SAD 41 plan taking shape

By Stuart Hedstrom
Staff Writer

   MILO — With the current academic year now in its 10th month, SAD 41 officials are working on the budget for 2015-16. During a school board meeting on May 6 Assistant Superintendent Stacy Shorey gave an update on the finances for the ensuing fiscal year.

   Shoey said Superintendent Michael Wright was unable to attend the session, Wright, she added,  is recovering from shoulder surgery, but, “He has been very busy working on the budget and getting things ready.” Shorey said a budget workshop is scheduled for Thursday, May 14 at 5:30 p.m. at Penquis Valley High School and district administrators are scheduled to present at this meeting.
   “As always there are challenges with our budget,” Shorey said, saying the available fund balance decreases year by year. “Another challenge is we have a number of students with special needs and they need support.”
   The district budget meeting is tentatively scheduled for the early evening of Tuesday, June 9 at Penquis Valley. The spending plan approved then would go out to a district referendum in Atkinson, Brownville, LaGrange and Milo on Tuesday, June 16.
   SAD 41 has commissioned a feasibility study on its buildings and, per a request by school board member Alyson Ade, a list was compiled of repairs and upgrades done at Penquis Valley, Brownville and Milo Elementary and the Marion C. Cook School in LaGrange over the last decade. All of the projects have a combined gross cost of $1,913,230.
   Over $1.5 million of the total, about 80.6 percent, were for improvements to the Penquis Valley complex with $1 million for a roof project (the work also included the flat roof at the Cook School). Shorey said $700,000 of the cost was funded by a state grant, so SAD 41 paid $300,000, divided into $30,000 annually in the budget from 2005-15.
   “Nothing is cheap, so everything adds up and the school budget goes up every year,” said school board member Leon Farrar Jr., mentioning a legally required wheelchair lift to access the Penquis Valley band room had cost of $30,000 in 2014.
   Shorey said other than the $700,000, the rest of the $1.2 million-plus was funded by SAD 41. When asked, she said the list of projects will be posted at www.msad41.us and copies will be placed at the various district community town offices.
   For the second year, the Cook School is the home of the Carleton Project. Shorey said this year’s graduation is scheduled for Wednesday, May 27 with local graduates joining others across Maine in a larger ceremony several days later in Houlton. “The really exciting news is we have 13 students graduating this year, last year we had seven so 20 total,” Shorey said.
   “That is 20 students who might have been lost and now they have diplomas,” Board Chair Arthur Herbest said.
   Shorey also passed out copies of SAD 41’s new Title I pamphlet. “The state felt that it was very user friendly, the language is clear,” she said.
   The brochure explains what Title I is, how parents can involved in their child’s education and the district vision statement of upon graduation students will be able to participate as fully literate citizens in a global society. Shorey thanked the Title I team for their help in creating the pamphlet.