Superintendent celebrates return to full in-person learning. Board appoints District physician but tables by-law revisions.
The first MSAD51 School Board meeting since the start of the school year was primarily an informational meeting. “Greely Goes Green Plan” updates and highlights from the first days of full in-person learning were the focus. By-law and policy changes were tabled, and the Board did not report out following lengthy executive sessions at the end of the meeting.
The meeting opened with approval of minutes followed by a statement from the Chair, Tyler McGinley, regarding the purpose of public comment. “I wanted to remind everyone that the reason we have public comment is to comment on the business of the board.” McGinley’s statement was a reprimand of an incident during public comment at the previous Board meeting, which she characterized as using the time as a “performance space.”
On August 16, Scott Jordan used his 3 minutes at the podium to recite the pledge of allegiance and the Lord’s Prayer.
Ann Maksymowicz added her admonishment. Maksymowicz viewed the actions as attempts to “set her up,” targeting her personal political beliefs. Maksymowicz reiterated, “I do not participate in the pledge of allegiance, and I will continue to sit until our country is fee of discrimination and bias and until every person has access to the same privilege and opportunity that I do.”
Maksymowicz further quoted James Baldwin, “I love America more than any country in this world and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.”
Maksymowicz also emphasized that our country is not a theocracy and the necessity to keep church and state separate and further speculated what community response would be if Jordan had not spoken a Christian prayer.
Public Comment
Community comments were limited, but most focused on the Equity Leadership Steering Committee (ELSC). Topics included school mask decision, return to school, and the district physician.
Of those attending, Laurie Bachelder (North Yarmouth) was the only resident voicing opposition to the proposal to revise the Board by-laws and change the ELSC to a permanent committee. Bachelder clarified that her comments were not intended to discuss her opinion regarding equity work in the District. Rather, it was a critique of the process. Bachelder was concerned that Board members frequently do not receive information in their board materials until a few days prior to an expected vote. Further, information regarding the by-law revision was not distributed until 2 days in advance of the meeting. Bachelder urged the Board to postpone the decision to allow members to be fully prepared to discuss and vote on such revisions.
Several Cumberland residents voiced their support of the ELSC and its work.
Carrie Cianquette considered support of ELSC as “morally right” and trusted the committee and Board had the “best interest of the District in mind as they select new members.”
Brian O’Connor added his support of work being done by the ELSC and the Board. O’Connor stated, “I’m disappointed to see the wheels of white supremacy in motion in my own hometown.” He equated opposition to ELSC as “bigotry disguised as concern for process.”
Concerning the proposed change to ELSC, Sarah Allen thought the community would be “shocked and horrified that this would be questioned.” Allen added her deep disappointment the District scheduled 1st day of Kindergarten during Rosh Hashanah. Allen urged the District to strive towards more awareness of religious minorities and their observances, to give them equal respect as Christian holidays.
As a teacher, Mary Carbone viewed the job of the ELSC was to give clear and explicit instructions regarding equity. “Teachers, students and staff need to know what it means and what it looks like to have an anti-racist and inclusive school environment.”
Will Saxe shared his opposition of the motion to appoint Dr. Charles de Sieyes. Saxe urged the Board to “appoint a board certified, actively practicing pediatrician” as District physician. Saxe argued “this pandemic is not the only health and mental health issue facing the children of MSAD51.”
Residents also expressed their appreciation of teachers and staff, sharing that the first few days of school had been positive for their children. Included was support of the school mask mandate as a way to help keep schools open for 5 days of in-person instruction.
Greely Goes Green Updates
Porter walked the Board through the 1st update to the “Greely Goes Green Plan” since school resumed, highlighting the Distict’s “layered prevention model.” Protocols involve daily symptom screening, masks, and distancing with the qualifier “if it makes sense.” Porter noted continued attention to cleaning and sanitation, hand washing and contact tracing.
Letters were recently sent to parents and staff offering pool testing and BinaxNOW testing as measures to reduce quarantines. Changes to state requirement for minimum participation level allowed the District to move forward with pool testing. Parents must consent to both options to participate.
Current District COVID impact efforts are being guided by a 20-member Superintendent’s COVID Advisory Group, which includes three medical professionals. Next meeting is scheduled for 5 pm on September 9 and will be virtual.
As of the first week of school, Porter reported no COVID cases or quarantines. Data regarding in District COVID cases and quarantines did not include incidents that occurred prior to school start.
There was general surprise at the District’s reported vaccination levels which showed eligible GHS and GMS rates below 50%. Numbers do not reflect state estimates. Porter noted current vaccination rates for the District are based on self-reported data.
The state does not mandate COVID vaccine status reporting for public school staff, but according to Porter, individual districts have authority to require it. Avoiding quarantine was being used to incentivize getting the vaccine and notify the District. However, reporting COVID vaccination status remained optional.
Although Peter Bingham described the data as “disturbing,” he did not agree that it was the Board’s responsibility to issue a mandate. Rather, Bingham felt it should be issued from the governor. Mandating reporting COVID vaccine status has support among other Board members. Mike Williams did not see this as burdensome. School staff already must go through stringent employment screening. Williams did not view adding reporting vaccination status as unreasonable. Maksymowicz agreed.
Other considerations from the Board included access to COVID Advisory Panel Meetings and a request to post recordings and in addition to minutes. Currently, meetings are not recorded. However, anyone in the community was welcome to observe these meetings. If interested, contact Fran Prentice to request access at: fprentice@msad51.org.
Also discussed was difficulty developing decision matrixes. McGinley noted the District is a small part of the larger community. For example, when considering benchmarks for mask removal, the District must look beyond subgroup data within the District. The need for careful consideration was stressed by other Board members.
Further recommendations from Junior Class Representative, Avery Olsen, included ensuring student “mask breaks.” All grades, except High School, have built in outdoor time. Porter will explore opportunities to add time beyond lunch period for the High School. McGinley encouraged the District to work to develop more ways to maximize outdoor time for students.
Superintendent’s Report
Community will be able to read the full Superintendent’s Report when posted to his blog on September 7.
Highlights include photos of first days of school, announcement of free breakfast and lunch for all students, and celebration of first home football game played at Greely in 3 years.
Congratulations to Heather Geoghan on being named the State High School PE Teacher of the Year.
Committee Reports
Policy - Maksymowicz shared an update from Drummond Woodsum regarding draft policy ACA, advising “a lot of the language that would be better served in the equity plan versus the policy.” The policy draft will be sent back to ELSC for revisions. Maksymowicz committed to keeping residents informed, but noted there might be a shift in how public will be involved in the process. Input may be focused on more directly on equity plan development. Opportunity for policy feedback will still be provided.
Student Report – Avery Olsen reported the first two days of school went very well. Students were glad to be back and to see people they haven’t seen in 18 months.
Items for Action
The Board voted to reappoint Dr. Charles de Sieyes as District physician. The Board clarified that this was an annual appointment. Porter noted in some years the District has utilized a medical practice, rather than a specific physician. At those times, the Board did not vote to approve. For future years, Porter will bring candidates to the Board for an official vote, regardless of whether it was a practice or a specific physician.
The District has struggled to find a physician to fill the role, due to time requirements and low stipend. Historically, the role of the District physician has been to provide limited advisory support. Due to COVID, the support level needs changed. For the past 18 months, consultation was frequent, weekly and sometimes daily. Most physicians already have a busy schedule so few candidates were available to accommodate the current need. A $3000 stipend provides little incentive.
Dr. de Sieyes is beloved by many of his patients. He also assists Falmouth, Bonney Eagle and Baxter school districts.
Criticism of Dr. de Sieyes relates to his role on the “Getting to Green” ad hoc advisory group. Some participants on the committee, were frustrated with his “stay the course” approach to MSAD51 returning to full in-person learning.
Additional comments centered on whether an American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) certified pediatrician was needed.
McGinley dismissed this concern, stating it is “a mistake to assume a pediatrician would be better prepared to deal with COVID.”
Porter reminded the Board the COVID Advisory Group includes 3 medical professionals, so the District will have four medical consultants in total.
To attract candidates, Jason Record proposed revising the process and increasing the stipend. Record was only Board member who voted to oppose appointment.
Discussion of proposed changes to by-laws was charged. On the surface, it is a “housekeeping” revision that clarifies language governing District committees. Proposal would align “Other” committee appointments with “Standing” committee, giving Board Chair authority to appoint Board members to these committee categories. However, its relationship to the next agenda action item, changing Communications and ELSC to “Other” committees, has caused further disagreement.
Record agreed committee definitions needed to be cleaned up. However, he argued before the Board simply changes by-laws or the ELSC designation, it should take a step further to evaluate both the ELSC structure and the Board’s operating procedure. Record proposed an “overhaul” of the entire membership appointing process. Record viewed having authority over all committee membership appointments resting with the Chair as “unbalanced and undemocratic.”
Peter Bingham and Kevin Desmond did not oppose the amendments. However, they supported further discussion of the proposed changes. Bingham recommended allowing the Board time to discussion the topic without distractions, and that this could be accomplished at the Board Retreat. Desmond further stated using the “same rigor put to the way we govern ourselves as we do within the District” was a good standard.
Record proposed the District review the issue further by dissolving ELSC and starting over. He supports including “diverse thinkers, who believe in the goal and have the same good intent” but who disagree on the path. Based on conversations with residents who support the ELSC work and those who are critical of the committee, Record believes 99% of the community supports equity. The disagreement was with the approach.
Jennifer Spiers cautioned against rushing the process. Spiers voiced that she did not feel prepared to vote and would like to consider the proposal’s impact on all committees.
The question was tabled, with McGinley opposing motion. By-law changes will be discussed at the September 8 Board Retreat and will be on the next Board meeting agenda.
Prior to entering executive session, the Board approved GMS 6-8 Special Ed positions.
Expected discussion of New Primary School Project was not part of public portion of meeting. The Board did enter executive session to discuss property acquisition.
Next Regular Board meeting will be September 20.
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