April 2, 2008
Dylan Sirois
School Board Representative
To all Students,
Wednesday’s School Board Meeting was very busy, and a great many things took place. First on the agenda was the hiring of three new teachers/staff; Matthew Shea HDHS Math Teacher, Brandon Terrill HDHS English teacher, and Greg Henderson HDHS Director of Guidance. Mr. Shea is going to be teaching a new course titles AP stats, and is hoping to receive funding for a Smart Board. Mr. Terrill will be teaching grade 12 English. Mr. Henderson was a Guidance counselor for Cony, and will now take the new position of Director of Guidance. However, the night was not all good news Ms. Ellis’s position has been lost, and Ms. Rende’s position has been reduced from 100% to 50%. These cuts are due to the significantly smaller budget for 2008-2009.
Next years budget is nearly $250,000 less than this years. A portion of state subsides have been lost due to a loss of 100 students in the Middle School over the last four years. only 60 students will be entering the Middle School from 6th grade, and this includes students from Dresden. Hall-Dale is trying desperately not to cut positions or programs. A pamphlet holding all information of the budget will be mailed to all residents of Hallowell and Farmingdale soon. The upcoming budget meeting is coming nearer and nearer, the date of this meeting will be in the pamphlet.
School Consolidation has been a big topic these last few months, as the Full plan from; Farmingdale, Halowell, Richmond, Dresden, and Monmouth was submitted to the DOE March 28. We now wait and hope for approval of our plan. Already we have begun to work with our partner schools, beginning with a reform of Special Ed, the board decided to share two Special Ed Directors among the five schools. The plan has not yet been finalized but it should save all schools some money. April 9th there will be a community consolidation meeting at 7:00pm in the High School Theater. Remember Hall-Dale is your school, be involved.
Respectfully Submitted,
Student School Board Rep. Dylan Sirois
