SAD 4 athletic director stepping down at end of fall season
GUILFORD — SAD 4 Athletic Director Tom Panciera will step down from the position as of Nov. 7, which is state championship Saturday and the last possible date Piscataquis Community High School fall sports teams will be playing.
Panciera, who also is an ed tech in the district, will have served as athletic director for just over a year after taking over for Jon McAllian when he departed for the athletic director position at Hampden Academy after several months in SAD 4.
Panciera gave a 45-day notice to Superintendent Kelly MacFadyen last month and cited wanting to spend more time with family as a reason for resigning. He feels he is leaving the secondary school athletics program in better shape than when he began, he said.
The decision is “very sad news for us because he’s doing a great job and we are sad to lose him,” MacFadyen said during an Oct. 13 school board meeting at Piscataquis Community Elementary School.
She wanted to let the directors know before she advertises the position.
The job is not easy, the superintendent said. “This is a thankless position because it’s 24/7.”
In other business, the school board heard from PCES Principal Anita Wright on a plan to use more than $100,000 in excess Title funds to hire behavior interventionists or an additional social worker — to see who applies — for the remainder of the 2026-27 academic year. This would serve the needs of 19 identified K-5 students with small group, in-class support.
Title monies are federal funds and do not come from the local budget, Wright said. Last year Title staff moved into regular classrooms to fill a need when teachers departed and not all Title monies were spent. Title positions were advertised but no applications came in and therefore not all the money was spent.
Behavioral problems have increased this year, MacFadyen said. District officials want to support these children so they can learn how to improve their behaviors and “you also want to give support to the other 10 children who are in the room ready to learn and are being disrupted.”
“This is our best chance to help them, when they are young,” Wright said.
The school needs an assistant principal, a position PCES has not had in several years. MacFadyen will bring this up when work begins on next year’s budget in the months to come.
“An assistant principal would be more flexible where we could use them,” she said.
SAD 4 will receive a little more than $40,000 from the Maine Department of Education. One-time funding is being given to districts across the state with a high proportion of economically disadvantaged students.
Approximately $15,000 will be used to repair the PCES foyer roof. The work will be done by G&E Roofing of Augusta and the $15,000 will come out of the renovation reserve account which will be at about $112,000 after payment is made.
After the roof work, SAD 4’s only need is to replace the outside doors at the elementary school. These can be funded through the regular maintenance budget.