FARMINGTON – SAD 9 directors voted 12-1 Tuesday to approve an after-school Civil Rights Team Club at the Cape Cod Hill School. Director Sue Black of Wilton was opposed.
Directors also voted 10-3 not to approve funding for the club in 2006-07 budget. Dissenters on the vote were Jo Josephson of Temple, Yvette Robinson of Farmington and Kevin Umlauf of Vienna.
Prior to the vote, Superintendent Mike Cormier said the club had been started by staff not realizing the board’s guidelines had changed on club approval. Clubs need to be approved by directors before development and organization begins.
School guidance counselor, Merrily Welch, who started the club, apologized to the board in her letter to directors for skipping those steps.
Cormier also relayed a message from Director Neil Stinneford of Weld, who was not able to attend Tuesday, that he was concerned that approving the club would open a Pandora’s Box for more clubs.
Cormier recommended approval of the “very worthwhile” venture with the stipulation that it wouldn’t be funded in the budget. He said it was a positive thing for students and encouraged staff to be involved.
There is a Civil Rights Team at the high and middle schools. The Cape Cod Hill School club is open to all fifth- and sixth-graders, and all 210 students are expected to benefit for the club, Welch wrote.
The Civil Rights Team is an opportunity for our students, with teacher assistance, to teach and promote increased learning and skill development with respect to getting along with one another, conflict resolution skills, having and understanding different perspectives, treating each other equally and with respect, helping friends and more,” Welch wrote in her letter.
The materials to initiate the team have been supplied by the Attorney General’s Office, along with a one-time, three-hour training for all building staff. The materials were received this fall and the training occurred this summer voluntarily on behalf of more than 95 percent of the build staff, she wrote.
Staff wrote and received two grants for the team, one from MBNA for technical support in the amount of $1,284 and the other from Western Maine Teachers Fund for T-shirts and additional materials for $200.
The Parent Teacher Organization covered the cost of student and facilitator training. If bus costs were provided by the district this would be of great assistance, Welch wrote.
Josephson said the program would be good for students.
Director Joyce Morton of Farmington said the program was covered by grants this year, but the MBNA money won’t be available next year. The credit card company closed its doors March 10 in Farmington.
Janis Stinson of Wilton said the only way she would vote for it was if it there was no money to support it.
Josephson said she didn’t want to lose the project. She also advocated that all civil rights teams in the district be supported the same.
“I want this committee,” Josephson said. “I want this club to exist.”
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