Superintendent announces retirements, hires and mini-grant awards; committee approves Chartwells bill

Superintendent Dr. Thornton on Sept. 25 reported personnel changes, recognized a long-serving teaching assistant, announced several mini-grant awards, previewed upcoming health clinics and ribbon cuttings, and the School Committee approved the monthly Chartwells invoice for August. Personnel items posted for the meeting included two recent resignations: Michelle Blanding, paraprofessional (effective Sept. 18), and Deborah Rice, ELA Essentials at McCourt (effective Sept. 19). The committee approved three appointments: Jennifer Vincent, Library Media STEM (0.5) at BF Norton (effective Aug. 29, one year only); Stephanie Vinge, math interventionist at Community (effective Sept. 29, one year only); and Nicole Cabral, paraprofessional, ICAN at McCourt (effective Sept. 22). Dr. Thornton also presented a retirement recognition for Manuela “Manny” Silver, a teaching assistant who began district service in Feb. 2008 and worked at North Koma Middle School since 2015; Administrator Coughlin said “she’s always smiling” and the committee thanked her for her service. Dr. Thornton announced two Alpha Delta Kappa mini-grant awards: a schoolwide PBIS grant for the Garvin team to purchase inflatable incentives and strobe lights to support positive behavior, and a grade-2 grant at Ashton (teacher Lauren Durante) to purchase garden beds for outdoor science lessons. District staff present included Leah Hogan and Aaron O’Claire from the Garvin team, who were recognized in open session. Public-health and facility announcements included a district flu clinic scheduled Oct. 8 from 4 to 7 p.m. and ribbon-cutting events: a new preschool center on Oct. 8 at 4 p.m. and Community School final renovation on Oct. 15 at 5 p.m.; Ashton’s new playground also opened recently. On routine business, the committee approved payment of bills, including the Chartwells invoice for August in the amount of $70,046.82; the fiscal subcommittee reviewed the bill and recommended its passage (vote 2–0 in subcommittee), and the full committee approved the payment 6–0. The committee also approved homeschool instruction requests for the 2025–26 school year and a set of resolutions previously reviewed by the fiscal subcommittee; one resolution was tabled for lack of full information.