I’m honored to have been asked to write a column highlighting the outstanding work of students and staff in the Mascenic Regional School District.

This is my fifth year serving the communities of Greenville and New Ipswich. Despite the challenges of education in the last four years, we continue to grow and flourish as individuals and as a learning community as a whole.

Recently, the voters of Greenville and New Ipswich supported our fiscal 2025 default budget. This is a reduction of $307,182 from our needs-based budget of $21,146,355. We proposed a budget with a 2.6% increase to last year’s appropriation. In the past five years of my tenure in Mascenic, we have proposed budgets with under 5.2% increases, some years as little as less than 1%. These numbers included increases in health care costs and several unfunded mandates that we have absorbed through other efficiencies.

Some might argue that our budgets should be going down to reflect declining enrollment. However, our daily operating expenses do not change with the reduction in two or three students per class. In some cases, we have been able to achieve savings through the attrition of staff. Every effort has been made to meet the quantitative needs of our budget while carefully maintaining the qualitative, meaning the vibrancy and comprehensiveness of the education in our schools.

Instructional leaders in all aspects of our organization gathered to make decisions regarding the default budget. Though difficult and challenging all around, the outstanding work of budget managers will make the impact of the $307,182 reduction in our needs-based budget tolerable. With that said, our fiscal 2025 budget reflects the reduction of four positions. Regardless, we will continue to implement innovation to the extent possible and improve student engagement.

Let’s focus on the “wins” of our work for a bit.

Highbridge Hill Elementary School (HHES) continues to serve the community at large through their Helping Hands initiatives. Organizations benefiting from the charity of our families have included animal shelters, St. Vincent de Paul, and Pink Revolution of New Hampshire.

Vikes and Tykes has become a very successful mentor program in collaboration with the National Honor Society at Mascenic Regional High School. Highbridge Tykes engage in an academic activity with their Vikes mentor, followed by something fun.

Continuing the theme of mentorship, the MRHS Anti-Bullying Task Force has also collaborated with students at HHES to spread the message of kindness. Lastly, on the HHES front, the Highbridge Hill Enrichment Program serves 150 kids in the fall and spring after school. HEEP is a very popular program among many families.

Our Boynton Middle School (BMS) students continue to thrive in all aspects of their growth. As was reported in the Ledger, a sixth-grade student, Brook Sallila, won a writing contest sponsored by the New Ipswich History Museum. Several BMS students participated in this wonderful opportunity.

On the music front, BMS will be represented by two students at the New Hampshire Southwest District Music Festival. As always, BMS is well represented in the winner’s circle. The cheer squad and field hockey teams won their respective Tri-County championships. Let’s not forget the numerous teams who made the playoffs, as well.

Our Mascenic Regional High School students have been busy in and out of the classroom beyond their mentoring work at HHES.  Once again, this year we were well represented at the DAR Good Citizen luncheon in Concord. Students also participated in the Poetry Out Loud contest at New England College, some making it to the semifinals. 

Supporting students in their efforts is our new therapy dog Ronan. Ronan and his handler are on the job at MRHS every other Friday. He has been a great addition to our staff. As always, Mascenic Cheer wowed audiences statewide with their outstanding performances, finishing the season as the Division III state runner-up.

The Mascenic Auto Shop is up and running for vehicle inspections. Please call 603-878-4585 for service.

We have a few open positions in the district. Ever thought of teaching? Go to mascenic.org to view our posted job openings. If you have a bachelor’s degree in an area related to the content opening, you may qualify to teach with special permissions. Please reach out if you have any questions.

The Mascenic Office of Student Services will be featured in our next column, so look forward to reading about the amazing work of our dedicated staff. 

Christine Martin is superintendent of the Mascenic Regional School District.