The Boothbay-Boothbay Harbor Community School District School Committee on March 10 discussed tuition reimbursement, sports and the CSD’s first shutdown due to COVID-19. Committee members also learned all of Boothbay Region Elementary School will return to school on Wednesdays with a new dismissal time of noon.

Alternative Organizational Structure (AOS) 98 Superintendent Keith Laser announced two CSD administrators will be pursuing doctorates in education in the near future. Said Laser, “I think it's really important your administrators exhibit and display (themselves) as lifelong learners. They have to have a master's degree to become principal and certainly a doctorate is a darn rigorous course of study. The fact that three administrators want to embark on that journey is pretty significant …”

Chair Stephanie Hawke said the subject was on the agenda for the committee’s regular meeting and not a budget meeting for discussion on how much the CSD wants to invest in administrators’ tuition reimbursement. The committee later learned Boothbay Region High School Principal Tricia Campbell and BRES Principal Shawna Kurr were the two administrators and AOS 98 Director of Special Services Chris Baribeau will also be pursuing his doctorate. The CSD provides for nine credit hours per year not exceeding University of Maine rates and, while administrators’ tuition reimbursement is determined by the committee, past standards would account for about $16,000 in credits each for Kurr and Campbell.

“This is not about the person, it’s about the numbers ... I'm not against anyone bettering themselves ... but we're in a situation on this budget where we're saying 'This is tight and we're going to take this away from the kids and we've got to charge the taxpayers more.' I don't think our administrators are underpaid by any means, so the teachers get three credits at the University of Maine rate and that's what I think we should do for the administrators. We've paid for administrators to get their doctorate and they're not with us anymore …”

Laser explained the difference between the pursuit of a master’s versus a doctorate is that master's level courses are not necessarily taken in sequence whereas doctorate classes are typically not offered every year and must be in sequence. Member Ruth Macy said she believes tuition reimbursement should be greater for administrators than for those working under them.

Said Macy, “… If we're considering openly talking about somebody's professional benefits in their contract ... we (should) review that before the budget and make sure we're not committing contract breach by even having this conversation on an open Zoom meeting and looking at how much we want to invest if that's the case … I don't want to insult anybody who we've already hired and make sure we're staying inside the lines of the contract.”

Dean of Students and Athletic Director Allan Crocker said while basketball season could have ended on a higher note, there was little to complain about with six Seahawks named to All Conference teams and athletes Glory Blethen, Kylie Brown, Ben Pearce and Kaleb Ames named to McDonalds Senior All Stars. Brown was also named to the McDonald’s All Academic Squad and Blethen as finalist in Miss Maine Basketball.

Crocker said sign-ups were falling short in nearly every spring sport, and tennis coach Mark Gorey and track coach Nick Scott opted out for a season over COVID-19 concerns. About 120 students replied to sign-ups by email: seven for boys lacrosse which requires a minimum of 10 on the field; 11 for girls lacrosse with 12 needed on the field; 10 for baseball with 12 needed on the roster; and 17 for track and field. The boys and girls tennis teams received enough sign-ups, but both teams would have to forfeit their second doubles matches, Crocker said.

The lower numbers fit the trend for sports this year and while lacrosse does allow for playing short one athlete, Crocker said he is not comfortable having no substitutions available for any sport, given the mask mandate during play. Sign-ups will go out once more before the committee decides.

Said Crocker, “I'd like to make sure we exhaust every option before we say we're not going to do something. And if we do decide not to do something, I'd like it to be with the understanding that it's a one-year thing and we'll see next year when hopefully things are more normal, that those numbers could rebound.”

After the March 4 announcement of a positive COVID-19 case in the schools, students continue 100% remote learning until March 15. Laser said those who came in contact with the person continue to quarantine for the two-week period and none have tested positive for COVID-19.

Committee members and Kurr, Campbell and Laser thanked school nurse Kate Schwehm for working tirelessly with LincolnHealth to keep students and staff safe and healthy. Said Laser, “We've been very, very fortunate to have somebody with that kind of tenacity and the professionalism.”

Schwehm said despite the positive case and shift to remote learning, everyone’s efforts make it a success story. “We had one person who tested positive with major exposure, an awful lot of people who could have been infected – and they weren't … All the things we're doing, the masks and distancing, all the money we put into the air filtration system – it all works. I lost so much sleep thinking this was going to be a major outbreak and it wasn't ...”