The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the incidents.
By Ellie Fellers
Special to the Sun Journal

NEW GLOUCESTER – Two bomb scares this week at Gray-New Gloucester Middle School will force students to make up classes Jan. 23, the SAD 15 directors agreed Wednesday.

Interim Superintendent Victoria Burns said the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the incidents.

“We are working with staff. This is disturbing to staff and disturbing to children. Every hour lost has to be made up. I hope this will be the end of it,” she told the board.

The cost to transport students to make up for the time lost is estimated at $2,150.

And figures are not in for the cost to feed students that day.

Burns said if the person who triggered the threats is caught, the district will seek to recover costs.

In addition, the board agreed that Friday, Jan. 23, also will be used to make up lost instructional time at the Burchard Dunn Elementary School in New Gloucester, which happened from an electrical failure in October.

Costs to transport students in grades three to five in Gray and New Gloucester will cost $1,732.

In other business, the board authorized the transfer of $41,473 from a high school administration contract services account to the school board’s professional services fund account. The money would have paid for a resource officer but that was covered by a grant instead.

The transfer was needed to offset overspending for legal services related to expenses for an employee issue, a yearly audit, a Pennell Institute trust legal issue and a special education legal issue.

The 2003-04 board professional service account of $59,690 was short roughly $45,000.

The district last month spent $47,400 for legal costs associated with the firing of Brian McDonnell, the director of finance and operations.

And issues surrounding the possible disposal of Pennell Institute established as an educational trust have legal costs that total $14,000.

The town of Gray has taken legal steps to have the building turned back to the town at no cost. Pennell Institute served Gray students under a trust provision established in the 1800s, but was turned over to SAD 15 in 1962 when Gray and New Gloucester formed the school district.

Finally, the director of teaching and learning, Karen Caprio, presented an in-depth review and analysis of the Maine Educational Assessment. She told the board that the district proved that adequate yearly progress had been made during last year’s testing, based on evidence she recently sent to state officials.

In addition, the board learned that Caprio tracked the performance of students as district students over the years. She discovered that between the fourth and eighth grades about one-third of students left the district.

And, between fourth and 11th grades, 50 percent of SAD 15 students no longer attended local schools. Her results showed that students who stayed in the district through the educational years fared better in Maine Educational Assessment results than students who moved in during their educational years.

Additionally, students were surveyed on the importance of the MEA.

Caprio’s recommendations include having schools publish the testing dates in January and asking parents not to schedule time away from school during the testing in the first two weeks in March. In addition, instructional staff should walk students through the demographic questionnaire for accuracy of answers and be sure students understand what is being asked of them.

“Our focus must be on writing,” she said. “Teach students how to write a constructed response answer.”

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