School District Prepares for Health Insurance Rate Increase
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The district will not know the exact increase in the health insurance rates until next May, after the school budget has passed for the 2010-2011 school year.

In recent years, the guaranteed maximum increase in health insurance rates has been as high as 14.1 percent and as low as a 4.5 percent decrease.

Simard said the 19.9 percent increase would be "a huge impact on the budget."

After speaking with school administrators at the state level, Superintendent of Schools Mary Ellen Hannon said the rate increase most likely has something to do with the debate over health reform in Washington, D.C.

"Obviously, the school districts were pretty shocked by the rate increases," Hannon told the school board's fiscal advisory committee this week. "The unofficial comment I got is the rate increases are due to the fact that there is uncertainty where health insurance will go with the feds. They are hedging their bets a little by raising the rates so high."

Statewide, school districts will be struggling to budget the close to 20 percent increase. Typically, rates range drastically between districts. Hannon thought the across-the-board uniform spike was an oddity.

"There is no way that everybody in the state (had) rates that averaged (that high)," said Hannon. "I guess we'll have to see what happens in Washington to see how it affects our rates here in New Hampshire."

In addition to health insurance, the school district will see a mandatory 5.5 percent rate increase in employee dental insurance and a rise in teacher retirement benefits from 7.49 percent to 8.02 percent.

The state rate increase for retired employees remained the same as last year at 9.16 percent.

By summing up the impact of the health insurance rates, retirement increases and rises in dental insurance, Simard said the school district would have to budget an additional $1 million for employee benefits in next year's budget.

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Nutfield Senior Center to Begin Fundraising in Coming Weeks
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Last year, U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg, R-NH, secured a $396,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for non-construction costs. Moody said the money would be going toward furniture, a part-time director for the center, engineering designs and a professional fundraising agency.

Right now, Moody is waiting for HUD to release the grant. "As soon as that money is available, I'll be ready to go," Moody said.

The first move will be putting together a fundraising committee, hiring a fundraising director and assembling a finance plan.

At that time, Nutfield Senior Center's leadership and the fundraising committee would begin reaching out to all of their supporters.

In a community with few centrally located resources for senior citizens, Derry will soon have one location with access to social events, educational resources and health clinics at the Nutfield Senior Center.

Moody is excited by that prospect.

"There are a lot of people just waiting," said Moody. "So we are very close."

Moody began the project of building a senior center in Derry a few years ago. The process of finding an affordable, accessible and appropriate venue for the center was slow and time-consuming.

"It's been a long, hard road, but we're closer and closer every day," said Moody, the former superintendent of schools for the Derry Cooperative School District.

A million dollars is a formidable sum to fundraise, especially in this economy. But Moody, the eternal optimist, expects the task to be manageable.

"We could name rooms after a few large donators. The rest will be nickel and diming," said Moody.

The proposed design plans for the senior center call for an exercise room, an office, an activities room and a handicapped bathroom facility. Moody would also like to renovate the Boys and Girls Club's existing kitchen.

In 2007, the Derry Town Council approved a $55,000 allocation to support the proposed senior center. Moody has not yet accessed that reserved funding.

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Pinkerton TechFest Aims to Spark Interest in Science and Technological Careers
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A trebuchet is a machine that was typically used amid medieval siege warfare for hurling large stones or other missiles at castle walls.

At New Hampshire TechFest, Pinkerton's robotics team hopes to challenge other high school teams in a competition of distance and accuracy with their hand-built apple-launching trebuchets. The top three winners of the trebuchet contest will be eligible to win over $1,800 worth of tools from Tire Warehouse.

Making applesauce will not be the only thing happening at what is planned to be the first of an annual TechFest, scheduled to take place on Nov. 14 at Pinkerton Academy in Derry. Pinkerton Academy is a semi-private high school in Derry that tuitions students primarily from the towns of Derry, Hampstead and Chester.

Cunningham and his team also hope to hold other engineering demonstrations of technical feats, interactive mini-workshops and a lecture series with audience discussion.

"We are inviting a variety of leading-edge technologists, corporations, educational institutions, and professional societies to showcase and share their work with an audience of young, eager minds and potentially, future colleagues and employees," Cunningham wrote in a press release. "The overall hope is that the TechFest will bring students to understand how studies in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields are becoming absolutely critical to success in all of the most desirable careers of tomorrow."

Some of the main attractions planned to take place on campus involve cinematic special effects. This will include a special effects engineer, who has previously worked on several Hollywood productions and will exhibit models and casts used in recent feature films, in addition to demonstrating the behind-the-scenes science of the special effects.

The Robotics Team will be busy offering displays and demonstrations of various FIRST competition robots, along with exhibits that show the increasing range of regular applications of robotic technologies.

For the health science element of New Hampshire TechFest, a life-like electronic mannequin will demonstrate the future of medical training and the latest in non-invasive medical imaging with ultrasound technology. Other demonstrations will allow attendees to conduct their own DNA extraction experiment and observe everyday processes in the pharmaceutical development and manufacturing industries.

As for engineering, attendees will be able to build a tower out of paper and compete with each other to see which tower can hold the most weight. Other engineering components of the fair will offer lessons on how to avoid the many sources of groundwater pollution, how to harness wind chill and geothermal energy, and how to find underwater objects with side-scan sonar equipment.

No science or technology education would get very far without professional applications. So, the organizers of New Hampshire TechFest have included ways to learn about the science and math behind global positioning system (GPS) devices and other surveying technology. Attendees can educate themselves on the latest advancements in air traffic safety and control, and figure out how fire and crime scene investigations (CSI) are aided by math and science skills.

Cunningham said it is easy for people to take the intricate science behind technology and engineering for granted. But, in most people's everyday lives, technology surrounds them in their cell phones, computers and cars.

Pinkerton's Robotics Team, the "Astros," is a group of students and mentors who compete annually in the FIRST Robotics Competition. The team is active year-round in a variety of programs, including community outreach, education and fundraising activities.

For more information about the first New Hampshire TechFest, log onto www.nhtechfest.org, email contact-us@nhtechfest.org or call 437-5200, ext. 4164.

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