MSAD 58 board of directors are seen at the Nov. 21 meeting at Mt. Abram Regional High School in Salem. Leo Goddard/Franklin Journal

SALEM — At the MSAD 58 board of directors meeting at Mt. Abram Regional High School on Thursday, Nov. 21, Superintendent Laura Columbia and board member Susan Pratt presented the highlights of the Maine School Management Association conference, including a new program that will be required in 2028.

Pratt informed the board that by October 1, 2028, a plan needs to be submitted for a new program that includes students ages three to five. She said that it can’t be a special education class, but it must include a certified special education teacher. Pratt recommended forming a new committee to plan for this big change.

“I think it’s a great thing for the kids, I think it’ll be challenging for school systems,” said Pratt. Pratt said that a similar program is currently in place, but that it only includes four and five-year-olds and that it is run by the Child Development Services (CDS). It will now be the school system’s responsibility. She said that in her opinion, “CDS hasn’t done right by kids.”

There were some concerns about transportation. While transportation for this program is not required, the school system has already been providing it. The concern is that it will become more difficult to transport some three-year-olds who still need to use car seats. However, they don’t want to take transportation away since they have already been providing it.

There was a question of if this program will still exist by 2028, with uncertainties around the changing political climate. “This isn’t going away,” Pratt said. She urged the board to understand why a committee is necessary as this new change will require acquiring new teachers, new equipment, and a new space.

In other news, Superintendent Columbia agreed with Pratt that the district website needs updates. Columbia said that there were a lot of challenges including links and documents that are no longer accessible as they belonged to former staff.

“Maybe it’s time to trash it and start from scratch,” said Pratt. “There are staff listed that haven’t worked here for two years.”

Columbia agreed, but said that there were challenges that were not easy to overcome. One being that the money needed to hire someone to build a website, as using a do-it-yourself host would not be secure enough.