PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Board members of Maine School Administrative District 1 re-elected their chairman and vice-chairman at the last school board meeting of the year on Wednesday.
Board Chairman Lucy Richard and Vice Chairman Jim Bubar will both serve new terms after being unanimously re-elected.
The board also elected new members for the three spots on the finance committee, choosing Bubar, Bob Cawley and Curtis Culberson. Carol Bell and Stephen Sutter, who ran for spots, were not elected.
District Assistant Superintendent Ben Greenlaw, who will take office as superintendent in January, largely presided over the meeting. In May, the board unanimously chose Greenlaw to become the new superintendent for SAD 1, which includes Presque Isle, Mapleton, Chapman, Castle Hill and Westfield.
Besides the elections, the meeting was a relatively sparse affair. The most important item on the agenda was the approval of a new energy audit for Presque Isle High School.
Greenlaw said the audit would examine whether the high school’s current operations were wasting energy in any capacity. He said the audit will begin on Jan. 10, with the board to report results at a meeting in March.
“We have a very old building today,” Greenlaw said, “that we have done a number of improvements on over time, but that we need to examine to see that it will be sustainable for the future.”
District 13 school board member-elect Desiree Chasse was also introduced at the meeting, though she did not attend. Chasse, who initially had been reported as tied with opponent Rachel Murchison 3-3, was recently elected after a recount proved she had won.
Chasse, who works with the domestic violence support group the Hope and Justice Project, said she is excited to help lend a role in creating excellent educational outcomes for students in her district.
“I am invested in the welfare in the education of all of the kids in our area,” Chasse said. “And I look forward to being a part of that.”
Greenlaw said he was excited to have a new member on the board.
“We understand that she has a child in the district, and is well respected in the community,” Greenlaw said. “I think she’ll be a great addition.”
