HODGDON, Maine — Taking over a school district in March is not the easiest time for a superintendent to come on board.
After all, starting in March, most school administrators in the difficult period of coming up with school budgets for the next calendar year. Being a first-time superintendent during this time can be a challenging venture. Fortunately SAD 70 Superintendent Scott Richardson likes a good challenge.
Richardson was named SAD 70’s full-time manager on Jan. 13 and began his duties on March 1. It is his first position as a school superintendent, but he has plenty of experience working in the district.
Richardson has already logged a decade in SAD 70, working there from 1995 to 2005. During that time, his titles included director of special services, as well as, assistant principal at Hodgdon High School.
For the past few years, he served as special education director for RSU 50 (Southern Aroostook and Katahdin school systems) since the two districts merged in 2011. He was also assisting SAD 70 on a part-time basis with its special education needs, as the district had been unable to find a full-time person.
Richardson is serving a dual role as both superintendent and special education director.
“I’ve been around administration long enough, so that I kind of knew (what to expect), but now, I know you don’t really know until you do it,” he said. “March is probably not the best time to start a position like this because spring is really busy.”
Aside from the difficult task of putting the budget together, he was also thrust into teacher negotiations for new contracts.
Having an experienced staff and school board to work with has been a blessing, Richardson said.
“The school board is great,” he said. “They are all very active and have a lot of experience.”
Putting together next year’s budget has been his top priority over the past month. Last week, Richardson presented a proposed $6,509,092 budget for the 2014-15 school year. The total package represents an increase of $127,103 over last year’s figure and the highest budget total for SAD 70 since 2008-09. The district’s public hearing on the spending plan will be Thursday, May 29 at 7 p.m. at Hodgdon High School, while the referendum is slated for Tuesday, June 10.
Making cuts in a district the size of SAD 70 is difficult, he said.
“I think the smaller the district, the more difficult it (making cuts) becomes,” Richardson said. “I am not experienced enough to know how any cuts would affect us.”
He said his goal for the next year is to focus his attention on spending in the district, analyzing per pupil costs, so that he has a broader understanding of the entire budget process.
Among Richardson’s goals for the district is to have a comprehensive review of all the facilities and to start long-range planning for a time when, perhaps, school buildings will need to be replaced.
“I don’t think there has been a lot of discussion on visions for the future,” he said. “I need to work with the board for what they see for the future of the district. We’ve done fairly well at keeping both schools safe and current, but the high school is old.”
In next year’s budget, $15,000 has been earmarked to do a feasibility study done on both schools by an architectural firm to see if there are any areas lacking.
“To get any state money, you have to have some type of a study done on your buildings,” he said. “We’ll also be looking at our configuration to see if there could be any advantage of having a grade 7-12 high school. Most of the high schools in Aroostook County are 7-12. But it’s all just preliminary at this point.”
Hodgdon High School was built in the late 1930s, while the Mill Pond School was constructed in the early 1970s.
Currently, grades pre-kindergarten to eighth grade are housed at Mill Pond Elementary School and only grades 9-12 are at Hodgdon High School. There are 153 students at the high school, as of April 14, while Mill Pond School has 339 students.
