Budget freeze ordered for tri-town schools

POLAND — Anticipating significant cuts in state aid to education, Superintendent Dennis Duquette told the School Committee on Monday night that he had issued a budgetary freeze.

"We're not jumping the gun," Duquette said. "This is, 'Let's be smart and not spend money we don't have.'" 

He said lawmakers expect a $100 million revenue shortfall this year and to balance the state budget, they will likely cut $40 million in state aid to local schools.

While state officials have not said how this would affect schools in Mechanic Falls, Minot and Poland, Duquette estimated the district could receive about $300,000 less from the state than is budgeted.

"The administrators in our schools have been very cooperative," Duquette said.

Working with school administrators, he said, about $150,000 worth of cost-cutting measures have been identified without, to this point, cutting any positions, although some programs will have to be curtailed.

Duquette said he expects the state may have to consider extending the worker furlough day concept to the schools, reducing the number of required instructional days as a way to reduce spending.

Regional School Unit 16 School Committee members Carl Beckett, Mary Ella Jones and Christopher Woodford will work with Duquette, as a budget advisory subcommittee, on a plan to deal with the anticipated cut.

The School Committee took no action on assistant girls' soccer coach Harold Bridgham's complaint that he had been unfairly treated when he had not been invited back to coach again this season.

Bridgham, who has been a volunteer coach at Poland Regional High School for four varsity seasons, complained that he had been singled out for his aggressive coaching style and that, as coaches were given no written standards, he had been evaluated subjectively.

Bridgham had issues with the district's "sports done right" philosophy and complained that he had been called the day before the first practice and told not to appear.

Duquette expanded upon the "philosophical differences" cited in co-curricular director Donald King's June 19 letter to Bridgham informing him that he would not be invited back to coach, noting that Bridgham "brings motivation and enthusiasm to athletics, but there are steps that need to be taken before you can come back."

The committee asked King to bring copies of the Maine Principals' Association's coaches' handbook, which the district uses as a guideline, to its Oct. 5 meeting for review and, as Duquette noted, make sure the protocol for volunteer coaches is properly addressed.

In other business, the committee formally approved hiring Emily Foster to teach Spanish to eighth-graders at Bruce Whittier Middle School, Elm Street School and Minot Consolidated School. Foster is already in the classroom, bringing Spanish to Mechanic Falls and Minot students for the first time.

Duquette announced that district student enrollment is up nearly 100 students over what it was a year ago, the number currently standing at 1,760.

Regional School Unit 16 Business Manager Rick Kusturin reported that one of the boilers at the high school was cracked. Replacement could cost $60,000.