SALEM – SAD 58 will rely on video-conferencing to connect school board members in two towns that are nearly 40 miles apart, the superintendent said Monday.

In December, the district showed off its $8,500 video-conferencing system it bought with a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The technology connects board members at Mount Abram in Salem to those at Stratton Elementary School, about 40 miles of twisty road away via a live video and sound feed.

Superintendent Quenten Clark said Monday that his district is the only in the state he knows of that utilizes this technology for school board meetings.

“There is a real commitment to technology in this district,” he said. “Our schools are great undiscovered secrets because of the investment we’ve made in technology up here.”

Despite the success of the technology in bridging the distance, the board has only used the technology once since the inaugural trial run back in December.

Clark said it’s a learning process for board members to get used to the technology, which has a slight delay and requires people to keep their chin up when they speak so their sound is picked up by the system’s microphones.

Now that the days are getting longer and the snow is starting to soften, Clark said the video-conference system will most likely go into hibernation.

The plan, he said, is to, “Mostly use it during the winter months when traveling is tough due to the cold, dark, ice and snow.”

But when the roads are dry, Clark said his board wants to be together, and not just digitally.

“They clearly have a yearning to be physically together,” he explained. “This does make it much easier for our board members in Stratton and so it raises attendance. But, it also takes away some of that personal feel.”

All in all, Clark says the board will rely again for sure starting in next November when the flakes, and the sun, start to fall a little earlier. He estimated it will be used between four and six times a year, mostly between November and March.

“It’s a tool and it will just get better,” he said. “Eventually, it will get to the point where it’s just like being there.”

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