STRONG — Pieces of the puzzle are starting to fall into place at MSAD 58 after the district reconfiguration. During the May 19 board meeting, Maggie Adams was hired as the principal at the newly created middle school, which will be located in the Strong school building.
Kim Roberts, a school board member from Kingfield expressed some concern about nominating a brand new principal at the brand new middle school. Her alternative proposal was to hire Jeff Pillsbury as the middle school principal and Adams as the principal at Phillips, noting Pillsbury’s experience.
Board member Sue Pratt, of Strong, said that typically the school board would have the opportunity to meet in executive session to discuss these concerns and that she was surprised to see it on the agenda without that process.
Superintendent Todd Sanders said that there had been a nine-person committee in charge of nominations. He supported the nominations and said that the school board was only directly responsible for hiring the superintendent, and the superintendent was responsible for other hires.
There were no board members on the nominating committee. A couple board members noted that in the past they have been included in the hiring process.
Roberts said that she did not mean to offend anyone, but it was her job as a school board member to share her concerns about supporting students throughout the already challenging transition. She wished Adams good luck with the role.
The board approved the hire. Adams said she appreciated the opportunity and she felt she had a lot to bring to the position.
Timothy Richards, currently the principal at neighboring Carrabec High School, has been hired as the principal at Mount Abram High School. For most of the current school year and several months of the preceding year, the high school has been under the leadership of Assistant Principal and Athletic Director Kristina Stevens and Sanders.
Both Adams and Richards were hired with one-year contracts. Sabrina Reed-Carrier was hired as the special education director for the district, also with a one-year contract.
As part of the reconfiguration, the assistant principal position at the high school was eliminated, and the athletic director position was transferred to a stipend rather than a salary position.
Stevens was hired as the athletic director and as a special education teacher at Mount Abram High School with a first year probationary contract. Chantel Kemp was also hired as a special education teacher with a first year probationary contract, with the location to be determined. There was one position open and two resignations pending, so it was not yet known where she would be placed.
Three positions that were removed in the reconfiguration were recalled: Lance Harvell, middle school social studies; Jessica Hughes, Kingfield Elementary first grade teacher; and Karen Pease, ELA teacher at the high school. Because two staff members were moved into interventionist positions, their positions were opened up to be filled with staff who had been previously cut. In addition, Adams moving to an administrative role created an opening for an ELA middle school teacher, which was filled by Wendy Morrill, leaving an ELA teacher position open at the high school for Pease.
Two year probationary contracts were approved for Pease and for high school science teacher Brad Cobb.
Continuing contracts were approved for the following: Nancy Guay, special education teacher at Phillips; Diana Thomas, art teacher at Mount Abram; Anne Thurlow, special education teacher at Strong; Catherine Burris, art teacher at Kingfield and Phillips; Erin Demshar, math teacher at Mount Abram; Jessica Hughes, first grade teacher at Kingfield; Jocelyn L’Italien, ELA teacher at Mount Abram.
Two year contracts were offered to Pillsbury, principal at Phillips; Johanna Prince, principal at Kingfield; Scot LeHay, facilities, maintenance and transportation director; Hope Gould, technology director; and Lynne Cary, district business manager.
