FARMINGTON — The Regional School Unit 9 board of directors convened on Tuesday, July 11, to elect Dorothy “Dee” Robinson of Chesterville as chairperson of the board. Gwen Doak of Wilton was elected as vice chairperson.
The two women will be replacing directors Carol Coles and Debbie Smith, respectively. No other nominations came forward during each vote, so both women where elected by acclimation. A vote was held for Robinson, but director Richard Ruhlin pointed out a breach in protocol.
With only one candidate, a motion was needed with a second, and then a majority vote by the board. Superintendent Christian Elkington rescinded the initial vote and restarted the process with Ruhlin making a motion for both candidates. Robinson was nominated by Doak and Doak was nominated by Smith.
Robinson, who was absent from the meeting due to vacation, sent a response to her newly elected position to Doak through text.
“Thank you for your belief in my ability to lead this board,” Doak read aloud to the board. “I will be taking many things that Carol has established as they are good and sound processes. I will never be able to fill Carol’s shoes that she has left, mighty big ones and I hope to have her ear for assistance from time to time. I will follow and uphold RSU 9 policies.”
Dee asked the board to become familiar with their policies and to send their first, second and third choices for the three subcommittees for RSU 9 [Personnel and Financial, Education Policy and Operations].
“Thank you very much, I will do my best,” Robinson concluded.
Both Dee and Elkington welcomed new board members Amanda Caruso of Wilton and Jeff Barnum of New Vineyard. T. Will Jones of Farmington was absent due to an injury. Elkington brought it to the attention of the board and stated that Jones would be out for some time as a result.
“Will was in a nasty fall about three weeks ago,” he stated. Elkington learned of Jones’ condition through his wife. “He’s at intensive care at Maine Med, but he’s making excellent progress the last week. So he probably will be out for about three months or so, but he’s making excellent progress.
“Our thoughts are with Will and his family,” he added.
Apart from Jones and Robinson, four other members were absent from the meeting. Josh Robbins, Gloria McGraw, Alex Creznic, and Janice David were unable to attend.
Monique Poulin, in her first order of business as assistant superintendent presented the board an overview of the title grants and projects for the 2023-2024 school year. For title grants, a total $1,140,624 from four different grants will be allocated to seven different projects throughout the 2023-2024 school year.
A table showing the title grants and projects that will utilize the funds. Poulin presented these numbers on Tuesday, July 11, at the RSU 9 board of directors meeting. Submitted Photo
Poulin stated they would be gathering feedback from the board and the community to make any adjustments at their administrative team meets on Thursday, July 13.
$1,000 is being allocated to homeless/foster care support, but Poulin assured the board this title grant money is not the only funds that are being used for this project.
Ruhlin expressed concern over the available resources to students dealing with homelessness. Ruhlin cited a recent report from the Sun Journal stated that Mt. Blue High School reported 46 student dealing with homelessness.
“Many of you know I have a child that’s engaged in that with New Beginnings and the discovery work being done to find out where homeless students are in our district is eye opening,” Ruhlin stated. “So it is something that I would love to get a little more data on as we approach the school year.”
Poulin stated that they would continue to look for additional funds to help support the program.
“There are some other funds,” Elkington added. “These are just the title funds, but there are some other funds that can support that work.”
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