SAD 4 to have full funding for JMG position next year

GUILFORD — SAD 4 officials will begin work on developing the 2026-27 budget in the near future, but in the meantime the Jobs for Maine Graduates speciality position at Piscataquis Community Secondary School should be funded in full for next year.

The JMG funding from the state should go up to $27,000 from about half this total which is in place currently, Superintendent Kelly MacFadyen said during a Jan. 13 school board meeting at Piscataquis Community Elementary School.

“It’s career development, career exploration,” MacFadyen said. The class is taken by all grade 9 students and then is an elective for grades 10-12. 

“It gives us another course option for high school students,” she said, saying the state covers the JMG teaching position or specialist.

A statement on the JMG website says the organization partners with public education and private businesses to offer results-driven solutions to ensure all Maine students graduate, attain post-secondary credentials and pursue meaningful careers.

JMG was established by the Maine Legislature in 1993 and is the largest statewide education nonprofit in Maine. JMG partners with Maine’s public middle and high schools, community colleges and university system to help students achieve their goals.

In other business, the school board had a first reading of the 2026-27 calendar.

Last month SAD 4 students had two full weeks off for the Christmas break. Next year the holiday is on a Friday.

A concern is should there be 2-week vacation in December 2026, then the last scheduled day of school would be in mid-June. Snow days would most likely push this date back, potentially bumping it up to or after Juneteenth which would be a paid holiday for staff.

Area superintendents have suggested holding classes Dec. 21-22 to help avoid a later last day in June. 

“So eight days instead of 10,” MacFadyen said about vacation time.

The first day of classes in late August is still to be determined.

The education association will weigh in on the calendar as a final schedule for the next academic year will be developed and approved.

In her report PCES Principal Anita Wright explained there has been an improvement in chronic absenteeism this school year. 

A chronically absent student is defined as a pupil enrolled in a school and with a total number of absences — excused or unexcused — equal to or greater than 10% of the total number of days they have been enrolled during the year. 

In order to help entice students to want to come to school, an attendance contest was established.

Classrooms reaching 100% attendance goals for the week earn a gold coin. Homerooms at the 90% mark earn a silver coin, and five silver coins can be cashed in for one gold coin.

If a classroom earns 10 gold coins then students earn an adventure and they can invite one family member to join them.

“We have two classrooms with five gold coins so we better start planning,” Wright said, with the specific adventure to be determined. Grade 2 teacher Dana Fogarty and Grade 3 teacher Alicia Laweryson’s classes are the current gold coin leaders.

Since Sept. 1 PCES has had at least 90% schoolwide attendance with the exception of one week which was 84%.

The state standard is 90% attendance and last year’s rate was 82-89%.

The school had its first monthly “Guessing Game” at a morning meeting before the winter break with music teacher Matthew Fogg serving as host “Bingo McSprinkle.”

Guessing Game categories were posted in advance to help students prepare for the fun competition to reinforce learning in an enjoyable and engaging way. 

“They will learn as they compete,” Wright said.

The next game is scheduled for the Jan. 21 morning meeting with categories such as geography, math facts, vocabulary, word knowledge, sports, science, music/art and social studies.

This year’s One Book – One School shared family reading book will be kicking off the next week with “The Mouse and the Motorcycle” by Beverly Clearly being the 2026 title.

Each PCES family will receive a copy of the book as will classrooms to read together.

Trivia questions from the previous night’s reading will be part of the announcements and the first class to call in with the correct answer gets to have a replica mouse for the day. Despite being older, Wright said the fifth and sixth graders still get very competitive and want to win the mouse.

Wright was asked about money that had been raised to fund a school therapy dog. In November Wright regretted to inform the board that such an animal will not be coming.

The principal will speak with students about expending funds. “That money would be spent before the end of this year for sure,” she said.

Mission Working Dogs, a Lewiston-based nonprofit that breeds and trains service, therapy, and facility dogs for veterans, schools and nursing homes, was concerned that the dog would be owned by the school, Wright said last fall. The organization wondered about the fate of the dog with budget cuts and if the handler were to depart.

SAD 4 officials did have plans in place for these scenarios.

Ideas mentioned previously include donations to an animal shelter and/or the Travis Mills Foundation.

Every year Wright encourages sixth graders to participate in the “Make a Difference” challenge as they brainstorm, develop and complete projects that positively impact others around the world. 

After Christy Gardner from Mission Working Dogs spoke at a previous Veterans Day assembly, the then-grade 5 students decided their goal would be to get a therapy dog for PCES.

The sixth graders raised $5,614 in their Make a Difference challenge, which would have funded the therapy dog training as well as the first year of insurance and a monogrammed dog bed.

The earliest the dog could have arrived was the first part of 2026, after a 15-month training process, and the sixth-graders knew they would have moved on from PCES by the time the dog was in the building.

Special Education Director Nicki Greene reported SAD 4 is halfway through its collaboration with Penquis Headstart at Morton Avenue in Dover-Foxcroft. The district has a staff member placed in the program to support the special needs of students per their IEP.

Greene said the collaboration has gone well and as next year’s budget is developed the intention is to maintain the collaboration.