their own privilege [link].”

SAU70 Updates

Below are the latest updates regarding the handling of DEI trainings and countering the CRT narrative at SAU70:

No Updates Reported.

Calendar

Below is a calendar of events for SAU70 and it districts.

Current Board Members

Listed below are the current board members as they serve the various school districts that form SAU70.

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Vacant

Address: Not ProvidedPhone: Not ProvidedTerm Expires: 2024

Benjamin Keeney

Address: 18 Mulherrin Farm Road Hanover, NH 03755Phone: 510-227-9208Term Expires: 2022

Kimberly Hartmann

Address: 18 Montview Drive Hanover, NH 03755Phone: 916-505-6883Term Expires: 2023

Garrett Palm

Secretary, NorwichAddress: 15 Bramble Lane Norwich, VT 05055Phone: 617-251-4612Term Expires: 2022

Kelley Hersey

Chair, SAUAddress: 330 Hopson Road Norwich, VT 05055Phone: 802-649-2489Term Expires: 2022

Kelly McConnell

Chair, DresdenAddress: 41 Gibson Road Hanover, NH 03755Phone: 603-443-0987Term Expires: 2024

Rick Johnson

Chair, HanoverAddress: 4 Hovey Lane Hanover, NH 03755Phone: 603-643-4855Term Expires: 2024

Tom Candon

Chair, NorwichAddress: 1183 Union Village Road Norwich, VT 05055Phone: 802-649-5292Term Expires: 2023

Jonathan Hunt

Vice Chair, SAU and Secr., DresdenAddress: 61 Hayes Hill Road Etna, NH 03750Phone: 207-602-8079Term Expires: 2022

Marcela Di Blasi

Vice Chair, HanoverAddress: 8 Hovey Lane Hanover, NH 03755Phone: 210-896-0765Term Expires: 2023

Lisa Christie

Vice Chair, NorwichAddress: 159 Dutton Hill Road E. Norwich, VT 05055Phone: 802-649-2580Term Expires: 2023

Neil Odell

Vice Chair, DresdenAddress: 1445 Union Village Road Norwich, VT 05055Phone: 802-649-7287Term Expires: 2021

Meet the candidates

This feature will be available in next board election cycle

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