FARMINGTON — The Regional School Unit 9 board met Tuesday night in an extended meeting for a third time with little to show for their budget cutting efforts. Modest savings were found, but not enough to allay the frustration of some in attendance.
The initially proposed $32.25 million budget — up $1.2 million from the previous year — was rejected in a districtwide referendum on June 9. The district includes Chesterville, Farmington, Industry, New Sharon, New Vineyard, Starks, Temple, Vienna, Wilton and Weld.
A savings of $26,000 was found in cutting a math interventionist position. The school health coordinator position was cut in half for a savings of another $6,600, but too little too late into the night proved disappointing.
Board member Ross Clair of Chesterville questioned yet another lengthy meeting yielding few results asking, “Do we have any meat and potatoes where we’re going to make some cuts tonight?”
One discussion revolved around the Mallett School’s use of a half-time assistant principal. Keith Martin serves half his day as a teacher and the other as an administrator for the Farmington school. First grade teacher Nicole Lesperance explained the relationship Martin has with the children, as well as his skills with crisis intervention, that allow Lesperance to do her job properly.
Discussions around extracurricular and co-curricular activities and cutting laptop expenditures for 6th graders fell flat.
The next meeting will be July 7 at 6 p.m. at Mt. Blue High School.
Douglas McIntire — 861-9252
dmcintire@mainetoday.com
Twitter: @CD_McIntire
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