SALEM TOWNSHIP — After several meetings with parents and taxpayers in SAD 58 communities, school directors have developed a clearer set of goals for the future of the district.

Chairman Judy Dill said at the Thursday night meeting that she had met recently with elementary school principals to review 19 original cost-saving suggestions, submitted by community members a year ago.

“I’m awake at 3 a. m. very often, thinking about this whole situation, and I decided if I was the CEO of a company, and I had a management team, I would ask them for some input,” she said. “I met with the three principals and we came up with some plans. We know we need to be good stewards to our towns, and we need to do what’s best for kids.”

Felicia Pease, Brenda Stevens and Marco Albierti met with Dill to review and discuss the options, and Dill asked Kingfield Elementary School Principal Brenda Stevens to share their findings.

“We began narrowing the plans by eliminating those we felt, as building administrators, were not feasible,” Stevens said. “We are not endorsing any one plan as a group or as individuals. As a group, we agreed that all of the plans appear to have potential savings, as well as challenges. Any savings in challenges might become clearer, and thus, easier to make decisions about when a detailed examination is done. We also believe the pieces of other plans might prove valuable to integrate, as a detailed examination of any plan moves forward.”

The four plans include moving seventh and eighth grades either to Mt. Abram High School or to Kingfield Elementary School, closing Mt. Abram High School and paying for students to attend other high schools, or building an elementary school on the Mt. Abram campus and moving all grades to Salem Township.

Dill explained that the financial components would be developed in December, with a plan to present the figures to the board in January.

In other news, Superintendent Quenten Clark outlined the possible schedule for joining with SAD 74, headquartered in Anson, as an alternative organization structure. A final plan could be ready to send by Dec. 16 for approval by the Maine Department of Education. The two districts would share a superintendent, central office and special education staff, and transportation services. The approved plan then could be sent as a referendum to voters by the end of January 2010.

SAD 58 communities include Avon, Eustis, Kingfield, Phillips and Strong. SAD 74 communities include Anson, Embden, New Portland and Solon.