November 23, 2025
To: RSU Board of Directors
From: Mark L. Campbell, Superintendent of Schools
Re: December 2025 Board Report
As we get deeper into fall, many of the interventions implemented by teachers to assist students with the routines of a day in the classroom are beginning to positively impact the day-to-day activities. That isn’t to say all is running smoothly, as we still see behaviors where teachers need to file dangerous behavior reports. I have asked to meet with the leadership for the Carrabec Education Association to review our protocols for handling these cases.
Policy met to engage in discussions on ten Policies on November 12th. It was a lengthy agenda but due to the recommended changes, it was a doable agenda as many of the policies were completely swapped out from current version to MSMA’s recommended versions. Three, you will be asked to eliminate due to their incorporation into other policies or relabeling by MSMA as they are merged with other but related aspects of the policy.
The Restructure Committee met as well on the 12th of November. The discussions here focused on the current operation of 4 schools. By reviewing the current enrollment, births in our community, the idea of consolidating was tabled as the enrollment looks fairly stable requiring the need for 3 rooms for each of the elementary grades. The discussion then turned to identifying each building as a certain grade cluster so balancing the enrollments in each of the 3 classrooms for all grades would be easier to alleviate enrollment imbalance like we currently have in grade 5. Chris Roux has been asked to look at what happens to bus route times if we were to do that. Current routes are such now that no student is on a bus ride for over an hour.
The administrative team has been working on a survey to send home to households in our communities where families have made the decision to home school their children. We have had a significant exodus of families in the past two years. Our objective is to determine factors leading to these decisions to assess whether we would be able to make changes to our practices or provide additional opportunities to keep students in our classrooms and potentially bring some back in. The survey should be out before we break for the Thanksgiving holiday. We currently have 73 students in our borders being homeschooled.
As the 2026-2027 budget begins to come together, the administrative team will need to assess our Pre-K program to determine the need for a third classroom. At the end of last school year, our two rooms were near capacity. Solon was at capacity and Anson had 2 seats open. As the summer drew to a close, both were full. We had additional families that sought placement but were informed that by State Statute we were at capacity. I approved Superintendent Agreements for a few to attend in neighboring districts. Currently only Garret Schenck has a room that is not being used daily.
Another topic for us to explore may impact our out-of-district placements for students who require services beyond what we currently offer in Special Education. The educational units we use for this service are privately owned and do not have to accept our students which we had happen this fall. Secondly, as our numbers of identified students increase so are other neighboring district numbers consequently we are fighting to get access to these programs with some having waiting lists for more than a school year. As with our Pre-K, space is not available to house our own program. Besides space, in order to have our own program, we would need additional staff including a licensed Psychologist. Reality is, our current line funding for students receiving out-of-district instruction and support is approaching a half million dollars so financially it may be a wash even if we had to build/buy a structure to house it.
By the time you read this, I will have met with the Board of Selectmen from Anson on the draft agreement to permit the Town of Anson to use Carrabec Community School as an emergency shelter. If they approve the agreement, I will add a request for our Board to approve the request as an addendum to the agenda for next week. I cannot predict how the major road-block, finances, will be resolved but I do expect to get their approval for an agreement through August of 2026. My recommendation at this time is to do an annual agreement as the fuel market remains a wild card and having projected numbers for the winter of 2026-2027 would be wise before making a commitment for additional time.
Agenda:
Appointments:
Kim Swihart is stepping in to do the STEAM work with the K-5 teachers at CCS. Seth Price, a recent CHS grad has stepped forward to assist with the HS boys basketball program. Chris Barnes, a RSU 74 substitute teacher, has offered his assistance with the boys basketball team at CCS where the team currently has 18 players for the season!
Resignations:
Jenny Rollins - Educational Technician, Garret Schenck. This was not an easy decision for Jenny but an understandable decision. We thank her for time assisting staff at Garret Schenck particularly in the kindergarten room. Her daily efforts were appreciated by her colleagues and students.
Jessie Hall - Administrative Assistant in the high school guidance office. Jessi has decided to take on the responsibilities of an administrative assistant position in a neighboring district. Her positive attitude and eye to the details of her position will be greatly missed. We thank Jessi for her service to RSU 74.
Nominations:
None
Action Items:
Item 6: This is the second reading for the policies that were voted on in November. Other than additional grammatical changes noted in the November meeting, these policies have not been modified since your initial vote. You will note one did need multiple changes from the November vote and is back as a first read vote.
Item 7: These three policies have either been relabeled with different policy designation letters or are policies incorporated within newer versions of existing policies that you are taking action on at this meeting. ACG is incorporated in ACAA and ACAB as well as the respective procedures (R) for these policies. BBBC and BBBD are relabeled which will require a first reading below.
Item 8: Policy JK - Student Discipline. I missed some of the carry overs from MSMA’s sample to our version from our Policy meeting in October enough so that I felt the full Board should vote again on this policy as a first reading.
Item 9: Policy KBF - Title I Parent Involvement. To bring us into compliance with Federal law, the committee felt the need to swap the wording from our existing policy with MSMA’s sample. This is likely to require our administrators to take a look at our current parental involvement to bring us into compliance with the expectations outlined in the newer version of this policy.
Item 10: Policy JIC - RSU 74 Student Code of Conduct. The policy committee is recommending a complete swap of wording from existing to MSMA’s recommended wording. The newer version addresses specific behaviors and consequences, the policy also ensures the wording includes recent changes in legislation around student discipline. The recommended policy is consistent with our approaches with the behavior rubrics we have implemented K-12.
Items 11: Policy IMGA - Service Animals in Schools. The Policy committee is recommending the version from MSMA replace the current policy. The newer version incorporates both federal and Maine Statutes around service animals. This version also addresses the inclusion of service animals at after school events.
Item 12: Policy AEC - Accountability - Reporting to the Public. Again, the Policy committee is recommending a complete swap of wording even though a lot of the wording is the same in both. The MSMA version is cleaner and easier to read.
Item 13: Policy GCOA - Evaluation of Professional Staff. You will note significant changes in the current version with the MSMA recommended version. The committee is recommending a complete swap to ensure the district is in compliance with state laws around the evaluation of professional staff.
Item 14: Policy BBBE - Unexpired Term Fulfillment/Vacancies. This newly labeled version from MSMA incorporates resignations as well as other reasons for seats to become vacant. Therefore the committee recommended the elimination of BBBC - Board Member Resignations (Item 7) and adding this policy to our book.
Item 15: Policy BBBDA - Board Declared Vacancy Caused by Absenteeism. This version oultines definitions for excused vs unexcused absences and steps the Board Chair needs to take when attendance becomes an issue. This policy incorporates the old BBBD (Item 7) which you will be asked to eliminate.
Item 15: Executive session to review current/pending legal matters. Will be brief. No action to be taken.
Item 16: Executive session to discuss contract negotiations. Action on the superintendent’s contract for 2026-2027.
And if you read to here…a reminder that the meeting on December 3 is beginning with a workshop on Board roles and responsibilities at 5 p.m. The presentation is being conducted by the new Executive Director, Eric Waddell. We also have an abbreviated presentation on the 2024-2025 NWEA scores and attendance. The meeting is at Garret Schenck School.
Happy Thanksgiving