RUMFORD – In closed sessions Monday, the SAD 43 board interviewed two finalists for Mountain Valley High School principal. Both are men from Maine.
Superintendent Jim Hodgkin said the person chosen will be named at a board meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday, May 2.
He said 11 men and women from throughout New England applied for the position being vacated by Bruce Lindberg.
Lindberg, principal for the past two years and a native of Mexico, is leaving to become headmaster of Lee Academy, a 200-pupil private day and residential school about 10 miles east of Lincoln in Penobscot County.
Lindberg is the seventh MVHS principal in 11 years.
He said his reason for leaving has nothing to do with the district’s students, administrators or board. After 31 years in public education, he has said that he wanted to try private education.
Hodgkin said a finalist for the position of special services director will be named next week as well.
Four people applied for the position vacated by Paige Coville, who left earlier in the year for a similar position in eastern Maine.
In other matters on Monday, the board signed the warrant for a proposed $13.9 million budget that will go to voters in June. The budget, adopted at the previous board meeting, is down about 2 percent from the current year.
Hodgkin said a public hearing on the proposed budget is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 7. A districtwide meeting is set for June 9 for a vote, and a budget validation referendum is set for June 14 in the district’s four towns.
Also on Monday the board:
• Ratified a three-year contract with the 11-member secretaries bargaining unit, including 3 percent salary hikes for each year through June 2008.
• Announced a celebration to honor four retiring teachers May 13.
• Approved a trip to Mystic Seaport in Connecticut for 30 middle school students in the after-school program for June 1-3.
Hodgkin said 80 percent of students attended the first of two Saturday sessions on April 9. A second one is set for April 30 to make up for lost classes due to bad weather.
He also reported a slight increase in student population as of April 1, to 1,616, including tuition students.
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