POLAND — The RSU 16 Board of Directors approved hiring Karen Smith as the district’s K-6 music coordinator on Monday night.

School Superintendent Dennis Duquette told the board he was really excited about the program’s prospects under Smith’s guidance.

“The program is still being formulated, but this is certain, Karen Smith will bring more music into our classrooms,” Duquette said.

Duquette said the idea is for students in all three towns to have equal access to the music program. Initially it appears Smith will be teaching music to students in grades 3 and 4, chorus for students in grades 3 through 6 and band for fifth- and sixth-graders.

Duquette added that Larry Williams, who has been the band director at Poland Regional High School for 11 years, since the school opened, will also help teach band at all three schools.

“Between Larry Williams and Karen Smith, I expect they’ll do a bang-up job,” Duquette said.

Duquette noted that students in the earliest grades — Kindergarten, first and second grades — will not be left out of the music program, “Karen Smith will work with the individual classroom teachers to help them introduce more music in the early grades.”

Duquette recalled the turmoil and anguish surrounding the whole issue of the district’s music program during last spring’s budget setting process and noted that Smith’s hiring marks a new beginning.

Duquette also reported that preparations for expanding Whittier Middle School to accommodate seventh- and eighth-graders from all three RSU 16 towns — Mechanic Falls, Minot and Poland — are progressing smoothly.

The two modulars, which add a total of four classrooms, are in place and all hooked up ready to go in time for the first day of school, Monday, Aug. 30.

Work on the new office for the middle school — which is being carved out of the middle school’s entrance area — is well underway and, Duquette announced, this Saturday, Aug. 7, from 8 in the morning until noon, school officials are planning a “Plant and Paint Party.”

“Fliers have already gone out to middle school parents, but we welcome anyone from the community to join the party. It should be a fun morning,” Duquette said.

He will be in charge of landscaping work near the middle school entrance and around the new modulars.

Ayesha Farag-Davis, middle school principal, will be in charge of interior painting, around the new office area and some of the classrooms that need some refreshing.

The school board also set Sept. 20 as the date for a board retreat to discuss the future direction in which it would like to see the district go.

The board also elected its leadership for the year, with David Griffiths serving as chairman and Mary Ella Jones as vice-chairman.