SALEM TOWNSHIP — SAD 58 directors re-elected Judy Dill chairwoman and Ann Schwink as vice chairwoman at Thursday night’s board meeting.

It was the first meeting of the new fiscal year, which began July 1.

Dan Worcester of Phillips was welcomed as a new board member.

Mt. Abram High School Principal Marco Aliberti explained the program for freshmen and sophomores who need extra help in certain subjects.

He offered a similar system last year during the lunch period, and the program was very successful, Superintendent Brenda Stevens said. All freshmen who received the remedial help moved successfully into the sophomore class.

Aliberti said students who do not complete homework on time will be required to finish their assignments from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m.

Board members asked Aliberti to communicate clearly to parents and students that the students may require alternative transportation to get home. There is a late bus that runs Monday through Thursday.

Aliberti will send information packets to parents before school starts. His goal is to have the tutors get to know the students and provide individualized coaching.

“I feel we’re punishing the same kids over and over again, and they don’t have a chance to taste success,” he said.

In other news, Lori Littlefield, the school librarian, told directors she would be passing yearbook duties to staff member Sharon Dudley.

She said she was taking advice from one of her children’s teachers.

“He said we don’t learn when we’re in a relaxed state,” she said. “We learn when we’re under stress.”

Littlefield joked that she had “learned a great deal” during the seven years she had supervised the process, but she was looking forward to relaxing.

Stevens addressed an issue raised by the board at an earlier meeting. The board votes should be weighted, she said, based on the population of each town. No one director can have more than 13.1 percent of the vote, she said.

With Stevens’ proposed revisions, the towns would have fairly balanced percentages: Strong, 9.40 percent; Phillips, 11.90 percent; Avon, 10.70 percent; Kingfield 11.50 percent; and Eustis, 7.20 percent.

“It’s very rare that this board doesn’t vote unanimously, but when it’s close, the board could be in a precarious position,” she said.

For example, she said, the two Strong directors have a larger share of the vote than is allowed by legal weighted requirements and the current census figures. She suggested changing the system.

“I’m dead set against it,” Strong director Marc Edwards said. “I think as board members, we represent the whole district.”

The board voted not to take action and tabled Stevens’ proposal.

The directors scheduled the September meeting in Stratton. October’s meeting will be in Phillips. Directors will meet in Kingfield in November and in Strong in December.