SeDoMoCha MS winter coaches appointed

By Stuart Hedstrom 
Staff Writer

    MONSON — While the start of winter may be over a month and a half away, the season’s sports at SeDoMoCha Middle School have begun with basketball tryouts. During a Nov. 4 school board meeting at the Monson Community Center five coaching positions were appointed, all in accordance with the RSU 68 Education Association.

    Appointed for the 2014-15 season are Matthew Spooner, boys A team basketball; Josh Kimball, boys B basketball; Gayle Allen, girls A basketball; Sabrina Sharrow, girls B basketball; and Robin Brasslett, cheering with Karen Goodman as practice monitor.
    “One of the things we like to do, when it presents itself, is have those people on our staff,” Superintendent Robert Lucy said about coaches who are teachers, ed techs or work elsewhere in the building.
    School board member Blake Smith wondered about the timing of the appointments, being made after tryouts have already started. Lucy said the appointments were brought forward in November because all of the positions were not ready to be filled for the meeting in early October.
    Smith said he had no issues with any of the coaches, he was just concerned with the appointment time table as he was the “no” vote in the board’s 7-1 decision to pass the motion to appoint.
    In other business, SeDoMoCha School Principal Julie Kimball touched upon several items in her report. Kimball said elementary students participated in fire and school bus safety events during October.
    “I want to say a formal thank you to (Dover-Foxcroft Fire Chief) Joe Guyotte and the fire department for spending the day with us,” Kimball said, as the firefighters taught the students various fire safety tips. She also thanked Rowell’s Garage School Bus Service Transportation Director Jenny Chase and Malcolm Weymouth of Weymouth, Inc. for the bus safety information.
     Kimball said she has been working with Dover-Foxcroft Kiwanis President-Elect Deborah Somers, who works for Penquis, on developing a weekend backpack program for K-2 elementary students. Kimball said the program will be voluntary, and on long weekends and holidays participating students will be given a backpack full of food to take home.
    “Anything from tuna and pasta to veggies and fruit,” Kimball said about the healthy items the students will have. She said the food will be stored across the street at the Morton Avenue Municipal Building and members of the Dover-Foxcroft Kiwanis will bring the items over to be organized, with teachers handing out the backpacks.
    “We wanted to start small because we don’t know our numbers,” Kimball said about the backpack program being directed at K-2. She said the first backpacks may go home for Thanksgiving and those involved may take an in-depth look at how the program is going come January.
    “A huge thank you to our Kiwanis group for getting this up and running,” Kimball said.
    For the current school year SeDoMoCha Middle School switched from trimester to quarter ranking periods. When asked about the change Kimball said, “It’s been an adjustment, quite honestly.”
    She said some concerns from staff have stemmed from the shorter periods of time before period grades are finalized. “We are recognizing what their needs are,” Kimball said, as teachers and administrators continue to work together. “Change is always tricky, as we move through this school year we will have more evidence of how things are going.”
    Earlier in the year grade 8 social studies teacher Dyan McCarthy-Clark was selected as Piscataquis County Teacher of the Year. Lucy said McCarthy-Clark and the other honorees from across Maine will be recognized on Nov. 15 at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor, with the Maine Teacher of the Year being announced at the gala.
    “We are very excited about that, and it’s very well deserved by Dyan,” Lucy said.