Clark asked when Stacy could come in to discuss a strategy for next year's road work. Stacy responded when he was finished with the budget committee. Samson, who is the selectmen's budget committee representative, said that will be in January. Stacy said he could come then, if he was still highway agent. But you have to tell them.
Many residents question whether the extra expense is worth the education they receive.
One argument in favor of the extra expense is pay now or pay later. The extra expense in a student's school years will, in theory, help create a better-functioning citizen. Without those funds, many special education students end up on welfare, jobless, or worse, said Joan Jordan, special education teacher at the Pembroke Academy Alternative School. Without the special attention, they could become caught in a downward spiral of court hearings, prison, rehabilitation, relapse, crimes and a return to prison, resulting in more expense than special education would have cost, she said. With the help of the school, special education teacher Jordan, his mother Jean Cross and his own will to survive, Joyce has turned around.