FILING INFORMATION FOR TOWN, SMS, AND ERCSD POSITIONS
OPEN POSITIONS AND FILING INFORMATION
Dear Stratham Residents,
Please read below for news and notes from the Town of Stratham. In this edition:
To sign-up for these updates and other notifications, please visit this section on our website and check the "Select Board" box under News and Announcements.
The Select Board
Michael Houghton, Chair Allison Knab, Vice-Chair Joe Anderson
FILING INFORMATION FOR TOWN, SMS, AND ERCSD POSITIONS
OPEN POSITIONS AND FILING INFORMATION
The Town Election will be on Tuesday, March 11 at the Stratham Memorial School, 39 Gifford Farm Road. Polls will be open from 7:00am to 7:00pm. Town Meeting will be on Saturday, March 15 at the Stratham Memorial School. The meeting will begin at 9:00am. Please see the Town Meeting page for important materials to review.
The Town of Stratham is beginning a new more environmentally-friendly approach to winter road maintenance by introducing the use of salt brine. This treatment option increasingly utilized in the field by municipalities, will reduce the amount of road salt applied, minimize environmental impact, and introduce operational efficiencies. Salt brine is applied to roads before snow or ice forms, preventing ice accumulation and improving road safety. This pre-treatment approach is more effective than traditional methods and helps keep our roads safer for longer during winter storms.
Stay tuned for updates and visit our website for more details on the benefits of this program and a salt brine fact sheet!
The Town of Stratham has an opening for a Building Inspector/Code Enforcement Officer. For a detailed job description and job posting, click here.
The board held a public hearing for the FY26 budget. The proposed budget is a 2% increase over last year, for a total of $15,526,374. The driving factors for change from last year include special education costs, curriculum resources, professional development for teachers, and English for speakers of other languages. We had many community members come to speak both in favor of the budget and requesting further cuts including reducing staff.
As part of its monthly series on education at SMS, the Board was briefed about student performance data, slides can be found here: 1/8/25 SMS Data Presentation
The Board was also briefed on the status of special education at SMS, the slides can be found here:1/8/25 Special Ed. Longitudinal Study 24-25. The number of Special Education students at SMS has dropped from 19% to 16% in the past five years because of highly customized and early interventions for students on the edge of needing services. State funding continues to decrease, leaving towns to make up the costs.
Some other important updates:
For more, please see the full meeting minutes here.
For questions, email Board Chair Jennifer Scrafford at jscrafford@sau16.org. Our next board meeting will be Wednesday, February 12th at 6pm in the SMS learning commons/library.
The Stratham Historical Society is pleased to announce that applications for the Society’s 2025 Winfield L. Foote Awards for Academic Excellence are now underway. These scholarships are made possible by the generosity of the late Mr. Winfield L. Foote, a long-time resident of Stratham and a strong supporter of The Stratham Historical Society.
Scholarships are offered at the following levels:
For 2025 SAU16 high school graduates entering college in 2025, a minimum of $1,000 scholarship each will be granted. Applicants must be graduating high school seniors from SAU 16 District, which includes Stratham and surrounding towns. In addition, Stratham residents graduating from private schools outside the district may also apply.
DEADLINE for all applications is April 1, 2025. Detailed instructions as to eligibility for each of the above mentioned awards, application forms, required documents and method of submission may be found on the Stratham Historical Society’s pages on the Town of Stratham’s website. To date, the Winfield L. Foote Scholarships for Academic Excellence program has awarded over $145,000.
On Friday, February 7, 2025 at 7:00 pm at the Stratham Fire Station, 4 Winnicutt Road, Monica Reuss, American Art Specialist and Nathan Merrill, Heritage Commission Chair will present: An American Impressionist in Stratham: Childe Hassam's Pastoral Views. This event is free and open to the public.
Important American artist Childe Hassam visited friends in Stratham regularly between 1900-1918. Join us in exploring 30 of his works created locally, featuring landmarks such as Stratham Hill, the Squamscott River, Newfields Village, Stuart Farm, and more. Presented alongside contemporary and historical photographs, these rarely shown works bring the area's rural history and beauty to life. View the flyer here.
The New Hampshire Preservation Alliance is offering an Old Building Trades Career Exploration internship program to anyone ages 16 - 21 who is interested in or has a curiosity about old buildings and their construction and repair. No experience is necessary. Click here for more information and the application