POLAND — The RSU 16 board Monday accepted the resignation of Superintendent Dennis Duquette.

The resignation agreement, effective April 23, was accepted unanimously.

Asked about the terms of the agreement and whether Duquette, who received a three-year extension to his contract in January, was entitled to a special severance package, interim Superintendent Michael Wilhelm said that Duquette was entitled to untaken vacation time.

Duquette has been on a leave of absence since Feb. 27. Business Manager Rick Kusturin has also been on a leave of absence since that date. Wilhelm said he had nothing to say about Kusturin’s status.

In other business, the school committee also received copies of a proposed budget for the 2012-13 school year. The total budget, as proposed, stands at $18.5 million, a 3.6 percent increase over the current year’s budget.

The school budget subcommittee, working with input from representatives from Mechanic Falls, Minot and Poland town budget committees, has worked budget requests down to the point where the estimated increase in what local property taxpayers would have to come up with stands at $264,905.

The estimated effect on taxes for a property valued at $100,000 differs in the three towns. If the budget goes forward at the full $18.5 million, it would cost the owner of a $100,000 property owner in Mechanic Falls an estimated $86.36; in Minot, an estimated $55.48; and in Poland, an estimated $6.20.

The School Committee will be holding public budget review sessions Wednesday, April 11, at Poland Regional High School, and again Thursday, April 12, at the Minot Consolidated School. Both meetings are to gather citizen comments and will begin at 6:30 p.m.

The School Committee set the last day of the current school year at June 19; approved a calendar for the 2012-13 school year; accepted the resignation of Poland Regional High School teacher Lori Gunn; appointed Carole Delluca to fill out the year as Title I math and reading intervention teacher at the Elm Street School; and approved giving $1,000 to support two teams of RSU students who qualified for Destination Imagination’s World meet in Tennessee.

Genevieve Ricard, who runs the program in the district’s elementary schools, said it would cost $20,000 for the 10 students involved to participate.

The school committee questioned the propriety of hiring Athletic Director Don King as coach for the J.V. softball team, being paid with a stipend in addition to his athletic director salary. School committee member Terri Arsenault called it “messy,” and asked that Principal Cari Medd take on the job of being responsible for supervising and evaluating his coaching performance.

Medd noted that King only stepped in when no other person could be found to fill the position.

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