FARMINGTON — The Regional School Unit 9 Board of Directors held a special meeting Tues., Nov. 3, during which the Board held two executive sessions. The first session was scheduled on the agenda for the Board to discuss the legal rights and duties of the school unit and to hold a consultation between the school unit and its attorney.
The Board convened in response to the no confidence vote cast by 368 RSU 9 staff members that resulted in over 90% of voters stating they had no confidence in Superintendent Tina Meserve.
Over 180 Zoom participants waited for the Board to come out of executive session and for the meeting to proceed to public comment. After an hour and a half of executive session, the Board returned and motioned to enter another executive session to discuss a personnel matter.
When the Board returned from its second executive session, Chair Angela LeClair said the Board was committed to conflict-resolution in regards to concerns raised by RSU 9 community members towards Meserve’s leadership.
“We will present something next week on how we feel that process will go forward, possibly dealing with some conflict-resolution,” LeClair said. “But we will have more information to present next week and because we are committed to healing the district and coming out on the other side better.”
The meeting proceeded to public comment during which Mt. Blue Education Association President Doug Hodum spoke and rejected the idea that the union-initiated no confidence vote was a contract negotiation tactic.
“Both the petition and the vote of no confidence were supported by members and non-members covering a wide range of job positions in this district. We presented to the Board with majority petitions signed by over 300 staff members,” Hodum said. “In that petition, we did ask for a swift and fair resolution to the teacher contract negotiations and the MOA [memoranda of agreement] negotiations. But we also asked for hourly staff to be permitted to work additional hours to meet the needs of our students, we asked for a focus on collaboration and an increased voice for educators.”
A no confidence vote in Tina Meserve petition has been circulating throughout Franklin County at various locations for parents and community members to sign. Locations were posted in the Parents and Community Members of RSU 9 Facebook group, on Tues., Nov. 2.
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