August 25, 2026
To: RSU 74 Board of Directors
From: Mark L. Campbell, Superintendent of Schools
Re: September 2026 Board Report
By the time you read this, students will be back in the classrooms. Your administrative team has been extremely busy preparing for the opening of school. We have seen a significant number of new families move into the district and register their students in the last week or two. Some of our new enrollees are likely to require additional staff for support which may require Tammy and I to come to you at the meeting to permit us to hire additional ed-tech support. As well, by taking the 15 passenger vans off the road, we are struggling to address the transportation needs of all Special Education students. The current plan includes using the Activity Bus to transport students. We are exploring options on a lease/purchase for another mini-van. If we have money to make a payment this year in the current budget, we may seek permission to make this purchase.
On Wednesday, August 19, we held our new staff orientation. The morning permitted the new staff to gather information about RSU 74’s ways on getting the day to day administrative tasks accomplished. Besides the administration being available to support new staff, many members of the Carrabec Education Association were present to also provide guidance on factors impacting teachers during a normal school day including establishing effective classroom management. At the end of the morning, the administrators cooked lunch for the new staff, mentors and for the entire staff who worked to clean and prepare our buildings.
The new lighting project has come along nicely. At this time both CCS and CHS are done. Work in Solon will be done after school and in the evenings. I would suspect that the project would be completed by the end of September. I have asked that we begin tracking our energy consumption to be sure we are seeing what we were told we would see for savings. Either Chris or I will update you on our findings.
The agenda is very light. We have stipend appointments and an ed-tech nomination for your consideration. I will also tell you we are working on details around a joint effort for RSU 74 and RSU 59 with boys soccer at the middle school. We just received the inquiry in the last week so Rachel is still trying to gather information to present. If she is ready, we will add an addendum to the agenda to permit the Board to discuss this endeavor before voting.
I will be handing out a draft of the District Goals for the 2026-2027 school year. As they have been since I came on, the academic goals are focused on English Language Arts, Mathematics, and attendance as shared this summer by Jean Butler who did the 2026-2027 initial Title application including Title I. The good news, as you will see in October, we continue to see our students' achievement levels grow. The curriculum work for the coming year will be to take a look at the English Curriculum the teachers documented with the work they do with students that support the Maine Learning Results. Our objective will be to compare what we say we are doing with our NWEA scores. If the scores show weaknesses, teachers and administrators will need to decide why. Is it because we don’t actually teach it, meaning we have a gap in our curriculum or are our instructional practices in need of adjustment? At the same time, the ELA teachers will be asked to regenerate the district-wide writing prompts. The State does not assess writing any more. We need to. I will be working with Board Sub-committees to address some of the future needs of the district which I will begin to outline in the goals.
I received a notice from MSMA that the Fall Conference will be held on October 29 and 30. Please let Linda know if you wish to attend and as she has in the past, she will register everybody.
Agenda:
Appointments:
Cally Chick is being recommended for the lead staff position at Solon Elementary. In the short period she has been here, she has demonstrated she is able to assist with student behaviors as well as communicating with parents.
Courtney Peabody is being recommended for the open girls’ soccer program at CCS.
I am providing Geoff and Amy a stipend to pick up some of the more time consuming projects that Jean did for years. Geoff will be responsible for Title monies including writing the grant each summer, follow-up write-ups as required by the federal government and this year, he will work with Barbara Jordan to help do the application to make Solon a school-wide Title I school meaning staff do not have to wait for test results to tell them a student needs help in ELA or Math. As soon as weaknesses begin to show, any student can begin to receive Title I support with parent permission under a school-wide Title I label. This will require additional meetings after school with staff. As well, I have asked him to take on the K-5 career fair that has been done. This is a committee commitment with multiple meetings necessary to get the morning presentations organized. Amy has agreed to take on the STEAM committee. This role requires her to oversee the STEAM coaches we hire to provide the necessary administrative support to get the student projects done. The second committee she will be taking on is the Literacy night committee. Again, this is a committee that works hours to prepare the family literacy night in April.
Jaime Partridge is being recommended to provide district-wide support for classroom teachers who may need help developing behavior plans. As well with her new Board Certified Behavior Analyst credentials she will be able to help with supporting BHP employees.
Resignations:
Kaiya Jefferies has resigned her educational technician position at Carrabec Community School. We thank her for the work she did with our students and wish her well with her future endeavors.
Lacey Frost has resigned from her position as one of our Social Workers. Lacey has been working with middle school and high school students. We wish her well in her future endeavors.
Nominations:
Mudiwa Mupotsa Giroux as an Educational Technician III at AGSS. Mudiwa has experience working with younger children here in Maine in a prior Educational Technician position.
Action Items:
6. Adjournment