The big news coming from the March 16 school committee meeting: the proposed 2016-2017 budget was approved by school committee members John Bertolet, Stephanie Hawke, Peggy Splaine (appointed interim until next election for Sandy Paxson who moved out of town), Bill Bailey and Larry Colcord. Brian Blethen was the only member not in attendance.

The total 2016-2017 budget comes in at $9,465,279, which is a 2.46 percent increase over the 2015-2016 adopted school budget. Revenue received by the district from the general fund balance, state subsidy, tuition, contracted services and interest reduces the amount to be raised by the towns of Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor to $8,066,154. The assessment for the budget is largely calculated by the percent of pupils attending the C.S.D. from each town. Debt service and adult education are broken per a 60/40 percent ratio.

Boothbay Harbor, with 160.5 students/32.40 percent of total student population at Boothbay Region Elementary and Boothbay Region High schools, has been assessed: $2,531,762 toward the regular budget, $100,830 for debt service, and $15,290 toward the adult education budget of $38,224. Boothbay Harbor is seeing an overall increase of $64,209 (2.49 percent) over the current budget.

Boothbay, with 335 students/67.70 percent of the total school populations, has been assessed: $5,282,317 toward the regular budget, $151,245 of debt service, and $22,934 toward adult education. Boothbay is seeing an overall increase of $38,538 (0.71 percent) over the current budget.

The annual Boothbay-Boothbay Harbor Community School District Meeting, at which the public will vote on this proposed budget, is scheduled for Wednesday, May 4, in the Boothbay Region Elementary School gym.

On behalf of the school committee, Chairman Larry Colcord publicly thanked Sandy Paxson for her 18 years of service “for all her work on the policies and issues the committee dealt with during that time.”

BRHS Principal Dan Welch distributed packages to the committee members regarding preparation for the school's 2017 accreditation process. The accreditation program is through the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) and is completed about every 10 years. To be an accredited school, specific standards must be met in the areas of core values, curriculum and instruction, student assessment, school leadership, and school atmosphere. NEASC sends a committee of educators to conduct the accreditation process. Welch plans to give a formal presentation to the school committee in the fall.

Boothbay Region High School students Hali Goodwin and Ella Yentsch were on hand for a Project Citizen presentation. Project Citizen is incorporated into social studies programs at the high school and middle school levels. Students discuss issues faced by their communities, get input from parents about what some of the issues are, then research possible existing public policies, research the topic/issue, develop alternative policies and create a project paper.

The girls' project, which included verbal, chart and iMovie components, was entitled “Orbital Space Debris.” The presentation addressed the mounting debris from space missions, 1957-2015 (over 21,000 objects over 10 centimeters), orbiting the earth (traveling at 22,000 mph), the danger it poses and proposed a solution (a debris scooper).

Boothbay and Wiscasset to play on the same team? That’s what it sounds like. BRHS football coach Bryan Dionne discussed a possible combined team with Wiscasset due to the continuing decline in student populations. Dionne said that for the next two years player numbers for BRHS will be between 28-35. Wiscasset, which is without a football team, anticipated only 5-6 interested students, Dionne said.

“Both Allan (Crocker) and I see it as a win-win,” Dionne said. “And it will be a good feeder system. With 25 players anticipated for fall of 2017 it will be extremely difficult to have JV and varsity teams.”

BRHS has an enrollment of 206 and Wiscasset high school students (9-12) 202; combined at 408 will keep the team in Class D.

Dionne reported that both the Wiscasset principal and athletic director were on board with the idea and that each school would have its own eligibility policies.

Dionne said there are enough coaches at BRHS. The only issue could be transportation home for the Wiscasset high school kids. Dionne said the bus used to transport BRHS students to classes at Bath Vocational School could be used to pick up.

Boothbay would provide transportation for Wiscasset players to practice on days BRHS's bus to Bath Vocational School was on the road. For away games, Boothbay buses would pick up players at Wiscasset Middle High School. Parents of players would have to make arrangements for practices and home games on non-Bath Voc days.

A motion to support moving forward with a new team was unanimously approved by the committee.

Other business

The school committee went into executive session from 6:45 to 7:12 p.m. to discuss labor negotiations.

The next school committee meeting will be on Wednesday, April 13 at 6 p.m. at the high school library.