Larry Colcord, Chairman of the Boothbay-Boothbay Harbor CSD School Committee, opened the committee's March 26 meeting with the announcement of more staff departures. Jack Tourtillotte, BRHS Principal, will be retiring at the end of this school year after 16 years at the CSD and 39 years in education. Colcord thanked Tourtillotte for his years of service and said, "You always put the students first and I appreciate that." Tourtillotte, noting the "tough budget situation," said, "I hope my resigning will give you some options in terms of budget . . . I'm always going to be a Seahawk and my loyalty is with Boothbay Region High School and the people in it."

Sharon Babbitt, who served one year as BRHS librarian, will depart at the end of this year as well, citing family reasons.

Superintendent Eileen King noted that LD1932 had passed by two-thirds majority in the legislature, but that the governor is expected to veto the bill. Beyond the fiscal ramifications of LD1932 for consolidated school districts, the bill would have allowed the CSD to hold its school budget vote within 10 days of the school budget hearing. Current wording in the law requires the CSD to hold public voting on the ballot within three days of the hearing. In light of the continued uncertainty regarding LD1932, and to be consistent with both versions of the law, the school committee decided to hold the public vote within three days of the public hearing.

King also informed the committee that both towns must hold school budget referendum votes on the same day. Presently, Boothbay Harbor and Boothbay are planning town voting on May 2 and May 5, respectively. Thus, CSD budget voting cannot be held concurrent with town votes, as previously thought. After some discussion, the school committee decided to reschedule the school budget public hearing to May 12 and budget validation voting in both towns to May 15.

King presented a revised school budget, noting that health insurance costs would only be up four percent next year, rather than the projected 10 percent, providing about $50,000 in savings.

King said that after meeting with the BRHS and BRES principals, they had decided to fill the physical education position vacated by Chris Norton. Vacancies created by the retirement of kindergarten teacher, Jane Lunt and the leave of absence of BRHS Technology Integrator, Eric Chamberlin will not be filled. Ragnhild Baade, BRHS German teacher, will be changing from full-time to part-time next year. In light of declining enrollment, the BRHS Assistant Principal position, currently held by Joel Austin, will be cut, but the BRHS librarian position will be filled. King reported that staff changes and reductions account for a roughly $250,000 decrease in the budget.

King said that another $120,000 was cut from the BRES and BRHS budgets, but that these cuts "have not hit classrooms." The new budget includes reduced funding for new computer technology purchases, library supplies, conferences and travel, athletic supplies, and professional credits for teachers, and cuts the BRHS swimming program, the BRHS boys tennis program, the assistant musical director position (not currently filled), and one special education technician (not currently filled). Additionally, one bus run will be cut, saving about $12,000.

With an expected $60,000 decrease in the trustees' budget, King said that this budget was about $499,000 less than the budget presented in January and comes in at $125,000 less than last year. "It's a tough year," she noted. "We've lost almost a half a million dollars in subsidy." Because of the subsidy loss, taxpayers will still see an increase in the town's assessment despite all the budget cuts. The overall assessment is up $152,178 or about 2.1 percent. The school committee voted to adopt the budget.

The school committee adopted the proposed bullying policy for first reading. Committee member Sandra Paxson recommended that a more structured approach to disciplinary actions associated with the policy be considered. King said that she would ask the schools' administrative team to look into this further. Any changes will be reviewed at the next school committee meeting, when the policy is expected to be adopted.

The next CSD school committee meeting will be held on April 16 at BRES.