| Janet Clemons |
At their November 6 meeting, the MSAD 15 board formally accepted the November 5 referendum results, the board chair offered an apology, and Memorial School students were recognized for donating their Halloween candy, and more.
Recognition. Memorial School students donated 66.4 lbs of candy at the Seventh Annual Halloween Candy Give Back. Teachers collected the candy from students on November 1st and it was donated to the New Gloucester Fire Rescue Department. Ms. Porter, Ms. Yeaton, and Pineland Family Dentistry played key roles in organizing this event.
Advisory presentation. The Board heard a presentation from Advisory Coordinator Lisa Knedler and students Garrett Cable and Wyatt Hatch about their experiences in the Gray-New Gloucester Middle School Advisory program. The students spoke about the positive impact Advisory has on their social interactions with peers and the connections that are built. Students find that it is a calm way to start the day and provides a consistent relationship with a trusted adult.
Lessons presented during the Advisory programming cover a variety of content, including Team Building, Career Planning, Kindness, Restorative Justice, Digital Safety and Inclusion. Ms. Knedler feels that the Advisory program is exceeding expectations. Research shows that when students feel connected at school it helps them feel safe and that safety helps them feel ready to learn.
An apology. Saying that she lost control of the October Business Meeting and did not manage it according to policy, procedure, her values and the values of the Board, Chair Penny Collins opened the meeting with an apology. Following the student presentations, Collins shared that the Board used their public live-streamed October 16 Workshop meeting to discuss the inappropriate behavior and failure to follow their own policies. Maine School Management Executive Director Steve Bailey led them through an interactive exercise on Board Ethics. That meeting can be found online.
As an outcome of the October 16 meeting, Fran Monroe made a motion to censure Sam Pfeifle for a breach of ethics by making what she considered to be disparaging remarks to her at an earlier meeting. The general feeling of the members present at this meeting was that the issue had been dealt with during the October 16 workshop. Only Monroe voted in favor of this motion. Cole Chandler, who was absent from the relevant meeting, and Pfeifle abstained. Motion failed, 8 opposed, 1 in favor, 2 abstentions.
Maine School Boards Association Delegate Assembly. Gary Harriman reported on his attendance to the annual meeting of the Maine School Boards Association Delegate Assembly on October 9 via Zoom. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss modifications to the resolutions of the Maine School Boards and Maine School Management Associations. All of the resolutions were accepted during the meeting.
Strategic Plan deliverables update. At the October 6 Business Meeting, Dr. Craig King, Superintendent of Schools, gave an update on MSAD 15’s Strategic Plan. At this meeting he presented an update of the deliverables that will be worked on during this school year (SY 24/25). Much of this work is done by MSAD 15 staff during Early Release and Professional Development days. The Board is updated every six months on the progress of this work.
As the Board reviewed the deliverables, a discussion ensued about the current inability of the District to meet the Strategic Plan deliverables of goals that reference the School Resource Officer (SRO). For the past four or five years, there has been a lack of consistency within this position due to lack of personnel within the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department. Currently the person who holds this position is on long-term leave, so it is being covered by substitutes. This makes it difficult for the position to build effective relationships with administrators, students, and teachers. The Board plans to have more discussion about this position at a future meeting.
Bond validation referendum results. Acting according to Maine state law, the Board reviewed, accepted and entered into MSAD 15 records the Computation and Declaration of Votes dated November 5, 2024 as certified by Town Clerks of Gray and New Gloucester. Following their acceptance, the Board then sends a certified copy back to the municipal clerks of each town.
– Question 1 to authorize the MSAD 15 to issue bonds and other evidences of indebtedness in the name of the District in an amount not to exceed $8,914,073, including $6,522,445 of grant/loan funding through the State of Maine’s School Revolving Renovation Fund Program to pay costs of indoor air quality renovations and improvements at Gray-New Gloucester High School, Gray-New Gloucester Middle School, Burchard A. Dunn School, and Memorial School, PASSED: 5,116 YES votes and 4,135 NO votes.
– Question 2 to authorize MSAD 15 to issue bonds or notes in the name of the District for school construction and minor capital project purposes in an amount not to exceed $57,036,400 to construct and equip six different projects for GNGHS and the athletic fields, FAILED: 3950 YES and 5,315 NO.
– Question 3 to authorize the MSAD 15 to issue additional bonds or notes in an amount not to exceed $702,735 to finance a Turf Project, FAILED: 2,437 YES and 6,756 NO.
Penny Collins thanked the Board, staff and community members who worked hard for many years to develop the plans for the major renovation bonds. She also tasked the Facilities Committee to recommend the next steps for any projects within the District that need immediate attention. Dr. King is hoping to hear from people who voted on both sides of the question. He feels it is important to know officially why the renovation bonds did not pass. Dr. King will come up with a plan to get feedback about the votes.
Non-school sponsored trip to Greece. Partnering with EF Tours, Jenn Vargas, GNGHS Spanish teacher, is offering a non-school sponsored trip to Greece for April vacation 2026. It is important for the Board to be aware of this trip, but Dr. King made it clear that under Policy IJOA the District is not liable for any responsibility. All liability is with the parents, students, and EF Tours.
Transportation report. Transportation Supervisor John Sucharzewski presented the Board with the final report on the implementation status of recommendations from the Ad-Hoc Transportation Committee that was organized in October of 2023 in response to transportation issues. The purpose of the committee was to assure the safe and reliable transportation of all students to and from school.
The committee came up with a list of recommendations for consideration. One was that the District open 2024-2025 online registration in May (versus August). This was done for SY 24/25 and helped develop better planning for the bus routes system. The committee also had drivers complete a survey focused on challenges and positives of the position and selling points for recruitment. The survey needs to be reviewed. The committee came up with other suggestions for the Transportation Director, such as looking into offering competitive compensation, training options and advertising to recruit new bus drivers. There is a shortage of school bus drivers across the state and MSAD 15 currently has two positions open.
English Language Arts curriculum. Dr. Chanda Turner, Director of Curriculum and Staff Development, presented to the Board a recommendation from the Curriculum Committee to adopt a proposed English Language Arts Curriculum. MSAD 15 reviews and revises curriculum on a regular schedule aligned to review and revision of the Maine Learning Results. The curriculum review process has been approved by the MSAD 15 Board of Directors. There are no new resources required for this curriculum. The Board unanimously accepted the curriculum.
MSAD 15 Data Dashboard presentation. Dr. Turner also presented an in-depth report about the Data Dashboard. The MSAD 15 Board of Directors receives an annual data dashboard report to review progress of the district to help inform the budget and other decision-making in the coming year. MSAD 15 provides academic data annually to supplement data available from the Maine Department of Education (MDOE) in their Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) School Data Dashboard, which includes teacher, academic, attendance, and other data for all Maine public schools and school districts.
The ESSA School Data Dashboard includes “criterion referenced data,” which means it compares how students perform on an annual standardized test compared to a score identified as meeting “state expectations.” The MSAD 15 Supplemental Data Dashboard provides primarily “norms referenced data” as well. This means it compares how students perform on an annual standardized test compared to the average of all students across the United States. Students take the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) Assessment in reading, math, and science in the fall and in the spring of each school year.
MSAD 15 students K – 12 are performing better than USA students in Reading and Math and cohort performances are trending up. In Reading, on average MSAD 15 students are performing ahead of state expectations in all grade levels. On average in math, students are meeting the expectations that the state has set. In science district students on average are exceeding the state expectations.
Superintendent report. Earlier in the meeting the Board approved Megan Varcoe to a 1st probationary contract as a 7th grade Science and Math teacher at GNGMS. Other new hires include Diana Kandilakis as a Food Service Worker at GNGHS and Kelly Bailey as an Ed Tech III at GNGMS.
The following staff have resigned: Monica Blais, District School Psychologist, Abby Smith, Health Aide at Russell School, Jennifer Welch, Ed Tech II at Memorial School and Brooke Mokumobi, Office Support Specialist.
Dr. King gave a brief follow-up about last month’s meeting with Kyle Hadyniak, Director of Communications and IT for the Town of Gray. Mr. Hadyniak presented MSAD 15, the Town of Gray and the Town of New Gloucester a Memorandum of Understanding about the proposed Production Coordinator position. The purpose of that position is to assist with the transparency of all boards and their meetings throughout the GNG area. Dr. King shared that the Town of New Gloucester does not want MSAD 15 to be included in this shared position and the Select Board took a vote to confirm this.
NGX editor’s note: Since this meeting, MSAD 15 Chair Penny Collins has announced that Superintendent Craig King has taken an extended medical leave. Chanda Turner will serve as Interim Superintendent.
