Cold War's End Wracks Schools in Base Town

By Mark Pitsch

PORTSMOUTH, N.H.--For the educators, parents, and students of this charming port city, the end of the Cold War has meant not only an epochal shift in world geopolitics, but also a drastic educational upheaval.

Over the last three years, about 150 of the local school district's 600 employees, including 116 teachers, have lost their jobs. The 300 or so teachers who remain are the highest-paid and most senior, so that today the youngest elementary-school teacher in the entire system is 39 years old.

Four elementary schools have been closed, and dozens of students have been reassigned as a result of a controversial redistricting plan. Some of the teachers from the closed schools were able to keep jobs only by unceremoniously "bumping'' less senior...