Saco School Board approves staff hires and policy readings; superintendent warns site-selection timeline is tight

The Saco School Board on the evening’s agenda unanimously approved a slate of new hires and stipend nominations for the 2022–23 school year, accepted a resignation and advanced first readings of four board policies, while Superintendent Ray warned that site-selection timelines for a potential new school are tight.

Superintendent Ray said he has a meeting scheduled with the Department of Education and has been speaking with the governor’s office about additional funding, but cautioned the district will not receive full coverage of costs. “We’re moving that needle a little bit on additional funding, but it certainly is not going to be the full way,” Ray said, adding that the district will continue to pursue support.

The board voted 6–0 to approve the nomination of Elaine Provencher (SMS school counselor), Jessica Geist (SMS school counselor), Erin Mears (SMS coding teacher), Nancy Miller (Fairfield special education teacher) and Sarah Hitchcock (Young School teacher) and to issue contracts for the 2022–23 school year. School board member Truman made the motion and School Board Member Preble seconded it. The board also approved the stipend nominations on a separate 6–0 roll-call vote.

Truman moved, and the board accepted the immediate resignation of Fairfield special education teacher Jasmine Menzie; the motion passed 6–0.

Ray told the board the district is continuing registration and intake work for newly arrived families and is coordinating with Catholic Charities to provide interpreters and staffing at dedicated registration days. Based on the most recent spreadsheets the district had the week before the meeting, Ray said the district was projecting roughly 33 students in grades 9–12 and about 88 students in pre-kindergarten through grade 8, but he emphasized the figures change frequently as families finalize housing. “Those numbers skew and then they are looking to fill those hotel rooms with other families and it resets the data again and again,” Ray said; he told the board the district expects to refine those projections in September for budget-planning purposes.

Assistant Superintendent Meg Parkhurst described progress on Saco Middle School’s furniture installation, saying crews completed several phases and that damaged items were replaced quickly. “The items that are in place now are all of the tables, all of the student chairs, and all of the teacher desks,” Parkhurst said, and she urged board members to visit the school to see the interior improvements.

On construction and site selection for a proposed new school, Ray said the site-selection committee is focusing on the Clare site after removing other properties from consideration. He listed necessary next steps — traffic studies, wetland delineations and easement reviews — and warned that vendor schedules and the work needed to complete studies could jeopardize the district’s ability to be ready for a June ballot. “We need to get to the state board by January, February at the latest to be able to hit that June ballot,” Ray said, noting some studies would be local costs and that consultants may not be able to run multiple traffic studies simultaneously.

The board approved first readings of policies BEA (school board use of email and electronic communications), BEDJ (broadcasting/taping meetings), BGR (board policy procedure) and BCB (board member conflict of interest) on a 6–0 roll call after a motion by Truman and a second from LaFortune.

The meeting closed after the clerk called a roll and the board voted 6–0 to adjourn at 5:36 p.m.

What’s next: Ray said the district will continue registration events and refine enrollment projections in September; site-selection work and consultant studies will continue through the fall, with the district targeting early next year for state-board submission to meet the June ballot timeline.