PARIS — The SAD 17 board of directors unanimously approved a one-year extension of Superintendent Rick Colpitts’ contract at Tuesday’s meeting.

The action followed an executive session to conduct an evaluation.

The board is required by state law to review the superintendent’s performance each year and to decide whether to extend his or her contract.

“My view is that the superintendent is doing an excellent job,” board Chairman Ron Kugell said before the meeting.

Kugell said the two-step process will include a review of Colpitts’ salary and other benefits later this year. In July 2013, the directors set the superintendent’s salary at $111,661 for a three-year period. Tuesday night’s vote extends the contract until June 2019.

During the first part of the evaluation process, each director completed a written evaluation of the superintendent, which was presented to the Personnel Committee, Kugell said. The Personnel Committee reviewed the evaluation in executive session with the full board, providing them with an opportunity to comment, then made a recommendation to extend the contract.

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The Personnel Committee’s recommendation to extend the contract was given prior to the vote by the full board to support that move.

Last year, the superintendent presented his goals for the district and himself to the board. Later this year, the superintendent will present how he attained those goals. The goals will be based on the district’s strategic plan, which was approved by the board in 2013.

Colpitts was appointed superintendent in 2010, succeeding Mark Eastman, who retired after holding the post for 15 years. In May 2010, the directors gave Colpitts a three-year contract with an annual salary of $103,000.

After each annual evaluation, the board has voted to extend the contract by one year.

In other business, Colpitts was surprised by a visit from the local state legislators Tom J. Winsor, R-Norway, Rep. Lloyd C. Herrick, R-Paris, and Sen. James Hamper, R-Oxford, who presented Colpitts with a citation from the state Legislature to commemorate Colpitts being named Superintendent of the Year.

Colpitts was named Superintendent of the Year by a vote of his statewide colleagues from the Maine School Management Association in December 2015.

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Colpitts, a resident of Peru, has been superintendent of the eight-town district in Oxford Hills for the past five years. Before that, he was assistant superintendent.

The award is an honor that recognizes his work in supporting teachers and administrators to help all students achieve, according to a release from Maine School Management Association.

Colpitts was nominated by SAD 44 Superintendent David Murphy of Bethel, who described him as someone who has earned a stellar reputation as a leader and an “out of the box” thinker.

The board also voted to approve the first reading of the school resource officer. The document outlines the duties of the school resource officers at the Rowe Elementary School and the middle and high school. The elementary school resource officer recently began work at the Norway elementary school.

The Board of Directors also had a moment of silence in tribute to their colleague Don Gouin, who died last week at the age of 85. Gouin represented Norway on the Board of Directors for the past 30 years. His public funeral will be held at the Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 24.

ldixon@sunmediagroup.com


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