FARMINGTON – At the RSU 9 Board of Directors meeting on Tuesday night, Superintendent Christian Elkington acted as board secretary due to director Carol Coles stepping down from her position as chair. Elkington also welcomed directors Jeff Barnum of New Vineyard and Amanda Caruso of Wilton who have recently joined the board.
“Thank you so much for taking on this important responsibility, and welcome,” Elkington said.
Five members were not present at the meeting, and Elkington provided an update regarding the health of director Will Jones who was absent from the meeting due to suffering an injury from a recent fall. Elkington stated that he had intensive care over the weekend and has made excellent progress over the past week. Jones will likely be absent for approximately three months while he recovers.
Elkington then discussed the reorganization of the board and the election process. Nominations from the floor for chair of the RSU 9 board for 2023-2024. Director Gwendolyn Doak nominated Dorothy ‘Dee’ Robinson of Chesterville. A motion was made to proceed with the vote for board chair by acclamation, and the board members who were present voted unanimously to elect Robinson as chair of the board.
The board then moved to the election of the vice chair. Debbie Smith nominated Gwendolyn Doak of Wilton for the position of vice chair. A motion was made to proceed with the vote for vice chair by acclamation, and the board voted unanimously to elect Doak as vice chair.
Doak announced that she received a message from Robinson in regard to her election as chair of the board.
“Thank you for your belief in my ability to lead this board, I will be taking many things that Carol has established as they are good and sound processes,” Robinson wrote. “I will never be able to fill Carol’s shoes as she has left mighty big ones, and I hope to have her ear for assistance from time to time.”
Mt. Blue High School Principal Monique Poulin provided an overview of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) title grants. Poulin included a list of figures that the district has been allocated for this year along with a list of seven project proposals that they hope to commit funds towards. The title grants will enable to board to use $1,140,552 to allocate toward these projects.
These grants will be used to support elementary math and literacy interventionists, learning environment, family engagement, science professional development, homeless/foster care support, the extended day program/extended year program, and multi-tiered systems of support development. A total of $1,000 will be allocated to go towards homeless/foster care support, but Poulin stated that there will be other funds and grants used to support this project even further.
In the Superintendent’s report, Elkington stated that the district has been awarded another $50,000 grant for the community school reapplication. The funds will be used to support Cape Cod Hill School. The district has also applied for a Comprehensive Electronic Health Record Pilot grant of approximately $6,000 that will help to reduce nurse paperwork time commitments with an electronic program being supported by the state in year one.
Elkington also stated that the E-Rate 471 application was not filed as expected by their consultant, which was a request for $107,845.89 in equipment and services. In the event that the district is not awarded the grant due to a late filing request, money will be used from the 2024 Fiscal Year budget to purchase some of the equipment. Further discussion will be had in regard to whether or not they will need to look for another E-Rate consultant.
This meeting was recorded by Mt. Blue TV and is available for viewing online at MtBlueTV.org
