RANGELEY — The school board saw two PowerPoint presentations, voted for funds for a school bus parking area, and elected a new vice chairman at its meeting Tuesday.
Starting in 2010 with GPS mapping, Simonds worked with student volunteers to develop Maine Trail Finder, Hike Safe and Leave No Trace. Participation has grown considerably for activities such as work on the Fly Rod Crosby Trail, survivor hikes and night skiing, a scavenger hunt with four teams, and a rescue scenario with live victims.
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| Lucy is on the TTEC Advisory Council |
Participants also support the Warrior Hike, in which military veterans hike the Appalachian Trail “to walk off the war,” and join in Rangeley’s Trail Town Festival, “though the latter is difficult to ramp up less than two weeks after school starts,” Simonds said.
Simonds confessed that as the program continues to grow it has become part of her. “A Trail to Every Classroom has been the thing that has revitalized and transformed me,” she said.
Superintendent Susan Pratt presented a rundown of report-card data and its connection to funds from No Child Left Behind grants. The federal funds are administered by the state and are used to hire a teacher, Georgia Campbell, assisted by Shirley Schrader and Susan Damm.
The intervention program serves 40 students from kindergarten to eighth-grade in the fields of math and reading. Parents have the right to decide yearly if they want their children to be involved in the program.
The old skate park on the school property, which was in disrepair and had become a dangerous liability, has been demolished and school buses currently park on the site. Pratt recommended installing a culvert and creating a wider driveway onto the access road, installing wiring from the electrical panel to the site, installing receptacles for bus charging and installing motion-activated lighting. The board unanimously approved the plan with costs not to exceed $13,000. It will be paid from the maintenance budget, which currently has a $22,000 surplus.
Pam Ellis was unanimously elected to replace Michele Eliot as vice chairman of the board. Eliot had asked to step down from the position.
Pratt received approval for hiring of Danielle Ellis as physical education teacher, John Crosby as coach of middle school boys’ soccer, Don Turner as ESL education technician 2 and Hannah Johnson as Special Education education technician 2.
The Facilities Committee discussed options for the portable classroom, and hopes to take action by the end of next year. The Finance Committee is looking at how reports and warrants are formatted and comparing Rangeley with other schools to see how they do things differently. The committee is going through monthly finance reports and noted there are no outstanding expenses.
The board approved second readings of a policy on student use of cellphones or other electronic devices, edited to include digital photographic devices, and a policy on student wellness. The board waived third readings of both policies.
