LEWISTON — The Lewiston School Committee is about to look very different.

The majority of its members are leaving.

Five out of eight did not seek re-election and met for the last time Monday night. That leaves three members with two years or less of experience.

Outgoing members are Chairwoman Linda Scott, Benjamin Martin, Matthew Roy, Thomas Shannon and Paul St. Pierre. The three staying are Megan Parks, Francis Gagnon and Luke Jensen.

Gagnon and Parks were elected in 2015. Jensen was appointed in 2016 as a replacement for Richard White, who resigned.

New members elected last month are Renee Courtemanche, Monique Roy, Tanya Estabrook and Tina Hutchinson. 

Five leaving at one time represents a loss of institutional knowledge, especially with two of those members, Shannon and St. Pierre, having each served some 20 years.

“I’m sorry we’re losing such great experience, especially with Paul and Tom,” Scott said. “They have committed so much to the School Committee. It’s admirable.”

But change and new ideas can be good. “I look forward to a new school committee getting its hands wet,” she said.

Tom Shannon, who did not seek re-election because he ran for City Council, said he isn’t concerned about a lack of experience on the committee.

“If new members take their seats with the idea of helping kids and are open to learning, they’ll do fine,” Shannon said.

 The Maine School Management Association offers good programs to help new committee members learn, he said. Superintendent Bill Webster will also help guide new members as they become acclimated, he said.

Incoming School Committee member Tina Hutchinson said she and other new members are preparing. “The four of us have been to two trainings already … to try to get our toes a little wet.”

One training session was held by Maine School Management, another was a negotiations training session in Augusta.

Monday night the outgoing members were thanked and praised.

Three years ago, Hutchinson was among a group of protesting parents unhappy with Proficiency-Based Learning initially expected of the Class of 2018. The Proficiency-Based Learning diploma for that class was later removed, giving the district more time to develop Proficiency-Based Learning learning.

Hutchinson recalled showing up at meetings “angry,” she said. “We attacked you at every possible turn. We fought with you, then decided to work with you. We’ve come a long way in three years.”

She thanked them “for taking time out of your busy lives to be there for the children, because in the end that’s what this is all about.”

Former School Committee member Jim Handy said longtime tenure brings historical knowledge that can’t be learned from books or meeting minutes. “It comes from being an active participant,” he said.

Shannon and St. Pierre “epitomize what public service means in this community,” Handy said. “The children and families have reaped the benefits of their long-tenured service.” 

Smoking in teachers lounge

To put in perspective how long they’ve served, when Shannon and St. Pierre first became members in 1992 and 1993, teachers still smoked in the teachers’ lounge and often lit up as they left the school building.

Soda machines were in schools.

The soda and smoking are gone.

Shannon credits St. Pierre, who served on a Healthy Androscoggin committee, with helping to forge healthier policies. St. Pierre also “kept after me,” finally convincing Shannon to quit smoking 13 years ago.

Shannon said he first decided to run for office “because I had kids in the school system. I was interested in being involved.” He wanted to give back.

Once he started to learn about what it takes to run schools, “it intrigued me.”

Since the 1990s, one big improvement is how proposed school budgets are displayed and put to referendum before voters. That has improved transparency, Shannon said.

An improvement Lewiston needs to make, he said, is ensuring that all six elementary schools have student populations that represent the district. Redistricting was proposed several years ago but rejected after pushback by some parents.

A few schools today have high percentages of English Language Learners – the majority at Longley and Montello are ELL students – while other schools have lower numbers.

“If one school has only 30 immigrant students out of 600 students,” while another school has 300 ELL students out of 400 students, “you don’t have a ratio that’s reflective of the community,” he said. No longer shielding some students from the community’s diversity would be best for all, he said.

Lewiston needs a school committee that knows the ropes and “has the political will” to make that change, Shannon said.

Lewiston Superintendent Bill Webster, standing, reads words of thanks to outgoing School Committee members Monday night. To his left is Linda Scott. To his right are Francis Gagnon, Paul St. Pierre and Megan Parks.  (Bonnie Washuk/Sun Journal)

Lewiston School Committee members

Outgoing: Linda Scott, Paul St. Pierre, Thomas Shannon, Benjamin Martin and Matthew Roy.

Staying: Francis Gagnon, Megan Parks and Luke Jensen. 

Incoming: Renee Courtemanche, Monique Roy, Tanya Estabrook and Tina Hutchinson. 

The City Council representative on the School Committee is Kristen Cloutier. It will be up to the new council to decide which councilor serves as its School Committee representative.

There was no School Committee candidate for Ward 6, a district that includes Lewiston High School and is bordered by Lisbon Street and the Androscoggin River. Whoever is elected mayor on Tuesday, Ben Chin or Shane Bouchard, will appoint the Ward 6 school board member.

The inauguration for mayor, City Council and School Committee will be Jan. 2 at the Dolard & Priscilla Gendron Franco Center, 46 Cedar St.

Copy the Story Link