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Committee clarifies relationship with Store Next Door as nonprofit plans a downtown location
Summary
School leaders said the district's student resource center staff are employed by Lewiston Public Schools and that Store Next Door — a partner nonprofit that arranges donated goods — plans a separate downtown space; the district and nonprofit will continue to collaborate.
LEWISTON, Maine — The Lewiston School Committee addressed questions Monday about the relationship between the district’s Student Resource Center and the nonprofit Store Next Door, which is planning a brick-and-mortar location downtown.
Committee members asked whether goods and staff time would move with the nonprofit when it relocates to a commercial site at 97 Blake Street. Superintendent Jake Langley said district staff who operate the Student Resource Center are employed by the district and that the district has been “real intentional” about compensating staff only for school-hours work on student resource activities.
Langley said some items donated through Store Next Door will remain part of school inventories because district staff sorted, cleaned and processed those donations. “There’ll be some things that go,” he said of items the nonprofit procured, “but I think large in part as we look at it, things that have been, you know, donated to the center that our staff has sorted and cleaned and organized and vetted … we don't anticipate leaving us, from a Lewiston Public Schools perspective.”
Langley said the district and Store Next Door plan to continue collaborating; the nonprofit’s move may help it pursue grants and expand its work to other districts, but he cautioned that some published details in local media were inconsistent with district knowledge.
Why it matters: Clarifying lines between district staff responsibilities and nonprofit operations affects budgeting transparency and how donated goods are managed for student needs.
What’s next: District staff will stay responsible for the Student Resource Center operations at Longley; Store Next Door expects to open a separate downtown location and maintain a partnership with the district.
