The RSU 12 Board of Directors approved a business office agreement with the Wiscasset School Board on June 19.
The board also discussed several items at length: two withdrawal agreements, a copier contract, a Chelsea Boys and Girls Club agreement, and Head Start memorandums of understanding.
Most agreements generated questions of clarity and missing language. In the end, the board approved all but the Windsor withdrawal agreement and the Chelsea Boys and Girls Club agreement.
The board will resume discussion of the agreements during a special meeting at Whitefield Elementary School at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, June 26.
Tuttle told the board of directors he did not have the business office contract back from the board’s attorney, who was checking the language.
Tuttle said the attorney has assured him there are not any legal issues with providing business office services for Wiscasset, which recently withdrew from RSU 12.
The contract calls for Wiscasset to pay RSU 12 $100,000 for payroll and accounts payable services.
With Wiscasset’s first payroll due July 1, Tuttle urged the board to approve the agreement, which has been already approved by the board’s finance committee, before the actual contract is returned by the attorney.
“Time is ticking. We made a commitment to do this,” Tuttle said. “It’s a great deal and they are already paying us.”
“It’s June 20,” finance committee member Jerry Nault, of Windsor, said. “You could say no and you could make a school unit dysfunctional.”
Board members expressing support of the agreement said the unanticipated revenue will be good for the district this year because of the district’s negative fund balance. The board voted overwhelmingly to approve the agreement with Wiscasset.
Palermo’s withdrawal agreement was accepted by the board and will now head to the Maine Department of Education for approval.
If the department approves the agreement, Palermo voters will decide on the agreement in November. If Palermo voters approve the agreement, the withdrawal would take effect July 1, 2015.
The board tabled Windsor’s withdrawal agreement due to adjustments in the contract language.
According to Tuttle, Windsor’s agreement had been in the hand’s of the board’s attorney for several weeks and adjustments in the contract language were necessary.
RSU 12 has returned the agreement, with the suggested adjustments, to the town of Windsor, which has not returned it to the board.
A proposed motion asked the board to approve the draft copy of the the withdrawal agreement and authorize the board chair to “execute and deliver the final version of this agreement with such changes as the board chair, in consultation with the superintendent and legal counsel, shall approve.”
“I can’t support it,” board member Joan Morin, of Whitefield, said. “If I don’t have the Windsor folks’ response, it goes against everything in my bone.”
The reason for asking the board to approve the draft copy is to accommodate an approaching deadline, Tuttle said. According to Tuttle, in order for Windsor to vote on the agreement in November, it needs to be approved by the RSU 12 board by June 30.
Resignations
The board accepted the resignations of the following employees: Wiscasset High School teachers Kelley Duffy, Dan True, and Jennifer Williams; Wiscasset Middle School teacher Kyle Beeton and soccer coach Paul Foley; Wiscasset Primary School counselor Michael Barret and custodian Cindy Dodge; district-wide social worker Sam Marini; and Palermo Consolidated School teacher Brian Wedge.
Other business
The board re-elected Hilary Holm, of Whitefield, as chairman, and Tom Birmingham, of Windsor, as vice chairman.
