SAD 41 public meetings set for next month

By Stuart Hedstrom
Staff Writer

MILO — The month of June will be busy for SAD 41 officials as the district is hosting sessions pertaining to the construction project and 2016-17 school budget over several weeks, with the dates being scheduled during the May 4 school board meeting.

“June 8 we will have our first public meeting on the construction plan at 5:30 p.m,” Board Chair Arthur Herbest said, with this gathering taking place at the Penquis Valley School. “June 21 we will have the annual district budget meeting,” he added, with a public information session starting that evening at 5:30 at Penquis.

“June 28 will be the referendum vote in the towns on our budget,” Herbest said, as residents in Atkinson, Brownville, LaGrange and Milo head to the polls to make a decision on the 2017 spending plan.

On Thursday, June 9 the AOS 43 directors will meet at 5:30 p.m. at the Marion C. Cook School in LaGrange to decide this budget, with these officials making the decision to enact the funding package as presented or not.

The full schedule of upcoming meetings is at http://www.aos43.com.

“Mr. (Michael) Wright has been in the throes of working through the budget,” Assistant Superintendent Stacy Shorey said, as the superintendent was out of the office on May 4.

The board gave its approval to the construction management concept, which will be the subject of the June 8 meeting. The board’s capital improvement committee has been meeting to look at the long-term future for the district facilities, with the concept of pre-kindergarten through grade 12 all being housed at the Penquis Valley campus being examined.

“This is what we put together and we need to let the public speak, and we will see what they say and react to that,” Herbest said.

The plan was approved via a vote of 7-2 with Atkinson directors Andy and Sara Torbett being the “no” votes. When asked, Andy Torbett said he was voting as he believed was in the best for Atkinson as the community’s officials are considering the town’s own options for the future.

Board member Leon Farrar Jr. said after a recent discussion he had several thoughts pertaining to the construction management concept. He wondered what the SAD 41-area’s economy might look like in 20 years if the current industries depart and nothing is done to the schools, and conversely Farrar pondered what the area might look like in several decades if the construction plan goes through.

In other business, the school board approved a school lunch program guaranteeing a free meal to all students in the next school year. “It’s a big step forward for our district, I think we all want our students to be able to eat,” Herbest said.

The directors had previously discussed a federal Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) enabling qualifying school districts to serve free meals to all students — avoiding the possible stigma attached to a free or reduced program.

SAD 41’s AOS 43 partner district in the Howland-area implemented a CEP program last year. School units can can qualify if at least 40 percent of students would be directly CEP certified, based on factors including families qualifying for food stamps, being homeless, in the foster system or having migrant status.

Several days after the meeting Wright said he wants the public to know that with the adoption of the free lunch program next year in SAD 41, the district will still be pursuing past overdue bills. He said even though SAD 41 will be moving forward with the new program, bills are still being collected and are not forgiven.

A personnel move was made during the meeting of the school board with Milo Elementary Principal Julie Royal leaving the position at the end of the school year to become the AOS 43 reading recovery leader.

Shorey said Royal stepped up and filled the principal’s position for this current school year when the vacancy was created, as Wright asked Royal if she would move from Brownville Elementary to Milo.

In her report, Royal said she received a call from Tradewinds Marketplace to inform her that Milo Elementary had the most entries turned in for a box top competition. Royal said Milo Elementary will receive $1,000 for winning the competition, which will be used for the purchase of school supplies.

On the day before vacation, the entire Penquis Valley student body headed out into the community for the inaugural Day of Service. “It was an awesome day,” Principal Jeremy Bousquet said. “The kids couldn’t have behaved better or represented the school better.”

Bousquet said the pupils performed tasks such as raking, picking up litter and painting at eight different sites in Milo and Brownville. “We paired the sixth grade class with the senior class for some mentorship throughout the day,” he said.

Bousquet said one student summed up the Day of Service with “‘It makes me feel good because I’m giving back to the environment and humankind.’”

The principal said the day’s participants enjoyed serving “and I think they really respected that freedom and being adults about it. We have been riding that positive up through today.”