SAD 29 OKs teacher transitions

By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
    HOULTON — Several SAD 29 teachers will be changing jobs when school resumes in the fall after the school board approved the transfers during its Monday night meeting.
    Jenna Owen, Aimee Flewelling, Levi Davis and Pam Chernesky were all approved to new teaching positions at Houlton Southside School to fill vacancies created by retirements and resignations. Owen, a special education technician at Houlton Elementary School, will become a fifth-grade English/language arts/social studies teacher; Flewelling, a second-grade teacher at HES, was hired as a grade 4-6 math teacher; Davis, a long-term substitute and former math coach, will become a sixth- grade English/language arts/social studies teacher; and Chernesky, a former technology instructor, was named to a grade 4-5 English/language arts/social studies position.
    Reggie Corey, a retired teacher from SAD 70, was also approved as a half-time high school algebra II instructor for grades 9-12, while Molly Dunn was hired as a long-term substitute pre-kindergarten and first grade teacher at Wellington Elementary School for a one-year period.
    The school board also heard a presentation by Joe Fagnant on the Houlton Community Arts Center and Phase II of their construction plans. The group is currently in the process of raising money for the second phase, which would include a 13,000 square foot addition to the high school. Included in the second phase are plans for new band and chorus rooms, an art classroom, dance/theatre room, and several offices and smaller practice rooms.
    The first phase of the HCAC project, which included gutting and renovating the school auditorium to include new seats, balcony, stage, lighting and sound room, as well as creating a new entrance at the rear of the building, began in June 2009 and was completed in November 2009.
    Fagnant said he envisions a future meeting with the school board’s finance and facilities committees to discuss in greater detail how the expansion project would continue.
    In other agenda items, the board:
    • Agreed to rollover 1.5 days of unused vacation time for Superintendent Mike Hammer.
    • Approved a 1 percent increase in salaries for administrators Kevin Kimball, Paul Prosser, Joe Schneider and Joyce Smith.
    • Expressed notes of thanks to Peter Chase and Buildings Etc. of Houlton; Doug Swallow of Swallow’s Electric; and the town of Houlton for donating time, materials and equipment for small projects at the school.
    The next regular school board meeting will be Monday, Aug. 6, at 6 p.m. in the Superintendent’s conference room.