LEWISTON — The School Committee voted unanimously Monday to approve Dr. Shashi Panozzo as school physician for 2011-12, and St. Mary’s Health Care System to continue overseeing the school health clinics.

Panozzo is in her second year as physician for Lewiston and Auburn schools. She works at St. Mary’s B Street Health Center on Birch Street, Lewiston.

Before committee members voted, Jim Lysen, St. Mary’s executive director of Community Clinical Services, said exciting things are happening for local school-based health care.

The program recently won a federal grant to help create electronic medical records and high-tech care with state-of-the-art equipment. Both will bring about more efficient and effective care for students, he said.

“The $337,000 grant comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, money coming right back to this community,” Lysen said. “We’re excited about that. It brings us into the 21st century with technology. We’ll be implementing that in the next few years.”

St. Mary’s was also successful in getting a state grant of $198,000 a year for the five school health centers in Lewiston-Auburn, Lysen said.

In addition, St. Mary’s received a small grant from the National Assembly of School-Based Health Care that will allow nurse practitioners to examine students’ teeth and apply fluoride if needed.

In other business, committee members heard a report that the school budget that ended July 1 could leave a surplus of $854,000 for next year. That’s more than the previous fiscal year’s unexpended balance of $400,000, Business Manager Dean Flannagin said. The numbers will be firmed after the annual audit is done by an outside firm in September, he said.

Committee members praised language in the school department’s proposed mission statement. The statement says Lewiston schools will ensure student academic and civic success, that all students learn, have talent and want to succeed, and student learning is enhanced by meaningful, real-life experiences requiring complex thinking.

The statement also said learning is standards-based with multiple pathways to achieve success, learning should be relevant, rigorous and based on a common curriculum, and it is ongoing and constant.

The one-page draft will go to teachers for their approval, then to a community meeting this fall before being voted on in January.

Superintendent Bill Webster said in preparation for the first day of school on Aug. 29, teachers will  meet with him Thursday at the high school. 

— Bonnie Washuk