RANGELEY — The RSU 78 Board of Education met on Wednesday, June 11, at the Rangeley Lakes Regional School. The meeting opened with two presentations, the first from Ellen Oppenheim on the new child care center. Oppenheim shared that they are hopeful for an October 1 opening. The second presentation was an update from RSU 78 Business Manager Roxanne Tanner on the Paid Family and Medical Leave plan.

Board Chair Dr Mary Richards shared that graduation on June 7 was a beautiful celebration. She also shared that the board would be providing the staff breakfast at school on the last student day. Three board members have agreed to chair committees this year: Karen Seaman – Finance Committee Chair, Danielle Lemay – Facilities Committee Chair, and Joanne Dunlap – Policy Committee Chair. Outgoing Policy Committee Chair Kathy Catrini will be retiring at the end of the 2025/2026 school year. We thank her for her years of dedicated service.

Superintendent Georgia Campbell shared that the 2025/2026 budget passed. Campbell congratulated the senior class and celebrated that graduates collectively received approximately $100,000 in scholarships. Sincere thank yous were extended to Kate Van Etten and Rowenna Hathaway for a wonderful job organizing graduation. Title IA preliminary allocations have been received for $36,967.38 and the school is still waiting on allocation amounts for Title II and Title IV. Lastly, Campbell shared that she will be attending the Commissioner’s Conference in Bar Harbor June 23-24 and will report on that in August.

Student Representative Natalie Alves (Class of 2027) shared that 8th grade promotion and step up day were complete. Students enjoyed a day off campus full of fun and games.

Committee reports included updates from Policy Committee which is bringing several action items to the board, and committee chair Kathy Catrini extended sincere thanks to Kim Dolbier for her organization and in-depth understanding of policy; Finance Committee did not meet this month; and Facility Committee shared that paving will start June 23 and will take 3-4 days weather permitting, brick work starts soon, Vortex is working on sewer lines, boilers all passed inspection, as well as all the school busses. Summer work will include painting, installation of new playground equipment, portable classroom work, and baseball wall repairs.

There was one nomination to approve Skyela Burgess for a Year Two probationary contract in elementary art. Campbell shared that Burgess is doing a wonderful job and that she and the middle school/high school art teacher, Liz Thompson, work well together. The nomination passed unanimously.

Action items included three motions, all of which were approved unanimously: the computation and declaration of votes dated June 10, accepting the quote from Fine Line Paving and Grading LLC in the amount of $199,980, and accepting the quote from Inland Quality Builders in the amount of $10,800 for repair of the Brick Façade.

The following policies were brought forth for revision: IICB – Overnight or Out of State Trips, IICB-E – Request for Overnight or Out of State Travel, and IICA-E – Request for Foreign Travel. All were passed unanimously with minor grammatical revisions. Policies JNDB – Student Computer and Internet Use, GCSA – Employee Computer and Internet Use, and GCSA-R – Employee Computer and Internet Use Rules were also passed unanimously with minor grammatical edits. Policy IICB-A Overnight or Out of State Contract & Permission Slip was rescinded as it was redundant. Consideration to adopt policy INJDB-R – Student Use of Technology Rules was tabled pending further discussion and edits.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:29PM. There will be no July meeting. The next RSU 78 Board of Education meeting will be on Tuesday, August 12 at 5:30PM at the Rangeley Lakes Regional School in the multi-purpose room.