FARMINGTON – Urban E. West has graduated, just 62 years after he expected to.
West received his high school diploma at a ceremony held during the SAD 9 board meeting Tuesday night. The diploma was presented by board Chairman Raymond Glass, who said that the ceremony was a “wonderful opportunity.”
West was set to graduate from the Wilton Academy Hill School in 1944 when World War II began. He enlisted into the Navy in 1943 and served for the duration of the war, receiving his discharge in 1946. He married, but never went back to school. The ceremony was possible due to a state law that allows veterans of World War II and the Korean War to receive diplomas.
Glass noted that West, 80, had served his country at the expense of his own education.
“On behalf of the board,” Glass said, “I’d like to say that every one of us is honored to present this diploma to Urban West.”
West thanked the board for the ceremony and then hoisted the diploma into the air.
“It only took 60 years to get it,” he said humorously.
The ceremony was made possible by a state law allowing veterans of World War II and the Korean War to receive diplomas.
The school board also voted on a number of other issues, including personnel changes. Several members of the SAD 9 secretarial staff switched positions, and the board accepted the resignations of educational technician Kristin Wiggin and duty monitor Susan Salisbury. The board also approved the employment of John Churchill, who was hired by Superintendent Michael Cormier to be a firefighter instructor at the Foster Tech Center. Board member Bob Flick and others had concerns, due to unspecified issues between Churchill and the Farmington Fire Department, but, after some discussion, the hiring was approved unanimously.
The board also granted a leave of absence to Mt. Blue High School teacher Dan Ryder, who is accepting a one-year teaching position at the University of Maine at Farmington. Ryder, who teaches English at Mt. Blue, said that “it was a really difficult decision” to leave the high school, even temporarily.
“My heart and soul are in this building,” he said.
Ryder plans to return after one year, and will continue to be involved with the school’s extracurricular activities, including the Curtain Raisers, a theater program he started.
In other business, the board voted to increase SAD 9 substitute teachers’ pay by $5 a day. Educational technician substitution pay was increased from $7.15 an hour to $8.20 an hour. The price of school lunch will be increased by 10 cents per lunch, and 5 cents per breakfast, over the next year.
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