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Special education wants for college kids in SAD 70 will as soon as once more fall below the purview of Sandy Flacke because of an settlement with neighboring RSU 29.
HOULTON, Maine — Special education wants for college kids in SAD 70 will as soon as once more fall below the purview of Sandy Flacke because of an settlement with neighboring RSU 29.
Flacke had served as the special education director for each RSU 29 and SAD 70 for the prior faculty 12 months and began the 2021-22 faculty 12 months in that very same capability. She served 70 p.c of the time at RSU 29 and 30 p.c of the time with SAD 70.
During a Sept. 13 faculty board assembly, RSU 29 determined it needed Flacke completely, ending the settlement between the 2 faculties. At that assembly, Flacke was given an annual wage of $106,000, paid for by the Houlton district, with the understanding that she would work solely for RSU 29 beginning Oct. 1.
But upon additional evaluate, that association proved to be detrimental to the scholars of SAD 70 and the Houlton faculty administration has since modified its stance.
At an Oct. 5 board assembly, RSU 29 Chairman Fred Grant stated the rationale for the change of coronary heart was easy.
“The request for this came because of the challenge of finding a suitable candidate to fill,” Grant stated. “The best way to move forward and to serve our neighbors in SAD 70 is to modify the agreement.”
As a part of the settlement, Flacke will proceed serving college students in each districts for the rest of the present faculty 12 months at a fee of 70 p.c for RSU 29 and 30 p.c for SAD 70. The price of her wage might be divided between the districts in the identical percentages.
The board additionally realized that the district was the recipient of a $64,000 McKenzie Grant for the district’s libraries. The funds might be used to buy books and furnishings for the college’s three libraries.
During the general public talking portion of the assembly, resident David Carpenter as soon as once more requested the college board to rethink its masks mandate for college kids and employees. Unlike the previous two board conferences, which had been closely attended, Monday evening’s assembly was principally employees members and Carpenter was the one individual to talk.
“Last month, I asked you to kindly remove the masks for my children,” Carpenter stated. “There was no vote last month, so I would like the board to reconsider and vote on this issue.”
He added that SAD 70 in Hodgdon has an non-compulsory masks coverage and has not needed to shut its faculty, whereas RSU 29 needed to spend two weeks in a distant studying mannequin because of numerous COVID-19 instances.
“Your job is to make sure my children get a good education in a safe environment,” he stated. “Making the masks optional does not put my children at risk.”
Carpenter added in his opinion masks don’t work and had been solely used to make folks really feel secure.
Superintendent Richard Lyons stated the administration had not modified its opinion on masking and felt no change was warranted these days.
Because the masks mandate was not an agenda merchandise, a special movement was wanted with a view to proceed discussing the matter. That movement didn’t garner help from the vast majority of the board, failing by a vote of 3-6, with board members Christopher Cain, Sara Deveau and Tammy Goetsch voting in favor, and board members Grant, Erica Peabody, Sue McLaughlin, Scott White, Rosa McNally and Tim Youngfellow opposed.
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