JAY — Regional School Unit 73 directors were questioned Thursday night, Feb. 9, about a closed door session held at the Jan. 26 meeting.
When Shari Ouellette, a former director from Jay asked if a decision on an assistant superintendent position had been tabled, Chairman Robert Staples said it was not tabled, it was passed over. He had noted that prior to approval of the Jan. 26 minutes earlier in the meeting.
When asked, Staples said the reason used for the closed door session was personnel under 1 M.R.S.A. § 405[6][A]. The matter was originally scheduled for the Jan. 12 meeting which was canceled because of weather conditions.
Closed door sessions can’t be used to discuss something that hasn’t been created yet, Ouellette said. “That’s my point,” she noted. “If you are going to discuss creating new positions that should be done in open forum so the public can hear and debate what you are thinking about creating. The public has a right to know.”
The mill in Jay is about to be lost, the school budget is over $1 million and you want to add another administrative position, Ouellette asked. “We don’t need more administrators, we need less,” she said. “We need to bring the budget down not up.”
Staples said there was no vote on the position.
“You should have talked about it in public, the public has a right to question what you are doing,” Ouellette stated. “If you are going to create a position, then that position should be advertised and not slide somebody into it.”
Staples said a lot of assumptions were being made, nothing was done.
Ouellette was seeking agreement that if a position was created it would be advertised.
“If we go that route then I am sure that’s what will happen but nothing was done,” Staples noted.
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