SAD 70 signs on to AOS

By Sarah Berthiaume
Special to the Pioneer Times
    HODGDON — It’s official.
    Members of the SAD 70 school board added their signatures to the Alternative Organization Structure (AOS) agreement during a Feb. 15 meeting, ratifying a plan approved by voters earlier this month.
    Voters went to the polls Feb. 1, favoring the consolidation plan that would connect the Hodgdon district with SAD 14, which serves Danforth, Weston and students from Orient and Bancroft. In addition to Hodgdon, SAD 70 serves Amity, Cary, Haynesville, Linneus, Ludlow and New Limerick.
    Voter turnout was sparse in all these member towns, but most OK’d the plan by healthy margins. One of the closest votes was in Danforth where voters approved the AOS: 30 in favor, 22 against. The only town rejecting the proposal was Cary with one in favor and eight against.
    Accepting the AOS means the two districts would maintain separate school boards, but combine central offices. The districts would reportedly share a superintendent after current contracts expire.
    Also as part of the plan, a separate AOS board will be formed to govern the central office of the newly-adopted structure. At their meeting, SAD 70 chose seven of its members for the AOS board. They are: Estela Lane, Gordon Ledger, Melissa Ivey, Tom Horton, Joel Oliver, Maureen Friel and Tracy Rockwell.
    In other SAD 70 news, some tweaking may be in store for the school calendar next year, pending action from the state.
    Superintendent Bob McDaniel told the board at last week’s meeting that Maine school districts are currently allowed to have up to nine days not in common with neighboring districts. That number may be cut to four. He advised the board to wait on making any calendar changes for the upcoming school year, pending more information from the state Department of Education.
    Changes could impact the timing of school events like harvest break; more information is expected to be available by March or April.
    Also at last week’s meeting, the following items were on the agenda:
    The board OK’d the first reading of a policy that would implement Saturday detention in the district. School officials said they don’t foresee extensive use of weekend detention, but that it could be a useful tool to help some students.
    Funds were appropriated to cover unexpected expenses in an upcoming student trip to France. This issue generated considerable discussion from the board, which ultimately approved spending between $200 and $300 to help with the trip. Their approval came with a condition that, on future trips, students are encouraged to purchase trip insurance to cover any unexpected events.
    Changes to the traditional eighth grade class trip were also made. A trek to Boston is in the works for this year’s class, but Principal Loreen Wiley said the trip and its related fundraisers are challenging without strong volunteer support. After lengthy discussion, the board chose to restrict future eighth grade class trips to day trip destinations, which must be first approved by the school board. This change will be effective July 1, 2011 and not impact this year’s class.
    Retirements were accepted from Barb Mooers, a special education teacher at the high school, and Joan Fournier, secretary at Mill Pond School.
    The next regular meeting of the SAD 70 school board will be Monday, March 14 at 7 p.m. in the Superintendent’s conference room