To keep the U-32 community informed about the activities of the school board, student representatives on the school board, Elise O’Brien, Kathryn Stauffer, and Lei DeGroot, will provide a monthly update on the board’s activities. This month will be a joint article from January and February.
In the wake of the budget vote, there have also been internal changes to the board. Town meeting day was on March 3 and the result was new members on the school board, and a new board chair. Longtime chair of the school board, Flor Diaz-Smith stepped down, and Diane Nichols-Flemming began her work as board chair during the March 18th meeting. Superintendent Steven Dellinger-Pate introduced the new board members to an overview of the board’s policies and structures. In addition he went over updates in the search for a new principal. Steven informed the board that more interviews were being conducted on March 19, and that the new candidate would be brought before the board during the April 1 meeting.
In addition to shifts internally within the school board, people advocating during public comment also pushed for change. One resident of the district asked that the school board consider a regional school before the state decides to combine the surrounding high schools. In the same vein of school closure, a Calais resident requested that preschool be kept at Calais elementary school. Finally, Natasha Eckart read a petition from a group of U-32 students in seventh grade who asked the board to consider a change in teacher contracts that would allow teachers to take days off, not as sick days, for non-Christian religious holidays.
Other topics discussed during the March 18th board meeting were the idea of implementing a teaching principal at Doty Elementary School. This would mean that the principal would double as a teacher, most likely as a math teacher, because the school is currently lacking one. This is a change from the original policy which planned to have the principal at Rumney split time between the two schools. In addition, the U-32 district has faced an issue with missing school in recent years. During the meeting, new policies and strategies to reduce this issue were discussed. These would specifically target students with chronic absenteeism. Furthermore, there is new construction needed at both Doty and Calais elementary schools, in addition to updates needed at the central offices and U-32 buildings. The board voted to pay for all of these costs and not run the risk that a major event would occur, and hurt the buildings even more. Finally, PCB was discovered at U-32, and the board met in an executive session to discuss the contracting issues surrounding the lawsuit against PCB, and paperwork that the board needed to discuss.
The next update will be available shortly after the April 15th board meeting, and will cover both the April 1st and 15th meetings.
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