Staff Writer
STACYVILLE — Thanks to the consolidation between SAD 25 and CSD 9, the budget process is proving to be a bit more complicated than previous years.
According to CSD 9 Superintendent Terry Comeau, both school districts have been working diligently to come up with a first draft of the budget, but since it’s unknown who the new superintendent will be for the RSU, final decisions are not possible.
The two school boards will hold a special joint meeting on Monday, April 25 at 6 p.m. at Southern Aroostook Community School to receive the first draft of next year’s budget.
“There may be additional special meetings because if the new RSU superintendent doesn’t come on board until the end of May, it doesn’t leave a lot of time,” Comeau said.
On May 12, local elections will be held for the new RSU board in each of the member communities. SAD 25 (Stacyville, Patten, Sherman and Mount Chase); CSD 9 (Island Falls, Dyer Brook, Oakfield, Merrill, Smyrna and Crystal) and the towns of Hersey and Moro Plantation will join forces on July 1 as RSU 50.
Once the election is complete, the state Board of Education will notify the successful candidates as to when and where the first RSU 50 board meeting will be held. Comeau said he anticipated that meeting to take place around May 18. That board will be responsible for hiring a new superintendent.
On June 30, the school boards and committees for CSD 9, SAD 25, Moro and Hersey will cease to exist.
The new RSU will have a combined student population of 824 students, according to the state Department of Education website.
Sixteen seats are up for grabs on the new RSU 50 board. The governing body will be made up of directors elected from each member municipality in the RSU. According to the plan, there will be 16 directors with two each from Island Falls, Oakfield, Patten and Sherman and one director each from Hersey, Moro Plantation, Crystal, Dyer Brook, Merrill, Smyrna, Mount Chase and Stacyville.
Each board member will be elected to serve a three-year term, except that the initial terms of the members of the initial RSU Board shall be staggered so that six of the directors serve three 3-year terms, five of the initial directors serve two 2-year terms and five of the initial directors serve a 1-year term. The new board will also have a weighted vote system in order to provide the most equity between the two school districts.
In other agenda items at Monday night’s CSD 9 meeting, the district received two resignations from teachers. Patricia Paolucci, a part-time Spanish teacher at both SACS and Katahdin High School, and Melissa York, a Gifted and Talented teacher, both submitted their resignations effective at the end of the school year.
A review of the April 1 enrollment for CSD 9 put the student body at 395 pupils in kindergarten through 12th grade. That figure is down by about five students from a year ago, Comeau said.
The next regular meeting of CSD 9 is set for May 9 at 7 p.m.
