SAD 1 eliminates
assistant superintendent position
By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — At the July 17 SAD 1 board meeting, directors voted to restructure the central office administrative staff by eliminating the position of assistant superintendent and restructuring that position to be titled curriculum director at a salary savings of approximately $20,000.
Ellen Schneider, who had been the district’s assistant superintendent/curriculum director, vacated the post earlier this summer when she was hired as the new superintendent of Wells-Ogunquit Community School District. SAD 1 is currently advertising for the curriculum director position.
Directors also reinstated the business manager position to full-employee status. In 2007, Business Manager Charles Anderson volunteered to fulfill those responsibilities on a contracted services basis which saved the district $250,000 over the last six years.
Anderson was officially hired full-time July 17. His contract, which is currently being negotiated, extends to June 30, 2015.
Also during the meeting, directors heard from John Hoffses, manager of the SAD 1 Educational Farm, who said that weather negatively impacted this year’s strawberry crop.
“We’re down about 4,500 quarts this year due to weather,” he said. “It was too wet in the beginning of the season and too dry at the end. We lost a week on either end of the berry crop. It’s the nature of the beast; we can’t control the weather.
“Last year we ended up with 15,660 quarts of berries; today we’re at 11,124 quarts,” he said. “On average of $3 a quart, that equals out to a little over $13,000 which is unfortunate.”
On a more positive note, however, the farm broke its daily picking record.
“Last year our record was 2,010 quarts and this year it was 2,174 quarts picked in a day,” said Hoffses. “We have a really good, hard-working crew.”
While the wet season negatively affected the strawberry crop, Hoffses said the rain helped this year’s blueberries and he expects “a fairly good crop.”
Hoffses shared that this year the school farm introduced something completely new — beeswax lip balm. Victoria Butterfield, who graduated from Presque Isle High School in June, asked Hoffses if she could research using the wax byproduct to create a value-added product.
“To make our beeswax lip balm we took some of the leftover beeswax from all the honey that we made and melted it down and cleaned it. We then put the wax in a double boiler and melted it all down and added about 8 ounces of almond oil, a couple of drops of essential oil and — of course — honey, and it came out as wax and honey lip balm,” said Butterfield. “We ordered the tubes online, and while it took a couple of tries to get it right, I’m pretty satisfied with how it came out.”
The lip balm will be sold at the School Farm Store.
“We sold out of what we had — about 80 tubes — but we’ll be making more when we have the wax which will begin when school starts in the fall,” said Hoffses, noting that if it weren’t for the lip balm, the excess wax would likely be discarded.
Also at the July board meeting, directors:
• Were notified that Kristi Stoutamyer is transferring from half-time kindergarten at Mapleton Elementary School to grade 1 at Pine Street Elementary School.
• Accepted the resignation of school nurse Helena Ford, who will be leaving to teach at Northern Maine Community College.
• Hired Darrell Espling as the new farm and industrial mechanics instructor at the Presque Isle Regional Career and Technical Center, and Kristi Greaves as a half-time kindergarten teacher at Mapleton. That position is for one year only.
The next regular SAD 1 meeting will be held Wednesday, Aug. 7 at 5:30 p.m. in the board conference room at PIHS.
