By Lisa Wilcox
Staff Writer
Cost-saving and revenue-generating plans were the main topics on the agenda of the Eastern Aroostook RSU 39 School Board meeting held at the Superintendent’s Office in Caribou on April 3.
Superintendent Frank McElwain presented the board with a plan to move the Superintendent’s Office from the current older and in need of repair building on Sincock Street to the Caribou Learning Center on Bennett Drive. This is the third major effort the office has made to move to the Learning Center.
In the past, the office has run into issues with renovation costs that made proceeding with the move not make sense. This time, McElwain explained, the plan has been tweaked well enough that it should offer a significant savings.
The reworked plan is to move the office to a staging area in the back portion of the Learning Center building. Because of the fact that it is an elevated area, renovations to make it handicapped accessible will need to be completed, along with other renovations such as adding a conference room and plumbing work.
McElwain reported that the cost of modifying the space should be around $50,000. The operating cost of the current building is around $30,000 per year, so McElwain estimates the renovation cost should be made up for in less than two years. Carpentry work would be done in-house and they will need to hire out for plumbing. Under the new plan, all administrative staff and Food Services would move to the proposed space. Special Education and Psychological Services would move as well, but they would be in a different part of the Learning Center.
The board’s facilities subcommittee had already met with McElwain and had been shown the proposed space. McElwain was looking for an endorsement from the entire board to go ahead with the move.
Board member Michele Albair asked what would happen with the current building. McElwain explained the intent was to get it off the RSU’s roster, so once it was vacated, it would be offered to the city. If the city declined, it would either be offered up for sale or maintained for storage, which is one of its functions currently.
After brief discussion, the board unanimously approved the move.
McElwain outlined another cost-savings idea to the board in the form of a retirement incentive plan. The superintendent explained this was not an early retirement plan, but would be offered to those already at retirement age, which is 60 if hired before 1993 and 62 if after.
In order to be eligible, the employee would also have to have been employed with the RSU or Caribou and Limestone for 20 years if on the teaching staff and 10 years if part of the administrative staff.
The board was requested to make funds available for those who qualify in the amount of $300 per year of service for teaching staff and $100 per year of service for administrative staff. McElwain advised there are 16 employees who qualify in each category for a total of 32.
The incentive proposal was unanimously approved by the board, and a letter outlining the offer will be sent out to each eligible employee.
McElwain also presented the board with a plan to lease more space at Limestone Community School to the Maine School of Science and Mathematics. Under the plan, MSSM would make use of a current woodworking/industrial arts shop area and storage space for their hands-on class work. The shop and storage would be moved elsewhere in the building. To use the much-needed extra space, MSSM would pay additional revenue to the RSU.
The facilities subcommittee had already looked at the plan and offered their support. Board member Dale Gordon, who is also on the MSSM board of trustees, recused herself from voting, and the board otherwise unanimously approved leasing the space to MSSM.
Lois Brewer, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, sought the board’s approval for the addition of courses at LCS and Caribou High School. The curriculum subcommittee had already met regarding the additions and offered their approval.
The entire board approved adding Introduction to Journalism for half a credit, Introduction to Poetry for half a credit, a yearbook course for a full fine arts credit, and creative writing for half a credit to the LCS grades 9-12 curriculum.
Caribou High School’s curriculum received approval for the addition of conceptual chemistry for a full credit and coaching and fitness physical education elective courses for juniors and seniors interested in receiving PE credits beyond the required one year.
Brewer confirmed for the board that all added classes will not require additional staff at either school.
McElwain then presented the board with his plan to reduce the grade 2 teaching positions at Hilltop Elementary School in Caribou by one and add one position to grade 1 in order to provide adequate staffing based on the enrollment figures at both grades.
After McElwain explained that this would not be the loss of a teacher, but it would require shifting teaching positions from one grade to another, the board unanimously approved the move.
The board also approved a unified code of conduct for all RSU schools, job descriptions for an LCS and CMS Student Council adviser, a CMS student organizational adviser, yearbook advisers for CMS and CHS, and instructional staff planning time policies.
McElwain advised the board that he had approved the hiring of Jonathan Poisson and Carol Cote as volunteer track coaches at LCS, Clairma Levesque as a 21st Century Afterschool Program teacher at Teague Park, Maranda Donovan as a long-term substitute at CMS for grade 6, Leo Kashian as an assistant CMS track coach and Victoria St. Pierre as volunteer assistant softball coach at CHS.
In an attempt to keep the board up to speed on the learner-centered standards based education initiative, McElwain handed out a glossary of terms concerning proficiency-based learning to the members. He explained that changing to a proficiency-based system will mean that students will need to demonstrate complete competence in a course in order to move on. There will no longer be advancement with a score of 70 percent, meaning that 30 percent of the subject was not fully understood. McElwain explained that the main difference between this new learning method and the traditional way is that more importance is placed on whether a student learns a subject well instead of when they learned it.
The meeting concluded with updates from the administrators from Caribou High School, the Caribou Tech Center and the Learning Center on recent activities at their respective schools.
The next RSU 39 School Board meeting will be held Wednesday, April 17, at 7 p.m. at the Superintendent’s Office.
