Regional School Unit No. 5
April 27, 2012
Dear Parents, Community Members, and Staff,
The month of May begins next week and Teacher Appreciation Week occurs the week of May 7th-11th. Our students consistently benefit from the exceptional effort put forth by all of our teachers and staff. We are blessed to be part of an educational system where teachers truly care about individual students; are knowledgeable about their content area(s); and have the skills and attitude it takes to ensure students meet expected levels of proficiency and have a little fun during the process! I want to personally thank each of our teachers for their work this year and I encourage others to extend your appreciation of their efforts, as well.
Schools Delivering on the Mission: Pownal’s Fourth Grade Wax Museum
Did you know that our fourth graders at Pownal Elementary School created a wax museum depicting historical and contemporary people? It was quite an experience for our students and visitors to the museum! You can read all about it in this month’s edition of Schools Delivering thanks to the creative writing efforts of parent volunteer Robin Hodsdon Morin.
School Calendar:
The School Calendar for 12-13 is still under consideration. The Board received a slightly revised school calendar at their meeting on April 11th. We moved one professional day in October to more closely align with Region 10, our technical high school. The Board decided to wait for their May 9th meeting for final adoption of the School Calendar. This leaves open the option of adding a professional day to the calendar because the Board holds a final vote on the budget at that same meeting. The draft calendar can be found here for your reference.
Budget FY13:
The Board has added an additional workshop date for budget deliberations. A special meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, May 2nd to allow time for discussion of community input and decision making. The goal is for the public to be fully informed about the Board’s budget and to have the opportunity to provide input before a final vote. The Board anticipates a final vote on the budget at their May 9th meeting.
The recommended budget reflects a net increase of 1.1% ($268,088) with the following anticipated impact to each community:
Durham – an increase of – $118,020 or 3.79%
Freeport – an increase of – $210,055 or 1.58%
Pownal – an increase of – $63,539 or 3.81%
As noted above, we will continue with our budget review and adoption process with the following scheduled dates:
May 2nd – Board budget review with community input 6:30 pm FHS Cafeteria
May 9th – Final budget adoption 6:30 pm FHS Cafeteria
May 23rd – Annual Budget Meeting for budget approval 6:30 p.m. FHS Gym
June 12th – Budget validation referendum in each town
The Board encourages your involvement in this process. Please join us for these important meetings to learn more about our budget and the quality educational program we are working to provide. After each meeting, we will post the budget handouts on the website located here so please log on to get more information and to follow our progress. We welcome your participation!
Upcoming Meetings:
Wednesday, May 2nd – RSU No. 5 Board of Directors’ Special Meeting at Freeport High School Cafeteria 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday, May 9th – Finance Meeting at Central Office 4:30 p.m.
Wednesday, May 9th – RSU No. 5 Board of Directors’ Meeting at Freeport High School Cafeteria 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday, May 23rd – RSU No. 5 Annual Budget Meeting at Freeport High School Gym 6:30 p.m.
Sunday, June 10th – Freeport High School Graduation!
Tuesday, June 12th – RSU No. 5 Referendum Votes on Budget Voting held in each town
Wednesday, June 13th – RSU No. 5 Board of Directors’ Meeting at Freeport High School Cafeteria 6:30 p.m.
Monday, June 18th – Last student day (half-day) for students in all schools except Durham Community School (they had an additional school cancellation day due to no electricity)
Tuesday, June 19th – Last student day (half-day) for students in Durham Community School
As always, your involvement and support is greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Sincerely,
Shannon
Shannon L. Welsh, Superintendent
865-0928x5
welshs@rsu5.org
