With two major decisions finalized, the Wiscasset School Committee is preparing its next steps for the 2015-2016 school year. Consolidation of grades K-6 into a single building and the search for interim Superintendent Lyford Beverage’s replacement dominated discussion at the school committee meeting Wednesday, Dec. 10.
The possibility of creating an independent business office for the Wiscasset school district was also mentioned with no concrete action taken.
The effort to close the primary school and move grades seven and eight to the high school were the major focus of school committee meetings throughout the fall. With the Nov. 17 school committee decision to move the grades to the high school and the Dec. 9 townwide vote to close the primary school under its belt, the school committee is now free to plan the upcoming school year.
“Closing a school is not a victory for anybody,” school committee Chairman Steven Smith said. “It’s not something to celebrate. Our responsibility now is not to the people that said yes. It’s to the people that voted no. We have to make sure that they’re comfortable sending their kids there and that staff are comfortable making the move.”
“I was extremely pleased with the turnout,” committee member and former teacher and school administrator Eugene Stover said. “It tells us that the town is looking to us to conserve what we can and lower the tax rate as much as possible.”
The school committee voted to form a consolidation subcommittee led by Chelsea Haggett and Mike Dunn. The subcommittee will work with staff and the community to make the consolidation of grades K-6 as seamless and painless as possible. The composition of the consolidation subcommittee will be determined by Haggett and Dunn.
The school committee also addressed the possibility of no longer relying on RSU 12’s business office and forming an independent one responsible solely to the Wiscasset School Department. The cost of contracting RSU 12’s business office is approximately $100,000 per year, Beverage said.
The cost to put together an independent business office would be comparable in the first year, due to one-time expenditures such as software, according to Beverage. However, the move would save the school department approximately $150,000 over a five-year period.
“If we’re going to go with our own business office we can’t wait until June to do it,” Beverage said. “It’s a big decision and it’s an expense no matter how you do it.” The school committee plans to hold a workshop on the subject in January.
Beverage also prepared the school committee for the process required to hire and evaluate his replacement. The deadline for applications for the superintendent of schools in Wiscasset is Jan. 15. So far, no applications have been received. The committee hoped some applications would be received over the holiday break.
Once received, the school committee decided to form another subcommittee composed of school committee members Glen Craig and Smith, two staff members, two administrators, and two community members to review applications. The hiring committee would make recommendations to the school committee, which will ultimately make the final decision on Wiscasset’s next superintendent.
Beverage presented the school committee with a list of qualities Wiscasset school administrators identified as necessities for their next superintendent. Of those qualities, experience, integrity, knowledge of the job requirements of teachers and administrators, and the ability to listen were paramount.
“The superintendent needs to be a brave and chief,” Beverage said. “They need to figure out where they belong. Sometimes that’s in the front seat and sometimes that’s in the back.”
Beverage also walked the school committee through the evaluation process for the new superintendent, legally required to take place in December. In a moment of levity, Beverage said, “I haven’t asked for an evaluation and you haven’t offered. Maybe that’s good for both of us.”
“I figured that considering that Lyford was an interim, and only here for a year, it wasn’t necessary,” Smith said, while the audience and school committee members laughed. “We couldn’t do anything about it anyway.”
Beverage encouraged the school committee to not wait until the formal evaluation to raise problems and concerns with the new superintendent and to include the new hire in the budget setting process for 2015-2016.
“Everyone coming in here wants to do a good job,” Beverage said. “I was very fortunate to come into this position and to work with this board and administration.”