RSU 68 officials looking to purchase building adjacent to campus to house superintendent’s office

DOVER-FOXCROFT — In an effort to deal with space issues at the SeDoMoCha School, RSU 68 officials are considering moving the superintendent’s office from the second floor to a vacant building a stone’s throw from campus. During a Sept. 19 school board meeting, Superintendent Stacy Shorey was authorized to make a $36,000 offer for the former Head Start building off of Autumn Avenue next to the SeDoMoCha campus.

Shorey said storage is the biggest issue at SeDoMocha at the present time, as moving the office space for her and several other district employees would help remedy the situation. When asked, Shorey said the latest enrollment count for the pre-kindergarten through grade 8 building is 724 pupils.

Members of the school board’s buildings and grounds committee toured the former Head Start building. Member Blake Smith said the roof will need work but the structure is right by SeDoMoCha and there is money in the budget to make a purchase using remaining paving funds. He said the superintendent’s office may be housed off Autumn Avenue for several years or longer if need be.

The former Head Start building is listed through Mallett Real Estate of Dover-Foxcroft for $50,000. The 1,650 square foot one-story structure was built in 1950 and is on 0.4 acres.

In other business, the school board heard from SeDoMoCha Principal Julie Kimball and Assistant Principal/Athletic Director Nathan Dyer on the start of classes.

“We are back at it, week four which is hard to believe,” Kimball said. “It’s been a seamless start to the year.”

“We changed up our One Book, One School this year,” Kimball said as the annual shared family reading program is taking place in the fall rather than after the new year as had been done from 2011 to the winter of 2017.

“Our kickoff was very well received,” Kimball said as nearly two weeks prior families were invited to attend an early evening event, as part of the elementary open house, prior to reading “Lost on a Mountain in Maine.” One Book, One School will conclude with another evening program early next month.

“Our intention on Oct. 5 is to have both indoor and outdoor activities,” the principal said. “We will have families access the nature trail, make s’mores and there will be an obstacle course on the playground — things you can’t do in January and February.”

Kimball thanked literacy teacher Carolyn Clark for resuming her role as the One Book, One School organizer after having stepped down from the position the last few years.

“It was kind of a nice piece to have with an open house so we had a lot more families then,” Kimball said. She said in the future school year program officials will decide what time of year the next One Book, One School will be offered.

Kimball said the school board was likely aware that elementary and middle school music teacher Kaitlyn Young is one of three finalists for the 2018 Maine Teacher of the Year honor through the Maine Department of Education.

“Today we had pleasure of having the Teacher of the Year panel with us,” Kimball said, as the group sat in on Young’s grade 3 class and grade 7-8 chorus session.

“They made a point of saying ‘what a really nice school you have and what a great number of things going,’” she said. “We are excited to see in the next few weeks when we find out” as the Teacher of Year announcement will be made during a surprise visit to the winner’s school.

Dyer said eight new benches are in place on the athletic fields. He said Tom Sands, industries manager for the Charleston Correctional Facility who also is the head coach of the Eagles football team, was able to get a pair of benches donated. “For a very nominal fee they built six more benches, so that’s a great addition to our field,” Dyer said.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
POTENTIAL NEW HOME OF THE RSU 68 SUPERINTENDENT — RSU 68 Superintendent Stacy Shorey was authorized by the school board to make a $36,000 offer on the former Head Start building off of Autumn Avenue in Dover-Foxcroft. The structure located next to the SeDoMoCha School campus would house the superintendent’s office to help alleviate space constraints, including storage issues.