July 29, 2026
To: RSU 74 Board of Directors
From: Mark L. Campbell, Superintendent of Schools
Re: August 2026 Board Report
August arrived and much has already happened to prepare the district for the new school year. I believe at this time, we have two vacancies to be filled. It is my understanding by the time we convene next Wednesday, I will have a name for the open Physical Education/Health teaching position at the high school. This will leave us the Pre-K position at Solon.
I am happy to report that we were able to offer Camp Carrabec to roughly 50 RSU 74 students in grades Pre-K to 5. Students were treated to a blend of activities and lessons in Arts and Crafts, ELA, Math, SEL, and Steam. We also had 10 high school students take advantage of the opportunity to recoup high school credits. These students were provided work to make up for the teacher they had last school year in a course they failed.
By the time we meet next Wednesday, the administrative team will have met. Our agenda is lengthy as we close out the 2025-2026 school year and open the 2026-2027 school year. I have asked the administrators to dig deeper into their school data to see what trends are occurring in mathematics and English Language Arts. Specifically, asked them to pull 4 years of data and look for common strengths and weaknesses over the 4 years. While we have been seeing success in both growth of the students and levels of proficiency, this work should provide a better understanding of how we continue to move forward. I have asked for more and different types of data. We will be scheduling a time for the administrators to present this information to the full Board early in the fall.
Enclosed in this packet are two administrator reports. I have asked Tammy Wyman to explain the progress made in regards to the way funding for BHPs will be handled and how she sees us being able to expand our current staff in Special Education within the finances available to us. The second report is data to support a proposal from Chris to add additional time under the maintenance budget to permit the district to offer a full 8 hour position to a prospective bus driver. The proposal will add 3 additional hours for this person in maintenacne to go with the 5 hours allocated for driving a bus. This will also mean Chris will be using this staff member to help with summer maintenance projects in future years. I misspoke in my email last week when I said that we currently have 3 FTE maintenance. We do, for the summer. Come school year, one of the 3 goes to 5 hours on a bus, with his remaining 3 hours as maintenance. This was budgeted. Building principal reports are their student handbooks.
I am handing out a new schedule for the sub-committees. We have areas that need to be explored which have budget implications for 2027-2028 and beyond. We currently have two rooms in the district for Pre-K and State limits for enrollment are based upon classroom size. Once again, we have multiple students on a wait list who are scheduled to attend school in Anson. Additionally, RSU 74 chose to wait until the 2027-2028 school year to assume responsibility for the Pre-K programs. This responsibility includes addressing the Special Education needs of all 4 year olds and 3 year olds within RSU 74. Child Developmental Services has been responsible for overseeing this in the past. This will put additional stress upon space availability. As well, providing services for students whose needs are currently greater than we can provide in our schools is becoming more challenging as numbers seeking out-of-district placements are increasing in the area while the number of seats currently available remains a fixed number. Add to this, one agency we have used in the past has moved further away from our district boundaries resulting in longer commutes for our students. Lastly, in general, our enrollment numbers over the next 6-7 years are going to be decreasing from mid-forties to mid-thirties. The new schedule for committees has the Restructure Committee meeting more than originally shared and Collaboration Committee meeting whereas I didn’t have this one meeting at all in the old schedule. Other sub-committees have been moved to different dates as well to permit these other two committees to meet well in advance of the 2027-2028 budget building.
Agenda:
This is our month to elect Board leadership. Adjustments to the agenda will include moving items 6 and 7 to the top.
Item 3 shows student handbook presentations. Principals were to get their respective 2026-2027 student handbooks loaded to their websites. They will be prepared to quickly address changes to these books at the meeting and answer any questions. If a Board member would like a hardcopy, we will make these available through Linda.
Appointments:
Jen Hebert and Jen LaChance have filled these roles in the past.
Matt Scheve has coached for us in the past and has done well.
Liliana Caldwell and Zack Davis are offering to volunteer to assist our HS soccer programs.
Resignations:
Raymond Cloutier resigned his maintenance position in July to take work elsewhere. We thank him for his time in RSU 74 and wish him well going forward.
Keane Carlin has taken on a new role in education in the State of Vermont. We thank him for his two years here and wish him well in his future endeavors.
Nominations:
I am looking for support in the following nominations:
Jackman Daigle as the new Physical Education/Health teacher for Carrabec Community School. A recent graduate of the University of Maine Presque Isle, Jackman shares the name of the community from which he grew up in. A very enthusiastic individual with a strong belief that all students can succeed knowing not all students will find his content area as exciting as he does. Jackman is very much interested in being part of a community that puts the needs of the students first.
Sunnyrose Juzukonis as a Special Education teacher. Sunnyrose will be responsible to deliver math instruction in grades 9 to 12 as well as help out with student instruction in grades 6-8. Sunnyrose recently moved into our district and has been teaching Special Education for RSU 73 for the past 3 years.
Caleb Landy as a high school English teacher. I had the pleasure of interviewing and being interviewed by this young man. Although this will be Caleb’s first full-time teaching experience, he has many non-teaching experiences he brings with him; experiences that will assist him with the challenges of working with young adults but also and equally important, experiences that he can share with his students that undoubtedly be excellent hooks to engage those students in their learning. He sees that his charges include providing his students with in-class opportunities to learn as well as broadening the opportunities by exploring what lies outside the windows of their homes, and the communities/state/nation they live in. His vision for the connections between his content area and the content areas of his colleagues will also provide enticing engaging settings for learning.
Malachi Stevens to become an Educational Technician II filling a vacancy at Garret Schenck. Her previous experience comes from being an Ed-Tech II/BHP role for the past 3 years in a private school setting. Malachi has her Associate Degree from Kennebec Valley Community College.
Feleicia Gentilini to become an Educational Technician II to cover a student in Pre-K. Feleicia has been working both in private and public educational systems for the past 6 years as an Educational Technician II. She has her Associate Degree from Husson University. Child Development Services is responsible for pay and benefits and will reimburse us for pay and benefits for the first 6 hours. This person technically is an RSU 74 employee. We have been fortunate to have a strong pool of Ed-techs so rather than wait for CDS to tell us they do not have someone to cover a student, we asked them. They don’t. We are asking the Board to support our proactive approach.
Samantha Saucier as the Educational Technician III filling the new position requested in the 2026-2027 budget. Samantha has her Bachelor’s degree from Bridgewater State University. For the past 3 years, Samantha has been working in the private sector case managing and as a behaviroal health professional working with children and adults. Samantha will be working in Garret Schenck.
Action Items:
6. Will be moved to the beginning of the agenda. At this time, the Board will nominate and elect a chair for the 2026-2027 school year.
7. Will also be moved to the beginning of the agenda. At this time, the Board will nominate and elect a vice-chair for the 2026-2027 school year.
8. In the past, Board members have been asked if they would like to represent RSU 74 on the Maine School Board Association. Your delegate last year was Mr. Ewing with Mrs. Layman being the alternate delegate.
9. This motion will ask you to approve the Carrabec Communit School Disaster/Emergency Shelter Plan with the Town of Anson. Tuesday, July 27, the Anson Select Board voted on this document for the ensuing year. There is a change from the document you approved last fall. Anson Fire Department noted that the intent was not for CCS to be a warming center but to be used for disasters and emergencies situations. The warming center notation was listed in 4 locations but has been removed. Thankfully we did not have to implement the plan over that time. I did not include the document in this packet. Linda has a hardcopy of the document if anyone wishes to stop in and look it over again.
10. This is the second reading of Policy GBCC - Employee Use of Cell Phones. No changes since you voted on the first reading in June.
11. Per Chris’ request, we are asking for an additional ⅜ FTE in maintenance. As shared earlier this is to make taking on a bus driver role more attractive by ensuring the person has a total of 40 hours per week. Chris has explained where the funds necessary for this request can be found within his budget.
12. Per Tammy’s request, we are asking for an additional position for an Educational Technician in Special Education. The funding for this position will come from Local Entitlement funds as well as funds from Mainecare billing that the district will be beginning this fall. If this is approved I would request another motion to approve Trista Giroux as the individual to fill this position. Trista has been working in our schools for the past 3 years as an employee for the company we have been contracting for our BHPs. She has a total of 5 years experience in the role of a BHP.
14. I am asking the Board to support my nomination of Wendall Dunlap to fill the Director of Transportation position. The candidates interviewed and reference checks did not make this an easy decision. In the end, Wendall has worked for us and more importantly volunteered many hours for us. I have seen the quality of work he has done for us both paid and volunteered. One additional belief that makes this appointment a positive for the district is, his work has been in the area of transportation as well as maintenance, so if needed, he could fill in the other stipended position.
15. I realize we do not have any expiring contracts but this session will be used to discuss options for compensating individuals with needed/desired certifications/licenses who fall under one of the collective bargaining agreements.