Valley View Student Ian Schwab Has Artwork at White House Easter Egg Roll

The Farmington School District had the distinct honor of representing New Hampshire at the White House Easter Egg Roll on Monday April 2.  A 140 year tradition, the Easter Egg Roll, traditionally hosted by the First Lady, officially started in 1878 under President Rutherford B. Hayes. Informal festivities have origins back to the 1860s when President Lincoln hosted egg rolling parties at the White House.  As part of the decorations for the 2018 Easter Egg Roll, each state was asked to contribute an Easter Egg design that represented their state. The state designs would be enlarged to a 2 ft by 4 ft size and the eggs would be placed on the White House South lawn for visitors and participants to admire.

School Board member, Stan Freeda, who also works at the NH Department of Education as the State Educational Technology Director, worked with two Valley View Community School teachers, art teacher, Kim Smith, and technology teacher, Tom Pringle to get Farmington School District to produce a New Hampshire representative egg design.

Kim and Tom worked with student Lighthouse facilitator, Cindy Hunn and Grade 3 students to create some egg designs that represented New Hampshire. The third graders designed their individual eggs and then teachers Cindy, Tom, and Kim, selected the design they felt best represented the Granite State.  Ian Schwab, a student in 3 Pankey, created the winning egg design, a line drawing that contained many recognizable symbols of the state of New Hampshire, like the shape of the state, the New Hampshire flag, the birch tree, purple finch, and the Old Man of the Mountain.  The symbols surrounded large initials, NH. 

Once the design was selected, Tom took the line drawing, digitized it, and converted the colors in Ian’s drawing to the required colors for the state egg decorations, along with enlarging the digitized drawing to the appropriate size for submission to representatives at the US Department of Education, who were charged with getting the representative egg designs from each state.  The decorating team took the designs, mounted them on a large board display, which also featured the state name and the school district whose submission was selected. The state eggs were a perfect backdrop decorations for this year’s Egg Roll. 

Above Photo:
The New Hampshire Egg on display on the White House Lawn at the Egg Roll on April 2.

Middle Photo:
Valley View Art teacher, Kim Smith and Technology teacher, Tom Pringle, help student Ian Schwab display his New Hampshire Easter Egg.

Below Photo:
Valley View Community School Third Graders participating in the search for a New Hampshire egg design for this year’s White House Easter Egg Roll at display their egg designs. Back L to R: Joshua Mosher, Alan Vaughn, Harper Martin, Corbin Ferreira, Reese Cocarus, Tessa Ward, Checotah Boisvert
Front L to R: Payton Leclair, Jacelyn Doyle, Alexis Gomulka, Ian Schwab, Hunter Cookson, Madison Lord, Kylie Kenny

Find out more about the White House Easter Egg Roll.

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The April Edition of the Puddledock Press is Available Online and in Town

The April 2018 edition of the Puddledock Press is available online and at our distribution sites in town!  Visit one of our local businesses, pick one up, and enjoy it today.

It also has been posted on the Puddledock Press website and is available for viewing online in the Puddledock Press Archives.

Please consider advertising in the Puddledock Press.  Your support through advertising helps build connections to the community.    Price. Quality. Community.  That is the commitment the Puddledock Press makes to you. See our Advertising Page for details

Online and mail subscriptions are also available.   Reasonable rates. Quality service!

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Farmington High School student movie “Detention” coming to Rochester Opera House

Rochester Opera House will screening the new Farmington High School student movie “Detention”, produced by the award wining FSDTV25 on April 5, 2018.

Detention is “The Breakfast Club” meets “Point Break”. As six students sit through Saturday detention, a person dressed as Donald Trump breaks into the school in search of something or someone. Soon the students quickly realize they are not who they claim to be while hiding for their lives.

Each student’s story is told through flashbacks i.e. a cheat, a thief, a fighter, etc. As the stories unravel, the students’ notice each of them is somehow connected to each other and the masked assailant.

The movie explores multiple issues including bullying, dating, corrupt administration, drugs, and violence. These are all areas students struggle with on their daily routine, when a simple click button on Facebook can rule someone’s life.

The screening at Rochester Opera is part of Detention’s campaign to urge local towns across the stage to donate to the “End 68 Hours of Hunger” project. Students are not charging admission to the event but asking patrons to bring non-perishable food items.

FSDTV25 along with the Rochester Opera House recognizes the importance of helping others and our community. Students involved in this production have also created several public service announcements for the Granite Youth Alliance. This is the 8th year FSDTV25 has held their “Movie Night”.

Screening Date: April 5th
Screening Time: 7pm, doors open at 6
Screening Location: Rochester Opera House – 31 Wakefield Street, Rochester, NH
Admission/Suggested Donation: Free – bring non-perishable food item

This event is open to the public.

For additional information, please contact Brian Chagnon – BChagnon@sau61.org at 603-817-4050

Watch movie trailer here --> FHSMovie "Detention" movie trailer

RochesterOpera House

FSDTV25Student Movie Information

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March 2018 Issue is Out and Available.

The March 2018 edition of the Puddledock Press is available online and at our distribution sites in town!  Visit one of our local businesses, pick one up, and enjoy it  today.

It also has been posted on the Puddledock Press website and is available for viewing online in the Puddledock Press Archives.

Please consider advertising in the Puddledock Press.  Your support through advertising helps build connections to the community.    Price. Quality. Community.  That is the commitment the Puddledock Press makes to you. See our Advertising Page for details

Online and mail subscriptions are also available.

Don't forget to Take your Puddledock with you when you travel and take a selfie with the Puddledock at your destination.  Submit it for publication in our Where in the World is the Puddledock Press column.  Let's see how far we can spread our community newspaper.

Take a look at our Photo Albums on Flickr.

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2018 Puddledock Press March V39 N03 by Historical Society of Farmington, NH on Scribd

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Farmington’s “Blessed Bargains” Thrift Shop Celebrates 20 Years of Making All Things Affordable

by Deborah Leary
Farmington’s “Blessed Bargains” Thrift Shop Celebrates 20 Years of Making All Things Affordable at First Congregational Church.  In this changing and often chaotic world, “thrifting” has become a way of finding peace in things from the past and pleasure in gently loved items. That’s why people keep coming back to “Blessed Bargains” Thrift Shop, a basement store where everyone is welcome and customers become friends.  It is located at historic First Congregational Church on Main Street in downtown Farmington.

Blessed Bargains opened on February 28, 1998 at the suggestion of the church’s minister at that time, Rev. Nancy Spencer-Smith.  Church members, Susan Loker and Dottie Bean organized the transformation of the lower level of the education building into a “unique boutique” featuring quality clothes for all ages, toys, books, household items, pictures  and collectible treasures.

“At first,” comments Susan Loker, “Dottie and I weren’t sure how this was going to work.  We visited other thrift shops and spoke with local business owner Lorraine Meyer who gave us valuable advice. We answered an ad for hanging racks and my husband, Rob, drove to Maine to get them.  The seller neglected to tell us that the racks were in pieces and frozen in ice.  We used a hatchet to chip them free and brought them back in Rob’s truck.  Some of these racks are still in use today.” 
Blessed Bargains is open on the second and last Saturday’s of each month from 9:30 am to 2:00 pm.  One of the secrets to the shop’s long-term success is that the prices have never changed in twenty years.  Winter jackets are still only $5, sweaters and slacks sell for $3 each and most children’s clothes are 50 cents!  Books, toys and many items sell for $1 or less. People come in thinking they don’t need anything, until they see an item that they just can’t pass up.

“We are very thankful for the generosity of the community in donating goods that are in excellent condition.” says Dottie Bean.  “Every Tuesday, volunteers work from 10 am to noon to sort and price items and organize them for display. We have fun working together, knowing that we are helping people and helping the church.”

With modest prices, in 20 years, Blessed Bargains Thrift Shop has raised $131,764.00 to assist the church and provide affordable goods to thousands of people. A special reception for the Blessed Bargains volunteers will be held at First Congregational Church, on Sunday, February 25.  The public is invited and welcome to attend.  For more information, visit the church website at www.farmingtonnhucc.org.

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The February Edition of the Puddledock Press is Available Online an in Town

The February 2018 edition of the Puddledock Press is now available!  You can find it online and in many of our local distribution sites.   The issue will be at all our distribution locations in the coming week.  Visit your local Farmington carrier of the Puddledock and get your issue now. Hope you enjoy it.

It also has been posted on the Puddledock Press website and the Farmington Historical Society's Scribd site, and is available for viewing online. It is also available in the archives of both Puddledock Press and the Farmington Historical Society websites.

Please consider advertising in the Puddledock Press.  Your support through advertising helps build connections to the community.    Price. Quality. Community.  That is the commitment the Puddledock Press makes to you. See our Advertising Page for details

If you like your Puddledock delivered, both email and snail mail subscriptions are also available.

Don't forget to Take your Puddledock with you when you travel and take a selfie with the Puddledock at your destination.  Submit it for publication in our Where in the World is the Puddledock Press column.  Let's see how far we can spread our community newspaper.

Take a look at our Photo Albums on Flickr.

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2018 February Puddledock Press by Historical Society of Farmington, NH on Scribd

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Superintendent Ruth Ellen Vaughn Outlines Strategic Plan and Budget Priorities for Future of Our School District

“It’s a fact,” says Superintendent Ruth Ellen Vaughn, “Excellence is in sight!”  Good news for Farmington residents, and even better news for our students!    Superintendent Vaughn began a presentation of the school budget for the town and Budget Committee on December 20 with those words.  Speaking to a packed house, and supported by school board members, and administrators, Ruth Ellen outlined the results of a recent survey taken in order to define the priorities of our town citizens and what direction they wanted the school district to take.  The survey was the first part of the development of a strategic plan for improvement.  The school board gave Superintendent Vaughn a charge of putting the Farmington School District in the top ten schools in New Hampshire in the next ten years.  “I take that charge very seriously,” Vaughn states often.

The broad goals for the district’s Strategic Innovation Plan come from the priorities uncovered by the survey.  And her use of the word “fact” had double meaning.  More correctly spelled “FAC3T” is an anagram for Facilities, Achievement, Curriculum, Community Communication, and Technology, the categories of district improvement included in the district’s Strategic Innovation Plan.  It’s both clever and powerful and the district is not shying away from the challenge. The details of the plan, outlined below, form the basis for the school budget, which has been kept lower than last year’s school budget.

Facilities

• Buildings to be in good repair with all systems on a regular maintenance and replacement schedule by 2027.
• Roofs replaced for HWMS by 2023; FHS by 2025; plan for VVCS by 2027.
• Access road to FHS and VVCS for secondary egress to be in place by 2027.  

Achievement

• Portrait of a Farmington Graduate complete by late 2018.
• Assessment scores place Farmington students in the top 50% of students on the NH State assessments by 2022 and the top 10% by 2027.
• Percentage of graduates with post-secondary placement plans (college, vocational/career, military) increases to 100% by 2027.

Curriculum  

• By 2020, curriculum adoption and review schedule of vertically aligned curriculum in place. NEAS&C site visit complete for FHS.
• Full competency-based grade reporting to be in place for FHS by 2022; by 2027 for HWMS and VVCS.

Community Communication/Relations

• Communications plan and regular feedback loops in place for information delivery to community and return comment by 2020.
• By 2022, Community perceptions survey will have 70% positive responses. By 2027, the same survey will show 90% positive responses.

Technology

• By 2021, FHS will be fully 1:1 with technology implementation. HWMS 1:1 by 2023; VVCS 1:1 by 2025.  
• Security systems will be fully upgraded by 2020 following state security audit this winter.

There will be a public hearing with the Budget Committee on January 3, and the School Deliberative Session will be at the High School Gym on Saturday, February 3 at 9:00 AM.   

You can find materials and information on the 2018-2019 School Budget on the Farmington School District website at http://www.sau61.org/school-boards/farmington-school-board.

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