WASHBURN, Maine — Two of SAD 45’s newest administrators — Laura Hunter and Larry Worcester — recently completed their first several weeks of the new school year and are already collaborating on ideas to address challenges facing the independent Aroostook County school district.
Hunter, who previously worked as an early childhood education instructor for SAD 1’s Career and Technical Education program, now serves as the principal of Washburn District Elementary School and director of special education for SAD 45. Worcester was a physical education teacher in Washburn for 13 years before serving in administrative roles for school districts in Woodland, Limestone and Easton and is now the SAD 45 superintendent and Washburn District High School principal.
Both Hunter and Worcester have come to SAD 45 amidst many recent changes at the administrative level. In 2016, former superintendent Elizabeth Ervin left the district due to a cancer diagnosis. She died in 2018.
Since the 2016-2017 school year, SAD 45 contracted with SAD 1 to share a superintendent as well as special education and technology management. The school boards for both districts voted to end that contract this year. Worcester is the first superintendent that SAD 45 has had present at the school on a daily basis since 2016.
Hunter noted that the daily presence of separate principals for both schools has already benefited staff and students.
“We’re hoping to provide more stability and consistency within the school leadership,” Hunter said. “The teachers now know that they don’t have to wait until a certain time of the day or week to ask questions or talk about concerns with us. There’s been a really positive vibe and I think students have recognized that, too.”
Like most school districts in Aroostook County, SAD 45 has faced a decline in school enrollment, a trend that Worcester attributes to more young people leaving town for better jobs, families having fewer children and the region’s aging population.
When Worcester first began teaching in Washburn in 1993, both Washburn schools had a total enrollment of around 400 students. That number now sits at 290 students for both schools.
“We’re hoping that the new plant that is opening in town will bring more families here,” Worcester said, referring to the 115,000-square-foot Penobscot McCrum potato processing plant set to open in Washburn.
The plant is estimated to bring around 80 new jobs and an annual economic output of $35 million.
One of the goals that both Hunter and Worcester share is forming greater connections between the school district and local community. Recently the district held an open house in which parents and students toured the school and interacted with folks from community groups such as the police and fire departments, Boy Scout Troop 177 and the Washburn Memorial Library.
The administrators have been brainstorming other ways to reach out to the community, including possibly having high school students interact with local senior citizens.
“They have knowledge that our students could benefit from knowing,” said Worcester, about the senior citizen population in the Washburn area. “We’re trying to bridge the gap between students and the community.”
For financial goals, both administrators see collaboration within SAD 45 and other local school districts as a major way to maintain a stable budget without sacrificing academic instruction.
The $4.4 million budget for the 2019-2020 school year came about through no elimination of teaching positions, though the school board chose to eliminate several ed tech positions in order to reduce costs.
The district has also begun to rely on a mostly part-time administrative staff, including with a half-time athletic director and half-time assistant principal position filled by longtime staff member Ron Ericson. SAD 45 is sharing information technology and transportation services with RSU 39 in Caribou.
Moving forward, Hunter and Worcester think that having a stable administrative staff will allow SAD 45 to focus on its strengths and better serve students at all levels of their education.
“We have a really strong staff with a lot of veteran teachers, many of whom went to school here,” Hunter said. “I think they’re likely to get to know families on a more personal level than they might in a larger district.”
