Cons to living in Windham
When we first moved here, Windham seemed to be a wonderful little town. Since then (late 80's), the character has changed. Several of our neighbors have moved out and have been replaced by a bunch of liberal left wing nut transplants from Massachusetts. This was exactly what we were trying to get away with. I now sit near two neighbors that I could care less if their homes get picked up with the next tornado to hit the town.
On the financial side, yes, we are indeed getting a new High School. The fiasco around that is incredible. The initial estimated cost was what the town and designers used to sell the voters on the idea. At 42.8 million, the original architect "Team Design" (who, according the paper had done several projects and never been over budget), came in with bids that were 12 million over this! Windham ended up firing Team Design and, due purely to the stupidity of the town, didn't sue them to recover any cost of their fees, which was in the millions!
Now, the high school is underway, and town residents aren't happy. They want to have a high school that has ASTROTURF FIELDS, and a LIGHTED STADIUM. I believe the total warrant for that was somewhere around 5 MILLION more. Thank god it didn't pass. Amazingly enough, more than 50 percent of the people voted for it, but 60% was required to pass.
Windham is part of SAU28. That's "School Administrative Unit" #28 (in the state of NH). What this means is that there are administrative offices with a SUPERINTENDENT of schools, an ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT, along with positions such as "Business Administrator". But wait, they have TWO Business Administrators - one for Windham and one for Pelham (the other town that is part of SAU28). Anyhow, there has been talk in Windham of pulling OUT of SAU28. I suppose that could be a good idea. We could get RID of all this excess overhead - you just don't need a superintendent AND an assistant superintendent if you only have 3 schools in town, but I'm sure that Windham would find a way to make this cost even more - they'd probably even hire MORE people!
Am I fed up with Windham? You bet. If I were moving to New Hampshire these days, Windham would be so far down my list it wouldn't even be a consideration.
I was amazed, and grateful, that a lot of the warrant articles went down in flames this year. The one that did go through for a new firetruck (80% paid by the state) was worthwhile and I did indeed vote for that one.
In general people in this town just throw money at things and don't think if money is the best or only way to achieve the goal - money does not fix everything. The people running the town are something else too. The whole planning board, and board of adjustment have people on it that just don't have a clue as to what's going on that they regularly do not follow the laws set forth for them to abide by.
I can tell you that if I were looking right now, I'd probably start looking further east - Hampstead (decent school system), maybe Plaistow, or, just go for a town with the lowest taxes and put your kids in private school.
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