Analysis from Editor Nancy West
By NANCY WEST, InDepthNH.org
SAU 19 Superintendent Brian Balke posted a video on Sunday claiming a story Damien Fisher wrote for InDepthNH.org about the district turning down offers from St. Matthews’ Episcopal Church to pay outstanding school lunch debts and suing parents instead “contained inaccurate and misleading information.”
“Unfortunately, as an outcome of this inaccurate news story my staff and I have received many very passionate emails about the topic,” Balke said in the video. “Sadly some of these emails and social media posts have included threats of violence against my school staff.”
InDepthNH.org stands by the story and Damien Fisher’s accurate reporting. The district includes Goffstown and New Boston. InDepthNH.org is seeking an apology from Balke.
The video can be viewed here: https://sau19.mediaspace.kaltura.com/media/SAU19%20Important%20Announcement%20-%20September%2015%2C%202024/1_96la9ui8
Balke was not available when Fisher tried to reach him at his office Friday. The story quoted Rev. Jason Wells of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, who stood by the story Sunday as reported by Damien Fisher. It also quoted Goffstown School District Business Administrator Scott Gross.
Gross contacted the reporter on Saturday asking that his photograph be removed from the story saying he had reported to the police that he was getting threatened because of the story.
“Unfortunately this story has led to threats of violence against me. I met with the police and they stated that I should request that you remove my photo from your story. The omission and misrepresentation of some facts seems to be the cause of these virulent attacks. Thank you in advance for helping ensure the safety of me and my family,” Gross said.
Neither Gross nor Balke will say what they consider to be omitted or misrepresented. InDepthNH.org didn’t remove Gross’ photo and the Goffstown police haven’t responded to InDepthNH.org’s request for information about the alleged threats.
Balke made several statements in his video claiming the story was inaccurate but didn’t provide any example of inaccuracies or any statement that could be considered misleading.
In fact, Balke’s video backs up Fisher’s reporting except the video seems to indicate there were no small claims court cases against parents in arrears on their children’s school lunches.
Balke and Gross didn’t return a call or email Sunday from InDepthNH.org asking about their concerns and for facts about the school lunch program and collections.
Rev. Wells said: “I think Mr. Balke’s statement is a matter of perspective. Scott seriously discouraged us from bringing the gift forward to the board. So, we never formally brought it to a meeting where it received a no vote.
“In the formal vote sense, no they never rejected the gift. In a less formal sense, the business admin was actively opposed to the gift to the point we didn’t take it further. Honestly, I don’t find this a useful point to contend and want to keep bringing attention back to preventing this from happening again,” Wells said.
Balke said in his video: “At this point the school district has been in touch with families of all outstanding lunch accounts and at this point no small claims court actions are needed to resolve remaining school lunch debt.”
At the Aug. 26 school board meeting, Gross told the board he had taken several families to small claims court.
Gross told the board: “The last thing I was going to share with you was that part of your policy is we have folks who owe the school district money and we do on the food service side and it’s substantial for some of them we have instituted small claims court proceedings on a few families.
“…(W)e’ve tried repeatedly. I’m talking about well over six to seven letters, registered letters emails no replies and we can’t, we don’t refuse kids meals. Some of them have gotten over $1500 so we have to do something,” Gross said. The board then moved on to another topic.
The following contains quotes from Balke’s video posted Sunday. You can read Damien Fisher’s story at this link: https://indepthnh.org/2024/09/13/goffstown-turns-down-gift-and-sues-families-over-lunch-debt-instead/
From Balke’s video: “Today’s Sunday Sept. 15 and I need to address a recent online publication from Friday afternoon that contained inaccurate and misleading information about our school district. It’s important for me to correct the record.
“On Friday Sept. 13 an online publication called InDepthNH published a story called, ‘Goffstown Turns Down Gift and Sues Families Over School Lunch Debt Instead.’
“This story has unfortunately misrepresented several key facts and I need to set the record straight.
“The story reports that St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church has offered to pay off food service debt for families. The story also reports that the school district turned down this offer and elected to sue families instead.
“This is simply not accurate. We shared with the church that we cannot cancel out debt without first having a conversation with the family and connecting them with resources including completing an application for free or reduced price meals.
“An offer of charity is wonderful but we also need to connect families with needed resources.
“We’re a public school district in the state of New Hampshire which has among the lowest funding in the country.
“To be clear we’re not turning down money from the church or any other organization.
“If a family has lunch debt we need to have a conversation with that family and to try to connect them with resources. That’s all.
“We never turn down support for these families.
“In fact since last week, we worked collaboratively with St. Matthew’s who has been able to pay off debt for several of our families and several more families have worked with our food service director to complete applications for free or reduced price meals. These are positive developments and we thank St. Matthew’s for their support of our families.
“At this point the school district has been in touch with families of all outstanding lunch accounts and at this point no small claims court actions are needed to resolve remaining school lunch debt.
“Please understand that a small claims court filing would be a last ditch effort to try to engage families to try to get them to the table so we can connect them with resources but at this point this is no longer necessary.
“I want families to know we don’t restrict meals for families with outstanding balances. We always allow students to receive a standard meal despite balances.
“It’s also important for families to know that school funding is impacted by free or reduced count meals.
“In New Hampshire school districts receive about $4100 per pupil. That’s considered an adequate education on behalf of the state.
“If a family is eligible for free or reduced meals, the school district receives additional funding.
“Specifically the state provides an additional $2300 per student per year if they qualify for free or reduced price meals.
“Those additional funds from the state reduce local education costs. While the offer from the church to pay off debt is an incredible act of charity it’s important for families to still work with our food service director to complete the application to provide families with additional resources they may qualify for as well as to provide additional funding for the school district which lowers local taxes.
“I hope this video clarifies this situation and corrects the record. Unfortunately, as an outcome of this inaccurate news story my staff and I have received many very passionate emails about the topic.
“Sadly some of these emails and social media posts have included threats of violence against my school staff.
“It’s very sad that due to an inaccurate news story my staff and I are being targeted and threatened by people who claim to be advocates for children.
“At this point I hope this clarifies the record and the situation and ask our local communities for your continued support,” Balke said.
Editor’s Note: This is an unusual circumstance, but InDepthNH.org will continue to fairly report on this story. I hope Mr. Balke and Mr. Gross will be open to an interview tomorrow or very soon.
