May 27, 2026
To: RSU #74 Board of Directors
From: Mark Campbell
Re: June Board Report
Thank you for your support with the 2026-2027 budget. As you are aware, we have one more hurdle to clear in the process. The referendum vote will be on June 9, the same date as the State primary elections. I will do one more letter to households in the district asking for their support the weekend prior to the vote. If others have suggestions on how to best communicate the details of our budget, please feel free to share.
A reminder that we will have a special meeting on June 11. At this meeting, the Board will have an opportunity to recognize staff and community members for their contributions to the students/schools of our district for the current school year. Secondly, you will be asked to sign the final documents for the 2026-2027 budget or provide directions on next steps if the referendum fails.
I wish to invite Board members to join your administrative team in preparing and serving a barbecue lunch for your staff on Friday, June 12. Cooking will begin around 10:30 with staff being served at 11:30. Thank you in advance for your willingness to assist as we celebrate our successes for the 2025-2026 school year.
At a prior meeting, I shared that we needed to replace one of our larger vans which has high mileage and is beginning to show significant rust. We put out a request for bids in the local paper and we sent 3 local dealerships the RFP. We were requesting bids for a van to hold up to 14 passengers and the driver. As required by the national transportation board, we received notice from one of the car dealerships that the vehicle we sought does not meet national safety standards for transporting school students. Any vehicle that holds 10 or more students must meet the same safety specs as a school bus. These vans do not meet national specs because, for example, they do not have the structural defense to withstand a T-bone accident. There was in-house email history that shows this was discussed by administration with lawyers that says as long as we have fewer than 10 passengers, we would be okay. Our purpose of the larger vans has been for co-curricular team transport. Liability wise, we would be in violation of national board safety standards. We will need to look to secure a multifunction school activities bus to address this need. We have sent the RFP paperwork back out to secure bids on this type of bus. This vehicle specific type of vehicle does not require a passenger endorsement.
I have asked three administrators to address topics in their monthly reports that you should be aware of. First, Scott Hall is going to share what is being offered to students in grades 6 -8 as one of their specials. Beginning this past fall, Katie Hall and Richard Reichenbach have been delivering instruction that falls under ISTE Standards to our 6-8 students. Second, Tammy Wyman will address how services we provide through the use of BHPs (Behavioral Health Professionals) in our Special Education setting will be undergoing changes in the manner which these are funded. Lastly, Chris will outline the summer care and timelines of our athletic fields.
The high school held an elective fair for the student body last week. At this elective fair, staff had the opportunity to speak with students about the electives they teach in an effort to get students to sign up. As a high school principal, I have done this in the past and we found it a much more effective way to share information about courses beyond a simple paragraph one can read in the Course Description booklet compiled in the guidance office. Students went to the fair knowing how many blocks they needed to fill and which blocks. At this fair, besides learning about the electives that were available, the students were able to find out if the blocks they had free matched the blocks the teachers could possibly teach that elective. As a result of this fair, we have a request for two new electives in the arts. Included in this packet are two new proposals of semester courses that students showed interest in to be taught by Samantha Taylor. These electives are supporting the standards found in the Maine Learning Results under Visual and Performing Arts.
As the school year winds down, evening programs for parents/guardians and the general public are occurring to showcase the results of teachers’ and their student’s hard work. Last week, GSS students and staff showcased their end-of-year STEAM studies projects as well as Art class artifacts. Similar presentations will be happening at Solon on Monday, June 1 and at CCS on Wednesday, June 3. The programs run from 5-6 p.m. The district music concert will be Thursday, May 28 at CCS beginning at 6 p.m. A huge thank you to the staff for putting these evenings together as there is no better way to showcase the good work done in our schools other than bringing the community in to see for themselves.
I shall be handing out the 2026-2027 meeting schedule for the full board at this meeting. As well, I will have the schedule for the sub-committees for the 2026-2027 school year. The third document, the sub-committee assignments, will be prepared and disseminated at the August regular monthly meeting. I will be asking Board leadership to have the Restructure Committee and possibly the Collaboration Committee to meet next year. If you have a desire to be considered to be able to serve on a committee that you do not currently serve, please let your Board leadership know.
Sub-committee meetings:
On May 6 after the regular Board meeting, the Policy Committee met to review the recommended cellular device policy (Policy JICJ) we received from MSMA. The committee is recommending the suggested policy wording simplifying wording on exceptions. This policy is re-coded from our existing policy on cellular devices so we are also recommending that the older version (Policy JFCK) be removed from the Policy Manual at the June 11 meeting when we do the second reading on Policy JICJ. Lastly, the committee is recommending the adoption of Policy GBBC - Employee Use of Cell Phones. This would be a new policy for RSU #74.
On May 13, the Academic Committee met to review the draft curriculums for Social Studies, Science, Health and Physical Education, and Visual and Performing Arts. The goal over the past 3 years was to document the curriculum that is being taught in our classrooms. The documents have additional work that needs to be done, and plans were discussed at the Admin Team meeting on what and when this can be done next year. After cleaning up the documents, the focus will be to go back through these documents the teachers created with student data in front of them to see what our data is telling us in regards to the strengths and weaknesses of our curriculum. We will begin with ELA. Because the State no longer measures student’s writing skills, we will continue to look at developing an in-district writing assessment for each grade level. In prior years, this district, like most others around the state, had district writing prompts that measured skills across the grades in the different genres. Like was determined by the curriculum work in Science and Social Studies, when asked for writing samples across the grade levels, it was determined that depending on the building the approach to writing is different in grades K-5. Discussions will not only focus on skills to be taught at each grade level, but methodology as well will be discussed. Lastly, I briefly spoke on the Financial Literacy course (Social Studies Department) and Personal Finance (Mathematics Department) asking on behalf of the students needing to earn at least a ½ credit on the skills currently taught in both departments, if the Board would consider permitting the students to be awarded this required course from either department. Based on my word that the curriculum being taught covered the same major themes, the committee thought it would be fair to do so. I have included a copy of the syllabus for each course in this packet. Unless the full Board redirects me, I will be asking the Policy Committee to address our policy on Graduation Requirements to reflect this option. I am recommending this option as the State continues to wrestle with which content area should provide these experiences. It has been in Social Studies since the turn of the century but has been in legislative discussions over the past few years to switch it to math.
Agenda:
Appointments: Most staff listed are currently doing these positions and are being renominated by their administrators. Please note that Seth Price was selected by an interview committee to fill the vacant position in boys HS soccer. Seth was our JV basketball coach this winter and is currently assisting with our track and field team this spring.
Resignations: Brenda Mullin has submitted her retirement announcement as an interventionist for Garret Schenck School. While Brenda did step away for a year before returning two years ago in this position, she has spent over two decades supporting our students. Her work went well beyond the expectations of the positions she held in RSU 74 serving on the Professional Development Committee, Career Fair Committee, and the District Literacy Committee as well as being the lead person for organizing numerous off-campus learning opportunities for the students. Her energies and commitment to the school will be missed.
Tammy Long has submitted her resignation effective the end of the current school year. Tammy has been employed in RSU 74 for a significant tenure finishing her career at the high school in the English Department. As well as teaching English, Tammy began an Outdoor Classroom elective 3 years ago which has been a high sought after class. We wish to thank Tammy for her time in RSU 74 supporting students and wish her well in her future endeavors.
Nominations:
Recommending Melody Rich to fill the vacant position in Physical Education/Health for Solon and Anson. Melody has applied for conditional certification. With her experiences with Move More Kids through Somerset Public Health, Melody has been incorporating work in the Fit Kit Module within the after school programs she has been running. Her intent is to build upon the module including topics around physical activities, nutrition, sleep, and stress to aid her in addressing the standards under the Maine Learning Results for Physical Education and Health. Melody has worked for the district for several years, most recently she stepped in to be the Dean of Students for Solon and Anson. During this time, she worked with the teachers in these two buildings to find time to provide Social Emotional Learning to the students. For the past few years, the fifth day was spent at CCS supporting Health classes grades 6 thru 8. Due to the reduction in the number of sections in grades 6 thru 8, the Physical Education Health Teacher assigned to CCS will be able to do health for these three grades in separate time slots permitting us to use Melody to provide Social Emotional Learning for all Pre-K to 5 students in the district. The positive to this will be the consistent language between schools on how students can self-regulate their emotions. As it is established with students, we will provide opportunities for Mel to work with the teachers to also acquire the language to aid the teachers with supporting students with self-regulation.
At this time, I have not had an opportunity to meet with the recommended nominee to fill the vacant grade 5 position at CCS, I have done this prior to our meeting next week and hopefully be able to provide a nominee through an adjusted agenda item. As well, interviews for the principal position will be done this week. I will keep you updated.
Action Items:
Item 6: As mentioned above in the sub-committee report section, the Policy Committee is recommending Policy GBCC - Employee Use of Cell Phones. I have shared this recommended policy with the Association Leadership and have been informed by the President of the Association that he has received a few questions. Paragraph 3, the last sentence raises a question about the legality of searching a personal cellphone. Paragraph 4, the question was does this mean if I am using my cellphone as a GPS, am I in violation of this policy even if the phone is sitting in the console verbally providing directions? I have sought legal opinion on their questions.
Item 7: The Policy Committee is recommending MSMA’s version of Policy JICJ - Cell Phones and Other Electronic Devices with a couple minor adjustments. This policy will address the new legislation out of Augusta this spring which bans students from having access to cellular devices throughout the school day.
Item 8: Only the School Board may expel a student. Per our discussion at the April meeting, we have been working with a family to voluntarily accept an expulsion rather than proceed with a formal expulsion hearing. We have reached an agreement. I will need your vote of approval to sign the document on behalf of the RSU 74 Board of Directors.
Item 9: To ensure that districts are prepared for medical emergencies and violent situations, districts were recommended to have an emergency plan similar to the district-wide emergency plan to be in place to support administration and coaches during co-curricular activities. The packet put together is available for your review in the superintendent’s office with Linda. Please do not hesitate to reach out to Rachel Merrill or me if you have questions after reviewing the document.
Item 10: The certification committee has edited the Certification Handbook to address the grammatical concerns as well as the redundancy within the document and are asking for your support on the guidelines they are recommending for staff as they seek certification and renewals of their certification(s). This document is in your packet.
Item 11: This will allow me to work with the Nurse to secure an agreement with the Madison Health Center ensuring the district will have a school physician to provide support for the nurse. If requested, the current agreement can be reviewed through Linda.
Item 12: We have been served notice by the CEA and the MEA that they will be filing a complaint with the Maine Labor Board if we do not enter into negotiations with the CEA to include our technology technicians in the collective bargaining agreement with the teachers. I have called our attorney to request an opportunity to discuss this notice and will use the executive session to share what he recommends and to permit the full Board an opportunity to provide direction for me on this matter.