RSU 22 administrators detailed proposed Article 5 budget changes at a work session, including a 10% increase in nursing supply funding and plans to purchase classroom "Stop the Bleed" kits for about 50 classrooms while preserving current nursing staffing ratios.

The district's director of wellness and safety, Britney Laymon, said the nursing staffing ratios "will not change for the next school year" but noted supplies costs had risen; she said she increased the supply line by 10% and raised the professional-development line to send nurses to a June health institute. Laymon said the district previously supplied Reedsbrook, Smith and Wagner with stop-the-bleed kits through a FEMA grant obtained by the Waldo County School Safety Task Force and now plans to equip more rooms at middle- and high-school levels because "statistically if something tragic was gonna happen, ... it would be at that high school and middle schools." She described the kits as including tourniquets, gauze, bandages, alcohol and gloves.

Jennifer Nickerson, director of curriculum, instruction and assessment, said district-level curriculum spending will fall by about $19,000 because major literacy materials purchased to implement a new K–5 reading and writing program have shifted from the district budget to individual school budgets after the first year of implementation. Nickerson said the district will still support four new high-school courses next year — including AP World History, jewelry-making and printmaking electives, and a two-course drone sequence that includes an advanced class preparing students for the FAA Part 107 commercial remote pilot certificate — and that her lines will cover teacher materials and classroom supplies for those courses.

Nickerson warned that anticipated federal allocations had not yet arrived: "we usually get our preliminary allocations for federal funds in March. We don't have them yet," she said, and added that state corrections to Title II formula calculations could mean reduced Title II funding for the district over a multi-year period. She described Title I, II and IV uses in the district: Title I funds Smith and Wagner schools (largely salaries), Title II funds building-level professional development, and Title IV supports well-rounded programming, arts and technology. She said Title 5 rural funding previously received by the district was lost and she could not resolve why from the Department of Education contact she had spoken to.

Nickerson outlined summer-program costs and said current ESSER funds had allowed book packs and virtual summer instruction in recent years. She said the book packs that went home preK–8 cost the district about $48,000 this year and that a staffed virtual program for grades 3–5 cost roughly $10,000 for staffing and benefits; she said there is currently no funding for the same summer programs next year. After a board member asked for options, Nickerson agreed to prepare a proposed summer plan and cost scenarios for future meetings.

The district also proposed operational changes in student supports. Administrators said the contract with Northern Light Acadia Hospital for clinical social-work services will be phased out in favor of district-employed social workers after the district found its in-house clinicians could meet higher caseloads and provide more frequent follow-up. District leaders said they plan to staff two full-time social workers plus a .5 FTE provided through a memorandum of understanding that would be insurance-funded rather than district-paid.

Administrators also presented a plan to add a 0.5 FTE dean of students at Smith School to focus on behavior, discipline and attendance. The superintendent said the teacher portion of any split position would be paid from the school instructional lines while the dean portion would be paid from the school-administration article.

Nickerson and other staff described Wabanaki curriculum work: the district has aligned its social-studies platform to Moose modules — free Maine DOE video/lesson modules — and has been working with consultant Brie Lohler and local contributors such as RSU 22 staff who have authored modules. Staff said many community experts have provided services without compensation so far and that funding strategies for honoraria could be explored within Title IV or other grants.

At the end of the session administrators reiterated that the Article 5 presentation reflected recommendations, not final decisions, and that final salary and benefits numbers remain placeholders until negotiated figures are confirmed. Staff said they will return with the requested summer-program cost options and other clarifications at future budget meetings.