District officials preparing for budget possibilities

    MILO — Across the state, municipal and school officials have been evaluating the potential impact of a plan of Gov. Paul LePage’s to address a state budget shortfall. “All you have to do is look at the news or open the newspaper and you see things aren’t going to get any easier for us,” SAD 41 Superintendent Michael Wright said during a school board meeting on Jan. 15.

    Wright said that a ballpark estimate of what the possible financial impact could be is approximately half million dollars for AOS 43 — comprised of SAD 41 and SAD 31 in the Howland area — along with another possible $23,000 curtailment for SAD 41. “I don’t know if all of this will come down, but these are the potentials that can hurt us,” Wright said, as more specific details on the proposed budget and its affect on the AOS will be determined in the weeks to come.

    “The curtailment for this year, if it goes through, would be $23,000,” he said. “As you know there’s not a lot of wiggle room in our budget.” Wright said there are some measures that could be taken to address budget reductions, such as using some of the monies from the SAD 41 fund balance which would require approval of citizens during the vote on the spending plan in the late spring.

    “We are looking at ways to offer new programs that offer more opportunities for kids and that also generate income for our district,” Wright said. He mentioned one idea being explored is another section of the pre-kindergarten program, as more students taking part would bring in more state subsidy.

    “We would like to do something for kids who have become disengaged at the high school level,” he said. Wright said that he and Special Services Director Stacy Shorey visited the Carleton Project in Houlton last month and met with students who through different types of non-traditional programs are now on pace to graduate high school and go on to post-secondary education after not previously being successful in school.

    “Can we offer a program to keep kids in school?,” Wright said, adding that having the enrollment remain steady also helps maintain the district’s state funding levels.

    “Each year the (Marion C.) Cook School is looked at because of the numbers,” he said. “We are looking at some things at Milo Elementary and Brownville Elementary. Maybe we don’t close the Cook School, maybe we use it for something different.

    “When we get something to recommend we will come back and show it to you,” Wright told the school board. “Right now we’re doing our homework.”

    “Sooner or later folks we are going to have to engage in a discussion of are we safe here?,” Board Chair Don Crossman said, as school safety has been scrutinized by districts across the nation after the fatal shooting of over two dozen people at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn. last month.

    “It’s an issue we are looking into, we have a pretty good plan,” safety committee member Arthur Herbest said as the committee has been working to review SAD 41’s policies and procedures.

    “It’s going to be an evolving thing as time goes, it’s never going to stop,” committee member Leon Farrar Jr. added. “All we can do is try our best and keep thinking of ways to stay ahead.”

    “We are practicing some things so we will be more ready than if we didn’t practice,” Wright said about emergency drills. “All we can do is the best we can do with our plans, knowing there is no plan for every event.”

    In his report Milo Elementary Principal Eric Smith wrote that a huge thank you, unfortunately in memory of, goes to Jean Johndro and to her entire family for the support they and their business JSI Store Fixtures provide the school and the area.

    “The amount of stuff JSI does for this community is incredible,” Smith said. “In her will she’s made some sizeable contributions to activities and local organizations.” He said that on Friday, Jan. 25 at 8:30 a.m. several checks will be presented to benefit programs at Milo Elementary. The contributions include $5,000 for both the school playground and the backpack program. Other $5,000 contributions will go to the town recreation department and food cupboard, and another $30,000 for an endowment fund for student scholarships.

    Smith said the backpack program, which enables students to take home backpacks filled with nutritious foods, will likely be renamed as Jean’s Blessing. “I think her legacy will continue in this community for quite a while,” he said. Smith also thanked Amber Gahagan and Dawn McLaughlin for all of their efforts in getting the backpack supplies, such as cereal, granola bars and fruit, ready for students to bring home prior to vacation.

    “This time of year I’m always amazed at the support for our kids,” he said about the community’s contributions to provide warm clothing for the students in need. “Through that we have a number of people who donate, I’m amazed at the number of people who knit hats and mittens.” Smith said blankets were recently given to the school to further help the pupils keep warm during the cold weather months.

    Brownville and Marion C. Cook Principal Lynn Weston said “it’s been Kindness Week” as Guidance Counselor BJ Bowden and classroom teachers “have been really focusing on doing nice things for people.”

    She said students of various grades wrote notes for the Kindness Week and some of these were addressed to Wright. He shared a few, in which the students thanked him for providing school supplies and for canceling classes on snow days.

    In her report Weston said that staff of the two schools have met to look at ways to tighten security as much as they can following the Sandy Hook Elementary shootings. She wrote that emergency plans and security are being reviewed at the administrative level.