PHILLIPS – The search for a superintendent is underway, but the MSAD 58 school district may face challenges; Superintendent Todd Sanders said that MSAD 58 is one of a dozen districts in the state that is going through the superintendent hiring process.
The MSAD 58 school board agreed to contract with Maine School Management Association to put the superintendent position out for hire. After discussion Thursday night, the board voted to authorize a max of $3,000 to $3,500 in the search. This would allow for regional and state advertising from MSMA, with some possible advertising in the other New England states.
Board member Sue Pratt, who formerly served as the MSAD 58 superintendent, said that the district is behind on the hiring process; the district earlier in the year back in 2019 when Sanders was hired, and ideally the new superintendent would overlap with Sanders to allow for a smoother transition period.
The board discussed the process for the upcoming budget season. Jessica Cain, the board chair, had directed Sanders to include the department budget requests as submitted by the department heads rather than begin trimming down the budget before presenting it to the board. This decision was met with some resistance from board members; Pratt stated that she did not agree with the ‘wish list’ budget, and that the budget is the responsibility of the superintendent, not the principals.
Board members took home the budget books with the first rendition of the budget, but will receive modified figures prior to the first budget meeting in late March. Sanders is expected to meet with the administrative team several times over the next month to make those modifications.
Pratt suggested that, in order to save time, the board review and discuss each budget line, but refrain from taking action on the budget until the following meeting; this would allow an opportunity for last minute questions before taking action and hopefully reduce the amount of backtracking the board takes through the process.
The budget meetings will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 to 8 p.m. at Mt. Abram High School. A formal schedule will be provided closer to the start of budget season.
More immediate issues with the budget have come to light. Thirteen months ago, an accounting error occurred on a cover sheet – but not the detailed report – for the ARPA funding. This was tracked down to custodial costs in the district. The state reimbursed the district for $19,394.27, which was not actually due for reimbursement; Sanders assumed that the state personnel processing the reports did not review the detailed report, and only processed the numbers on the cover sheet. The issue was not discovered for over a year; it likely would have shown up in the district’s audit report, but the audit is delayed this year. Now the federal government is requiring payment, and the state is withholding all other reimbursements to the district until the sum is repaid.
They are still unsure of where the funds went, but the administrative office staff is working to track down the money. The district is expected to pay the sum, possibly out of the carry forward balance, and then internally reimburse the appropriate account once they locate the missing funds.
The district is waiting for $113,000 in state reimbursements that they need to pay staff members, so the issue has to be resolved sooner than later.
