Test score improvements, the budget vote, Superintendent Peter Weaver’s announcement of his resignation at the end of the school year and inductions to the school’s Hall of Fame were 2025 highlights for the Wilton-Lyndeborough School District.
Test Scores
In February, Wilton Lyndeborough Cooperative School Board heard some positive news across most grade levels regarding student proficiency. Curriculum Coordinator Samantha Dignan shared the results of iReady, a testing program that assesses student competencies in math and reading.
“The ninth grade shows an increase for those students performing at grade level in math to 44%,” Dignan said, adding that grades six to eight also showed increases in students who are performing at grade level in the subject.
“In the middle school, we are scoring fairly consistently with the state and the nation, if not slightly better at this point in the year,” she said, adding that fewer grade seven students are testing below grade level, as well.
“In grades two to five we are scoring fairly consistently above the state and nation,” and “the percentage of fifth grade or below grade level has decreased by 10%,” said Dignan. She noted that 10th-graders showed a decrease in students at or above grade level by 9%.
“They (10th-graders) don’t always take it seriously,” said WLC Middle High School Principal Tom Ronning, referring to the iReady test. He added, “Tenth grade is the toughest grade and they start to take (testing) seriously in the 11th because of the SAT.”
In reading, 57% of grade six students performed at or above grade level, registering an increase in the percentage of students reaching grade level, as did grades four and five and seven through 10 per the iReady assessment, which found 54% of grade four performing at or above grade level.
“We are outperforming the state and the nation with our reading scores,” Dignan said.
Budget Vote and Rejected Resource Officer
The district also saw residents vote on the school budget and a school resource officer. They voted to increase the proposed budget by $168,300 to restore teaching positions that were proposed to be cut, and said no to the proposed resource officer position.
The budget, as originally proposed, was set at $15.8 million, which was an increase of about $591,242, or just under a 4% increase over the current operating budget.
Employee health insurance and salaries were the biggest drivers in the increases this year, accounting for about $370,000. The increase also accounts for a difference in how the district is accounting for a $350,000 federal grant, which previously was considered revenue but is now included in the operating budget, even though the cost is still covered by the grant and does not impact the amount of revenue the district will have to raise.
Budget Committee Chair Jeff Jones pointed to declining enrollment and rising costs as part of the reason the district was looking to trim the headcount, including the reduction of 2.4 full-time equivalent teaching staff positions. Cuts were anticipated to include a middle school science teacher, an elementary school teacher, a nurse and a physical education teacher. Other reductions included removal of an instructional aide, a 0.4 administrative staff reduction and 0.25 technology staff.
The question of whether the district should contract with Wilton to fund a school resource officer who would serve the entire district was rejected in a vote by residents.
The district would have funded $124,740, and Wilton would have kicked in $41,580 to cover the salary of an extra officer during the school off-months.
Residents expressed mixed opinions on the prospect, some disliking the concept of a school resource officer, some in support and some saying that the district just can’t swallow the additional cost at this time.
Superintendent Stepping Down
In April, Wilton-Lyndeborough Superintendent Peter Weaver announced he would be stepping down at the end of the 2025-26 academic year.
Weaver has been superintendent for five years and assured the board that his decision did not reflect on any issues within the district or with the board.
“I’d like a little more of a work-life balance,” he said.
Asked what he would specifically like to accomplish before he steps down in June, Weaver stated three goals.
“I’d like to do the research to see if as a small district, we’re sustainable. We’ve got fewer than 600 students, and that makes recruiting difficult; candidates want to know if things are going to change because of that. I’d also like to research the question of whether three buildings is too many for the district. I’d like to put that question to bed. I’d also like to get our math and science scores to be No. 1 in the region,” he said.
Athletes Named to Hall of Fame
In May, Wilton-Lyndeborough inducted seven standout athletes to the school’s Hall of Fame. More than 70 attended the event, and per WLC Assistant Principal Katie Gosselin, “Every inductee dedicated their personal success to their time spent at WLC.”
The inductees were Catherine Lass, Carol Young, Mike McMurray, Kristin Vander-Heyden, Nick Jowders, Ryan Harkleroad and Shauna Carter.
Lass was a three-sport athlete all four of her high school years, excelling in soccer, basketball and softball with championship appearances and all-state honors, along with captaining three teams her senior year.
Carol Young was inducted for her success in cross-country, field hockey, basketball and track and field while at WLC, but she also excelled in the classroom, being valedictorian of the class of 1987. Gosselin shared that in her senior year, Young was honored as the Unsung Female Athlete of the Year, the American Legion Female Athlete of the Year and as a U.S. Army Scholar Athlete in recognition of her contributions to WLC athletics, and was key to the basketball team’s undefeated season.
Mike McMurray was recognized as WLC’s all-time leading basketball scorer with more than 1,700 points throughout his high school career, and tied the single-game high of 48 points in a game three times. He was named to both the Granite State League All-Star Team and the Monadnock League All-Star team each of his three years at WLC.
Kristin Vander-Heyden’s name showed up on the WLC Female Athlete of the Year plaque for three consecutive years. She was the softball team’s starting shortstop for all four years of high school. In 1984, she got her first experience on a state championship team, and again on the 1987 girls’ basketball team that went undefeated to win a state title. She recalled how local crowds at games made a difference for her.
Jowders was a Granite State League All-Star in both soccer and baseball his junior and senior years at WLC. He led WLC’s baseball team to the best record in school history at 14-2, was named D4 Player of the Year in 2005.
A three-sport athlete at WLC, Ryan Harkleroad excelled in cross-country, basketball and track and field. He was a Monadnock and Granite State League All-Star in both cross country and track. Harkleroad won the state championship in the high jump, anchored the 4 by 400 relay team to a state championship and was state runner-up in the 800 meters. He was named WLC Male Athlete of the Year his senior year in 1987.
Shauna Carter played field hockey, soccer, basketball, softball and tennis, earning multiple Most Valuable Player awards along the way. She was named to the all-area first team in both her sophomore and junior years. A standout in basketball, “as a shooter was unmatched,” noted Gosselin. She made the 1,000-point club, finishing with 1,297, and sinking 41 in a single game.
View the original articles here:
Test Scores:
https://ledgertranscript.com/2025/02/27/school-board-59619705/
Budget Vote and Rejected Resource Officer:
https://ledgertranscript.com/2025/03/11/wilton-lyndeborough-district-meeting-59847376/
Superintendent Stepping Down:
https://ledgertranscript.com/2025/04/10/school-board-60489900/
Athletes Named to Hall of Fame:
https://ledgertranscript.com/2025/05/29/wlc-inducts-athletes-into-hall-of-fame-61446771/