SAD 70 honors employees for service

By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
    HODGDON — The SAD 70 school board honored two longtime employees for their service Monday, Dec. 12 during a regular board meeting.
    Andrea Nightingale and Alice Nadeau were both presented with plaques and a gift by the school board for their many years of service.
    “This is just a small presentation for all the hard work you have done over the years,” Superintendent Bob McDaniel said. “We know it’s the secretaries that make our buildings run as smoothly as they do and we thank you for your efforts.”
    Nadeau, a secretary in the guidance department, has been with SAD 70 for 27 years.
HONORED — Alice Nadeau, left, and Andrea Nightingale, were honored for their service to SAD 70 Dec. 12. With them is Superintendent Bob McDaniel.
    “She’s the most popular person at the high school the first few days of school every year when kids are wanting to change their schedules,” McDaniel said. “They recently voted her High School Employee of the Month because she’s always got an ear or shoulder for any kid who needs it.”
    Nightingale, Hodgdon High School’s secretary, has been with the district since March of 1999.
    “She’s the one the kids see first every morning,” McDaniel said. “She also has survived several principals. She knows just about every kid that comes through the door by name. She’s a tremendous help to the Booster Club every basketball season, setting up our concession stand before every home game. She does just about everything.”
    In her principal’s report, Hodgdon Mill Pond School Principal Loreen Wiley informed the board that the fifth-grade enrollment had grown to 27 students and was bordering on becoming a problem.
    “I have talked to Bob about my concerns,” Wiley said. “It’s a rowdy bunch of students. There are usually problems on the playground and in the cafeteria. I want to be clear though, that it is not all of the kids. There is a nucleus of them and there is no way to separate them, since they are together in every class.”
    Wiley said that with 27 students, one teacher and one education technician, space was cramped in the classroom. She suggested splitting the class in half, with the district hiring a long-term substitute for the remainder of the year, might be something for the board to consider.
    “Would we have room for that?” asked board chairman Estela Lane.
    Wiley said by moving some classrooms around and eliminating the Spanish classroom, a second fifth-grade class could be created. The Spanish instructor would revert back to sharing classroom space.
    No action was taken on the matter.
    In other agenda items, the board:
    • Approved Mark Morin as junior varsity boys basketball coach.
    • Gave conditional approval for the proposed senior trip to Virginia Beach May 17-24. About 21 of the 35 seniors are planning to attend the trip and have been collecting money through fundraisers. The class has raised nearly $10,000 for the trip during their four years in high school, which is about half of the total cost. Additional fundraisers are planned before the May trip. The class is planning to fly out of Portland, but has yet to figure out how the students will be transported to Portland.
    The next regular meeting of the SAD 70 school board will be Monday, Jan. 9 at 7 p.m.