After Lewiston School Committee Chairman Jim Handy announced on Aug. 31 that Cynthia Mendros is no longer on the committee because of poor attendance, parent Heidi Sawyer said the attendance policy needs to be stronger.

She and other parents who have been attending meetings have noticed when members aren’t there. As officials who decide policy, “they need to stay abreast of what’s happening,” she said.

The city charter says a person is no longer on the committee when he or she misses three consecutive meetings. That’s too much of a loophole, Sawyer said.

The charter should be changed to say when a certain percentage of meetings is missed – 25 percent – that member should get a talking-to and placed on probation, Sawyer said.

The issue of spotty attendance for the committee has come up at the same time the School Department is pushing an Attendance Matters campaign to encourage more students not to be chronically absent. Chronically absent is defined by missing 10 percent or more of school.

— Bonnie Washuk

School bus GPS company finalist on ‘Shark Tank’

The Portland company that is providing GPS tracking devices for Lewiston school buses, Unite GPS, is a finalist on a popular television show, “Shark Tank.”

Unite GPS President Chris Bunnell said when the show came to Portland this summer, he went down and pitched his product.

“I submitted a video,” he said.

He did well. He is now a finalist. Bunnell expects to find out in the next month whether he and his product will be on the ABC reality show.

“I could end up with 15 minutes of fame,” he said.

The award-winning show about entrepreneurship is in its sixth season. Entrepreneurs pitch their products to “the sharks,” self-made, multimillionaires and billionaires, in hopes of securing business deals.

— Bonnie Washuk