Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE – SAD 1 is expected to receive about $750,000 in stimulus funding in the coming weeks; however, district officials aren’t sure at this time how the money can be spent. At last Wednesday night’s board meeting, Superintendent Gehrig Johnson told directors that in a recent conference call with Education Commissioner Susan A. Gendron, he learned that the funding will be directed to Title I and special education programs.
“We’re not sure what kind of leeway we’ll have [with the money],” said Johnson. “We presently have strong Special Ed programming but we have budget deficit in the overall budget. It’s a dilemma. It’s not clear what the spending guidelines will be.
“The Commissioner isn’t sure either, as the guidelines are slow in coming to Maine from the federal government,” he said. “There’s a lot of scrambling for information going on right now, but we hope it will all become clearer in the coming weeks.”
The second year of the funding, 2010-11, is in question, but could be about the same amount of money. The stimulus funding will cease in the third year.
Also during the meeting, Johnson notified the board that the Management Services Agreement the district has with the Limestone School Department for transportation and custodial services is coming to an end.
Since Limestone has joined other area schools to form a Regional School Unit (RSU), its transportation and custodial needs will be met internally.
In a letter to Limestone Superintendent Frank R. McElwain, Charles Anderson, SAD 1 business manager, said the agreement is set to expire as of June 30, 2009.
“Based on our recent conversations, it now appears that neither the Limestone School Department nor the successor RSU will be renewing the agreement with SAD 1,” wrote Anderson. “We have appreciated the opportunity to provide these services over the last several years.”
A similar management agreement with the Bridgewater School Department will also be nullified at the end of the current school year as the Bridgewater Grammar School is set to close July 1.
In total, nine positions associated with services provided to the Limestone and Bridgewater School Departments will be eliminated which will reduce the budget by $346,420.
As the district is preparing to hold budget workshops next month, Anderson gave directors a quick budget overview. While the final budget figure isn’t known at this time, officials know that SAD 1 is receiving no state subsidy increase and cuts have to be made to reduce the budget.
Along with the nine positions to be cut from the Limestone and Bridgewater agreements, the district is planning to eliminate the District Communications Director position, as well as one special education secretary for a combined total staff reduction of $426,650.
“There’s no way we can bring the budget anywhere close to where it needs to be without cutting some positions,” said Johnson. “We’ve tried to do it so the cuts don’t directly impact the students.”
Some of the budget highlights outlined by Anderson were:
• No increase in the current local property tax mill rate for regular SAD 1 educational programs.
• A loss of $315,000 in state aid partially offset by federal stabilization funds of $233,000.
• Provision for cost-of-living wage increases for all employees.
• For the first time in many years, there will be no increase in medical insurance premiums.
• A major maintenance project at Zippel to complete the replacement of walls and windows.
• A local laptop initiative to be announced when stimulus funding is finalized.
The first budget workshop is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, May 6.
As a result of last month’s announcement that Dave Sowers, SAD 1’s operations supervisor, is retiring, directors were also told of a plan to restructure management for Operations & Maintenance and Transportation Departments.
Johnson said the plan is to fill the position of operations supervisor while at the same time creating the position of transportation supervisor.
“The operations supervisor will have less direct responsibilities for transportation,” he said. “We’ll also eliminate the part-time position of assistant to the operations supervisor.
“We’ll be spreading out the responsibilities that Dave grew into during his 30-year tenure managing operations and transportation without increasing this budget line,” said Johnson.
A number of teachers have completed one year of satisfactory teaching in the district and were reappointed for the 2009-10 school year. They include Sherri Calhoun (Vocal Music/General Elementary) at Mapleton Elementary School; Caroline Dubois (French), Trudy Gorneault (Special Education/Self Contained), Matthew Lokken (Science), Barrett Parks (Farm Mechanics) and Gregory Reed (Spanish) at Presque Isle High School; and Sharmon Clark (Special Education), Tracy Fox (Grade 7) and Melissa Pelletier (Special Education/ED/Grades 6 through 8) at Presque Isle Middle School.
The following teachers have completed two years of satisfactory teaching and were reappointed for the 2009-10 school year to a continuing contract: Mindy Bell (Mathematics), Alison Ireland (School Nurse), Trevor Esposito (Spanish) and Randall Harper (Social Studies) at PIHS; Paula Weinstein (Special Education/K-2 ED) at Pine Street Elementary School; Melissa Buck (Grade 5) at Zippel; Phyllis Hanson (Pre-Kindergarten) at Mapleton Elementary School; and June Bagley (Title 1 Math/Reading) at PIMS.
The next regular SAD 1 board meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m., Wednesday, May 11 in the Presque Isle High School board conference room.
