RSU 68 hires new superintendent

By Stuart Hedstrom 
Staff Writer

    DOVER-FOXCROFT — By a vote of 7-1, the RSU 68 school board voted to accept the nomination of Robert Lucy as the district’s superintendent during a June 3 meeting at the SeDoMoCha School. Lucy was hired at a salary of $95,000 for a term of two years starting on July 1,
    Lucy is a past assistant superintendent in Bangor and middle school principal in Orono. He will succeed Alan Smith, who is departing after five years to take the superintendent’s position in SAD 61, the Lake Region School District in northern Cumberland County, which is comprised of the towns of Bridgton, Casco, Naples and Sebago.

    The “no” vote on Lucy’s nomination was made by board member Chris Maas — Marc Poulin was absent while the other seven all voted “yes.” During the discussion portion of the motion, Maas asked about the proposed contract for Lucy.
    “The board gave the authority to the chair to negotiate the contract,” Board Chair Rick Johnston said, saying he and Vice Chair Jenny Chase conducted the negotiations.
    During public comments at the start of the meeting, former school board member Sue Mackey Andrews gave a handout to the RSU 68 officials and she then read the sheet aloud.
    Mackey Andrews said during her time on the board, “We discussed the possibility of having a less than full-time superintendent over the course of two years if not more. We have two full-time administrators — a principal and an assistant principal — in our combined K-8 school with approximately 800 students. The superintendent did, on several occasions agree that this possibility was quite real for the 2014-15 fiscal year because he had fixed nearly all of the problems and we were, in my opinion, in a good position to seriously consider reducing this position to less than full time.”
    She then said she was interested in having a half dozen questions answered about the current recruitment process and the board’s related deliberations. The questions included after Smith’s resignation: did the board discuss the possibility of a part-time superintendent and why or why not; how many candidates were there in all?; what was the process to interview and select candidates; what was the role of the current superintendent in the process; who checked the selected candidate’s reference; and what is the total compensation — salary, benefits and stipends and any other compensation — offered to this current candidate?
    “Thank you for your responses at tonight’s meeting, and as always, for your service to our communities,” Mackey Andrews concluded.
    Saying as Mackey Andrews knows, Johnston said, “As board policy we do not answer questions in the public comment session.” He said the board may opt to do this another time.
    At the end of the meeting, Chase mentioned the board would be meeting again on Tuesday, June 17. She said the public is invited to a reception for Smith beforehand at 6 p.m.