PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Near the beginning of SAD 1’s first-ever digital board meeting on Wednesday, April 15, Superintendent Ben Greenlaw pointed out how far the world had shifted since the district’s last meeting.
At the time of SAD 1’s meeting on March 11, there were no confirmed COVID-19 cases in Maine. Restaurants and bars were still serving customers, stay-at-home orders were not in place and the more than 1,800 students in SAD 1 were still in school.
A lot had changed since that time. Greenlaw said the district was doing all it could to keep operations running smoothly during this new normal.
Because of concerns about future funding for the district due to COVID-19, Greenlaw announced he would not pursue a vote on sustainable renovations to Presque Isle High School by Siemens. He said the board may take up the measures again in March 2021.
He also said new regulations would likely alter the school’s conventional budget process. Greenlaw said the board would hold a budget workshop at 5:30 p.m. on April 29, and a regular school board meeting on May 13. He hopes to hold a district budget meeting on May 27.
He said a lot was still up in the air, but that he was not “confident” that it would be able to hold a regular in-person district budget meeting on May 27. He said it was likely that SAD 1 would hold its budget validation election on July 14, the new date for primary elections across the state.
He also said each of these dates, and methods of operating, could change with new information.
“Write them on your calendar, but write it in pencil,” Greenlaw said.
SAD 1 Business Manager Clinton Deschene, who provided a report on school finances, said that — per orders from the governor’s office — all SAD 1 employees have remained employed during the shutdown of in-person learning.
Greenlaw praised teachers throughout his district for persevering and innovating with distance education. He said educators were using a variety of mediums during the process, including email, Facebook, Google Classroom and phone calls.
“They’ve really stepped up to the plate and made the best of a tough situation with no planning whatsoever,” Greenlaw said.
SAD 1 Curriculum Director Jennifer Bourassa put forward a remote learning plan for the district that governs how schools will operate for the rest of the semester, gaining unanimous approval from the school board.
The plan includes a measure to institute pass/fall grading for students in middle and high school, which she said was necessary because of the unprecedented situation students and faculty face. Second-semester grades will not count toward students’ GPAs.
“Students and teachers were not able to truly prepare for this change, and we know that many students may not have the same resources at home,” Bourassa said.
Under the plan, which still needs to be approved by the Maine Department of Education, there will be three grades for middle and high schoolers: Students with grades 65 and above in the high school and 61 and above in the middle school will pass. Students who score below those numbers will fail and students who score 80 or above will pass with distinction.
In addition to votes and announcements on school policy, the board also unanimously accepted three resignations.
Presque Isle Regional Career and Technical Center Director Tim Prescott said he would retire at the end of the school year after 37 years with the district, during which he also served as a physical education teacher and a coach for several Presque Isle High School teams.
“Presque Isle’s a very special place with very special people,” Prescott said in his resignation letter. “And I’ll certainly always be proud to be part of that family.”
The board also accepted Zippel Elementary School third-grade teacher Laura Lejman’s resignation, effective at the end of the school year. Lejman did not provide a reason for leaving the position in her resignation letter.
At the close of the meeting, Greenlaw said his district was ready to continue remote education for the rest of the school year, but said he would not rule out the return of in-person instruction if conditions permitted it.
Greenlaw said the current order from Gov. Janet Mills restricts schools from opening until after Friday, May 15. Greenlaw said they would follow the guidance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and “local health officials” as they look to potentially re-open school on Monday, May 18.
“We would never put students back in school if we felt it was unsafe,” Greenlaw said. “I just feel like with six, eight weeks left in the school year, let’s wait and see what happens.”
