Culture Spotlight

School Board discusses professional learning, cell phone policy, Strategic Plan and more

| Janet Clemons |

In a brief, not-so-brief January meeting, the MSAD 15 School Board discussed the district’s audit, professional learning mandates, cell phone policy data, the Strategic Plan and more.

District Audit Presentation. Tim Gill, a representative from Runyon, Keersteen, and Ouellette, highlighted the results of the fiscal year 2022 audit of the district’s finances. The purpose of the audits, done each year, is to give an opinion on the financial statements and their compliance with all accounting practices and standards.  The overall opinion of the audit is favorable.  A question was asked about the Debt Service percentage of our district.  It is currently 2% which is relatively low compared to other districts.  The state percentage is 6.9%. Board Chair Sam Pfeifle commended Finance Manager Diane Boucher for doing a good job keeping the financials in order and the Finance Committee for its diligent oversight.

Curriculum and staff development updates. Chanda Turner, Director of Curriculum and Staff Development, gave an update on the large number of professional learning mandates and needs as compared to the available staff time.  Ms. Turner and Superintendent Craig King are faced with looking ahead to some requests for additional staff days to provide professional development moving into the budget process.  On top of implementing the Strategic Plan and keeping our schools operating, running, and moving forward, there are certain trainings that the district is mandated through the federal and state governments to provide regularly. These mandates are unfunded and not unique to MSAD 15. The administration is working to balance this time across the various schools over the next three years. They feel that doing so will take away from necessary professional development time for ongoing work on instruction, curriculum, and other staff development that has been outlined in the Strategic Plan, hence the need for additional staff days.  

Report on student, teacher, and parent input regarding policy on student use of cell phones. High School Principal Sadie Grealish and Middle School Principal Richard Riley-Benoit presented data that they have gathered from various stakeholders across the district about the student use of cell phones in the schools. To gather this information, all students at the Middle School and High School were given a survey and took part in small group discussions during their advisory periods. The staff at both schools were asked to participate in a survey as well.  Parents of high school and middle school students were provided with two in-person opportunities as well as an online survey. The principals, along with their assistant principals, looked into the policies of other districts as well as read a great deal of information about the use of cellphones in schools. 

Principals Grealish and Riley-Benoit told the board that they have collected data since the beginning of the school year on various incidents that have happened during the school day. This data shows that the use of cell phones for social media and offensive online communication during the school day is directly related to the majority of at-school interpersonal conflicts and physical altercations.  Cell phone use has also been associated with an increase of insubordinate classroom behavior.  Instances of this are currently much less at the Middle School than the High School, the principals said. 

Grealish and Riley-Benoit also shared that there is overwhelming research to show that cell phone use at school has a negative impact on learning nationwide. Currently at the Middle School, students are required to put their phones away during the school day.  At the High School students are allowed to use their cell phones between classes and during lunch, but they are not supposed to be using them during class time. In general, in terms of revising the policy, they shared that everyone, especially teachers, are looking for a clear and consistent message to give to students across the board for cell phone use during the school day.  This policy (JFCK) will be discussed at length at the next Policy Committee meeting. The data presented will help inform this process.

Mid-year Strategic Plan discussion. Dr. King gave a report on the District’s Five-Year Strategic Plan that is now in the Action Plan phase for moving the district forward.  All work in the district should be tied back to the Action Plan.  When it comes to ongoing professional development, it is important for the board and administration to extend the ownership to all professionals, King explained.  In other words, rather than seeing a new initiative or committee work as “one more thing to do,” it is important that all stakeholders see this as an integral part of the district’s work to move the Strategic Plan forward. This is also true when it comes to the allocation of resources.  As the budget process gets underway, the administrative team will be able to show how an investment in human and financial resources can be tied back to the Strategic Plan.  The majority of allocations moving forward must have a direct link to the Strategic Plan, King said.

Policy on school-sponsored trips. This updated and revised policy (IJOA) was discussed and approved by the Board with unanimous consent.

Committee Reports. Board committees reported on their most recent monthly meetings. The Facilities Committee met with Sandy Carder, Chair of the Gray Town Council, to discuss the Libby Hill maintenance agreement among the landowners. MSAD 15 is one of the landowners. The committee feels this agreement needs more discussion among committee members before being brought to the full board.  Geoff Robbins, Principal of Dunn School, met with the group to update them on the lead abatement process.  There is still some work to be completed at Russell and Memorial School. He also presented the committee with the updated Capital Plan.  There will be more information on this at a later time.

The Personnel Committee once again looked at the many unfilled positions within the district. These open positions affect all areas of the curriculum and all schools.  In addition, the committee has recommended several new positions be included in the upcoming budget.  One is for a half-time Special Education Assistant Director which is seen as an immediate need to help with the increased demands on the Special Education Department.  The committee is recommending that the Board approve this position for the upcoming budget.  It is seen as such an immediate need that they also recommend that a half-time position be created to cover the remainder of this school year. The committee is also in contract negotiations with the Teachers Union.

The Curriculum Committee discussed the increased number of English Language Learners with very limited proficiency entering the district.  The number of students needing direct services for acquisition of the English language has gone from five students to 25 students in the last two years. The committee foresees the need for at least an additional part-time position to meet this need in the upcoming budget.

Superintendent’s Report. Dr. King reported on three new hires and two retirements.  Jayson Hebert will be the Assistant Nordic Coach at the Middle School. Connor Cyr will be the JV Boys Ice Hockey Coach at the High School.  Pamela Vaillancourt will be a Bus Driver.  Nancy Porter, the Occupational Therapist at Dunn School will be retiring in June.  Annette Tynes, the Speech Therapist at Memorial School, will also be retiring in June.

Board Chair Report. Chair Sam Pfeifle encouraged the other Board members to look at Gray’s January 2023 newsletter. January’s issue spotlights the final report of the Gray Village Visioning project that the community participated in last summer. “A Vision for Gray Corner” is a comprehensive document about the potential revitalization of Gray Village. Any revitalization to the Village will potentially impact the schools, Pfeifle noted.