DOVER At the end of a long night of impassioned pleas one more Dover Teachers Union rally, the City Council slashed more than $5 million from the default city school district budget Wednesday night.
The default school budget of a little more than $73 million for fiscal year 2022 was reduced to about $68 million, allowing Dover to achieve a total city budget that falls under the city tax cap. School leaders will now have to make final decision of their own, but previously said this cut could result in enacting a contractual clause to eliminate $1.7 million in raises for educators and reducing 29 positions, about half through retirements. The final Dover school budget will be approximately $68 million, about $1 million more than last year.
DOVER James Verschueren woke up the morning of April 26 to find his Hate Has No Home Here yard sign knocked over. The sky blue sign sticks out in the yard, with the American flag in the shape of a heart and bold letters in English and other languages beneath it.
‘Maybe it was the wind,’ he thought, until tire tracks caught his eye – swerving from the road into his flower bed of daylilies, directly to the downed sign.
The sign was one of 100 purchased by the Dover Democratic Committee (Verschueren is a committee co-chair). The incident led a disheartened Verschueren to pen a letter to the editor asking the question: Does hate have a home here?
Ex-officer R.J. Letendre booked at Dover police station
DOVER – Former Dover police officer Ronald “RJ” Letendre – who is facing criminal charges – was recently booked at the city police station.
At the request of Foster’s Daily Democrat, Dover police released Letendre’s booking photo after he was processed on a felony charge at the station where he used to work.
Superior Court Judge Mark E. Howard issued a bail order for Letendre in December, requiring the former Dover cop to “arrange for booking or processing by the Dover Police Department on or before Dec. 30.”
Dover Police Chief William Breault terminated Letendre in August “due to multiple violations of departmental policy,” after police conducted an internal investigation into the former officer’s conduct.