Seabrook eyes leaving SAU 21: Committee looks into why students are not making the grade

SEABROOK — Recent comments at the SAU 21 Withdrawal Study Committee meeting suggest some members may have already decided that Seabrook should break away and establish its own SAU.

The committee was formed after Seabrook School District voters approved Article 6 by a vote of 830 to 601 on March 12 to explore the pros and cons of leaving the five-community School Administrative Unit 21 .

The Seabrook School Board put forth the article to start the formal process of breaking away from the SAU in light of concerns brought up by parents and guardians regarding low test scores and the education of their children. SAU 21 comprises Seabrook, Hampton Falls, North Hampton, South Hampton and the Winnacunnet Cooperative School District .

Last week, several committee members said Seabrook pays the lion's share of the SAU budget, but they don't get much in return for their investment.

“We ask for things, and we’re always told, ‘no,’” said Kelli Hueber, a School Board representative on the committee. “The other school (districts) are never told ‘no.’”

Committee member Chris LeClaire, who also serves on the Seabrook Budget Committee, emphasized the need for more “local control.”

“We are going nowhere with what we’re doing right now,” LeClaire said. “There is no way this is going to change staying in the SAU. So, unless we grab hold of this problem and take care of it ourselves, nothing is going to change.”

Other committee members didn’t appear as willing to call it quits and start anew just yet.

“If you’ve come into this with your minds already made up, our role is how to justify it,” said Laura Carty, elected chairwoman of the committee. “I’m trying to get as much information as possible to make an informed decision.”

Previous story: Why Seabrook wants to break up with SAU 21 over poor test scores

SAU 21 Withdrawal Committee takes hard look at student performance

At its meeting, members received a packet of multi-year statistics from SAU 21 Superintendent Meredith Nadeau that discussed the performance levels of Seabrook students compared not only to the other school districts in the SAU – Hampton Falls, South Hampton, North Hampton and Winnacunnet – but also Hampton (SAU 90) and the state.

No one denied the findings were grim. For the decades since New Hampshire law required standardized annual assessment testing of all Granite State students, Seabrook children performed significantly below their peers in SAU 21 and the state.

According to data Hueber provided, the students in all SAU sister communities showed a 70 percent or higher proficiency rate in 2023 test scores. Seabrook’s students tested at around 35 percent. And while South Hampton’s, Hampton Falls’, North Hampton’s and Hampton’s scores ranked them among the top 25 school districts in the state, according to Hueber, Seabrook’s results were in the bottom tier.

Yet, according to Nadeau, members need to be careful not to compare apples to oranges, for Seabrook’s demographics are quite different than its sister SAU communities.

Seabrook school children are every bit as bright and capable of learning and succeeding as those in other sister districts, she said, however, statistics show Seabrook children face serious and persistent socio/economic challenges that most others in the SAU do not. These challenges include poverty, homelessness, insecure home lives, exposure to substance abuse, crime and violence at a much higher rate than others. Those challenges, Nadeau said are well recognized as being major out-of-school factors that inhibit learning.

“It doesn’t mean they can’t or won’t achieve,” Nadeau said. “It just means it’s harder. They have more challenges and need more support. Whether you withdraw or not, those are issues that are going to affect your achievement without system support.”

The economic stress Seabrook children face is borne out by the district’s very high number – 80 percent – of children whose parents’ income levels qualify annually for the free and reduced lunch program, Nadeau said.

Further, she said, Seabrook has a higher percentage than its sister SAU communities of children who qualify as homeless. This data is generally accepted as the primary indicator of the economic disadvantage in children’s environments which can impact negatively student proficiency, she said.

According to recent state data, while only 10 percent or fewer children in other SAU 21 districts qualify for the free and reduced lunch program, there are only a few dozen school districts in the entire state with figures equal to or higher than that of Seabrook’s, she added.

Other socio/economic indicators that reverberate in learning performance, Nadeau said, are single-parent households, children cared for by caretakers other than parents, and the education level of parents/ caretakers in a child’s household, such as high school diplomas and college degrees. Seabrook has about half the state average of households with parents who have college degrees or above, she said, while in its SAU 21 sister districts, the percentage of post-secondary degrees is higher.

Those numbers didn’t carry much weight with Hueber, who said Seabrook has “always had a high poverty rate.”

“This has been a fallback to suggest why our scores are low,” Hueber said. “I think it’s best if we withdraw… We need to start over.”

According to LeClaire, the current system is broken and needs to be fixed, especially when it comes to what he said was a lack of discipline in the schools that inhibits learning by other students wanting to learn.

Both he and Hueber believe leaving SAU 21 and creating Seabrook’s stand-alone SAU would allow administrators to “focus” solely on Seabrook schools, children and problems, without the needs of other school districts distracting them.

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How much will it cost Seabrook to establish its own SAU?

Carty discussed research she had done on the salaries, expenses and budgets at single-district SAUs, such as Hampton’s. She said most hire six to seven professionals to execute the administrative duties of SAUs. She estimated a central office staff budget of a bit more than $1 million per year in operating costs would be needed.

That’s more than Seabrook’s portion of SAU 21's coming year’s budget, which is $657,680, or 29 percent of the roughly $2.2 million total central office administrative budget of SAU 21.

A large portion of Carty’s estimated $1,036,000 projected cost includes providing competitive salaries and benefits needed to hire six qualified professionals in what has become a very challenging job market.

However, Carty’s figure does not include the one-time start-up costs, something the committee agreed to discuss at its next meeting. Start-up costs would include furniture, equipment, software, and supplies, as well as the physical space to house the new SAU staff.

A suggestion had been made that the area on the second floor of Seabrook Elementary School could serve the purpose. However, a letter from a resident advised it may not be ideal since it doesn’t have a separate entrance and is not ADA-compliant. Adding both a separate entrance and an elevator would have to be figured into start-up costs unless another site can be found.

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Seabrook withdrawal could impact North Hampton, Hampton Falls

Seabrook’s share of the SAU 21's $2.2 million budget is almost 30 percent, or $657,680. The three smaller SAU 21 school districts - North Hampton, Hampton Falls and South Hampton – together pay only 24 percent, or 14 percent, 7 percent and 3 percent, respectively.

Financial assessments for the districts’ portions are based on the student population in each district and each town’s property valuation. That formula is also used to determine each community’s shares of Winnacunnet’s School District’s annual budget.

If Seabrook leaves, only four school districts would remain to support the SAU 21 budget. Similar to Hampton’s withdrawal in 2011, Seabrook would stay part of Winnacunnet’s School District, contributing to its budget.

When Hampton left, the remaining districts had to increase their financial support for the administrative unit. At that time, SAU 21 had 13 full-time and two part-time staff overseeing 720 teachers, administrators, and staff across six districts.

According to SAU 21’s Associate Superintendent of Finance, Matthew Ferreira, Hampton’s departure led to staff reductions at the SAU office. The grant manager’s role was cut to part-time, one part-time support staff position was eliminated, and a full-time support staff role was reduced to part-time, resulting in a net loss of 1.5 positions.

Currently, after adding a position focused on special education and other student services, SAU 21 employs 13 full-time and one part-time staff, overseeing 570 staff members.

SAU 21 Superintendent Meredith Nadeau stated that various scenarios are being considered regarding Seabrook’s potential withdrawal from the SAU.

If Seabrook votes to withdraw in March 2025, Nadeau noted that any transition would not take place until July 2026.

Following a decision to leave, Nadeau explained that the SAU would analyze staffing needs and present their findings to the Joint Board to determine the next steps.

What's next for Seabrook SAU 21 Withdrawal Committee?

According to state law, the committee has a year to conduct its study, formulate its recommendations, and if withdrawal is recommended, put forward a proposal to voters.

Carty, elected chairwoman on June 6, projected a completion date for the committee’s work of Sept. 27, 2024.

The committee's next meeting is Aug. 22.

Seabrook has investigated withdrawing from SAU 21 twice before, only to remain for financial reasons. Both studies were done before Hampton’s withdrawal in 2011.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Seabrook eyes leaving SAU 21: Committee looks into why students are not making the grade