By Winslow Durgin,Special to the Sun Journal

MINOT – The School Committee on Tuesday night received a preview of what Minot’s participation in the federally funded Sports Done Right program might mean for athletic teams at the Minot Consolidated School.

Physical education teacher Chris Willer was a member of the Union 29 delegation that, earlier in the day, had attended a training session at the University of Maine in Orono for the 12 schools taking part.

“We’ll be looking at everything in the sports programs. How coaches coach; what we should expect from the players both on the field and including academic performance,” said Willer.

An immediate benefit of the pilot program, Willer pointed out, is that coaches for teams in all three Union 29 towns will be able to take coaching classes at the University of Maine beginning in the fall.

Willer noted that one of the local goals will be for schools in Mechanic Falls, Minot and Poland to be operating under the same policies, hopefully by the start of the fall sports season.

The Union 29 Sports Done Right team will be meeting in the next few weeks and will give the School Committee a progress report at its April 26 meeting.

Director of Operations Gordon Murray told the committee that bid information for work on the well water filtration building for the Minot Consolidated School has been sent to four contractors. Bids are due April 15. Murray said that the potential bidders clearly understand that the work must be completed before school reopens in the fall.

Murray also reported that he expects repairs to the school’s heating system to cost between $3,000 and $4,000, which is beyond the maintenance and repair budget.

Special Education Director Barbara Hasenfus told the committee that costs for speech and language services are expected to be $8,000 to $10,000 less than originally anticipated.

Superintendent Nina Schlikin informed the committee that teacher workshops scheduled for March 17 and 18 had been canceled, and students attended classes those days to make up for cancellations due to storms. The students’ last day of school will be Friday, June 17, as originally planned. Schlikin said no decision had been made concerning making up the workshops.

The School Committee publicly congratulated Shane Nichols, who not only was the Minot Consolidated School’s best speller, but went on to win the Androscoggin County spelling bee last week. The committee wished Nichols well in Saturday’s state spelling bee. Owen Hicks was recognized for placing among the top 100 students in the state’s geography test.

As part of its contribution to the Community Club’s April 9 basket bingo, the committee agreed to fill a basket with Red Sox memorabilia.

The committee formally greeted Lisa Sabatine as its newest member. Sabatine returns to the board after a one-year hiatus. Elected officers for the new year are Colleen Quint as chairman and Sabatine as vice chairman. Karen M. Whalen was named the committee’s representative to the Poland Regional High School committee.

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