GOFFSTOWN - Before going on summer hiatus, the school board, at their meeting of June 4th, discussed a request to move their meetings from Goffstown High School over to Town Hall and to change their meeting nights from the 1st and 3rd Monday of every month to the 1st and 3rd Thursday of every month.

The request came from resident Guy Caron, who pointed out to the board that since Goffstown High School no longer has live broadcast capabilities, residents cannot watch school board meetings live as they can with other boards and committees in town. Caron said that because of this situation, the only alternative left to residents was to attend school board meetings in person. But doing so would mean residents could not attend or watch meetings of the board of selectmen who hold their meetings every Monday night. Selectmen meetings are also broadcast live since they are held at Town Hall.

On May 7th, reacting to another request by Caron, the school board agreed to post drafts of its minutes online about three days after a meeting, and also to provide DVDs of its meetings to the town library and the district office a week after the date of a meeting. Prior to agreeing to Caron's request, meeting minutes were posted 4 to 6 weeks after meetings were held, and DVDs were only available by submitting written requests to the school district. The average waiting period to receive the DVD was 5 weeks.

During their discussions, board member Ginny McKinnon inquired as to School Superintendent Darrell Lockwood’s commitments on Thursday nights, as SAU 19 also includes Dunbarton and New Boston. But Lockwood stated there would be no conflict, as Dunbarton's school board holds its meetings on the 1st Wednesday of each month and New Boston holds theirs on the 2nd Wednesday of each month. Board chairman Keith Allard subsequently asked the board to consider the issue over their summer hiatus, as nearly half of the board members were not present at the meeting. 

The school board will next meet on Monday, August 20th.