MEXICO – The Western Foothills School District board on Tuesday learned of a $1.1 million special services grant that could deter some students from being identified as special education students in the future.

The behavioral grant will extend over three years, at $372,000 per year, said grant writer Katherine Harvey and special education directors Clarissa Errington and Paula Leavitt.

“Kids do well when they can,” Leavitt said. “This is the perfect opportunity to teach skills.”

The grant will target youngsters in the district’s four elementary schools first, then go into effect in the middle and high schools.

Each school in the Rumford-, Dixfield- and Buckfield-area district will design a behavioral plan, and parents will be a focus, Errington said.

“If certain skills are taught and learned, there should be fewer students in special education,” Leavitt said.

Several outside agencies, including Head Start and Community Concepts, are partnering with the grant.

It is the second major grant the newly created district, also known as Regional School Unit 10, has received. Word was received earlier in the month that the district would get $1.3 million over the next five years for after-school and summer programs for youngsters who need academic assistance.

In other matters, the board tabled action on a request by Mountain Valley High School social studies teacher Carolyn Lynch to take a one-year sabbatical.

She requested the half-paid leave to pursue an internship that would allow her to help students in their applications to college, and to become a teacher of English as a second language.

The board wanted more information on the cost to the district before deciding.

The board also tabled a decision on whether to contract with Apple Inc. or some other computer provider for the purchase of laptop computers for the high schools, until greater details are provided.

Superintendent Tom Ward and the board entered a closed session to discuss negotiations related to staffing at SAD 21 (Dixfield area) and SAD 39 (Buckfield area). Staffing and negotiations for the third member of the Foothills district, SAD 43 in the Rumford area, will be taken up next year when the new district brings together all contracts.

Because of balloting on June 9, the next RSU 10 board meeting was moved to June 16 at Mountain Valley High School.