BETHEL — The SAD 44 board this week accepted the resignation of Telstar Regional High School Principal Dan Hart, effective at the end of the school year.

Hart, of Bethel, has been principal for six years. Prior to that, he was principal at Dirigo High School in Dixfield and student services coordinator at the Region 9 School of Applied Technology in Mexico. He served several years in each of those posts.

Superintendent David Murphy said the district will advertise for a new principal while exploring alternative ways to meet the administrative needs of the high school and Telstar Middle School. The combined student population of the schools is about 425.

The board also accepted the resignation of Kathleen Bennett, who has served the district as an educational technician for 27 years. She is retiring.

SAD 44 directors Tim Akers of Andover and Marcel Polak of Woodstock were re-elected. Andover selectmen appointed Lindsay Sharkey to finish the term started by Mark Schraiber, who recently resigned from the board.

Other board members whose terms will be up in June are Roberta Taylor and Kate Botka, both of Bethel, and Tammy Goodwin of Greenwood.

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In other matters, the board continued the services of Jeanne LaPointe as part-time nutrition services director for another year at a cost of $15,000, the same fee as in prior years.

Murphy said LaPointe is emphasizing buying and using more local food for school meals. He said she has turned the nutrition account around from $150,000 in the red a few years ago, to $44,000 in the black.

LaPointe is nutrition director for RSU 10.

Murphy also told the board the district is expected to receive about $600,000 in general purpose aid to education, which is down slightly from this year.

“We have no debt service so we’re in pretty good shape,” he said.

The partnership between Telstar Regional High School and Central Maine Community College is likely to continue next fall, Murphy said. Students and their parents have shown interest in dual enrollment for seniors at the Auburn college, he said.

The district’s Project Opportunity, which provides funds to encourage high school students to enroll in higher education, will likely pay for several more Telstar seniors to attend CMCC next school year, he said.

This school year, four students have enrolled full-time at the college to earn a year of college credits at no cost. The students receive high school and college credits for their work.


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