REGION — Ten director seats will be open for election between March and June in School Administrative School District, 45% of the 22 member school board. This year’s election season kicks off with available seats in Hebron and Waterford and West Paris.

While some elected local positions require nomination signatures, in most western Maine towns nominating and voting for school board directors can be done during annual town meeting.

Immediate openings

In West Paris, William Rolfe has decided to not run for reelection. It was a decision he did not come to easily.

“I am not going to run again,” he told the Advertiser Democrat last week. “It requires a three-year commitment, and I may move out of the district within the next couple years.”

Rolfe said the unsettling events that took place at West Paris’ Agnes Gray Elementary School during the school year made him reconsider his plans but that the timing worked against continuing service as he pursues his master’s degree in social work.

A key role that Rolfe has played on the school board recently has been encouraging alternate points of view during contentious discussions, even when they did not mirror his own.

“I feel it is important for everyone to feel like they are being heard,” Rolfe said, and that stakeholders need to look at all sides.

Rolfe has been a member of SAD 17’s policy committee this school year, as well as serving as an advisor to district administrators on substance abuse issues.

Judy Green of Waterford is running for reelection. Green has served nine years on the board, but for 38 years she led the school district’s adult education program before retiring.

“I was always part of the district,” Green said. “I wasn’t with the schools but I knew about the needs of people living in Oxford Hills, whether it was literacy, citizenship, engagement or training.”

Green currently sits on three committees, policy, of which she is chair; drop-out, to which she brings her experience in adult ed; and curriculum.

She said she believes that all members of the school board care very much about the issues facing Oxford Hills. One of her concerns about the immediate future is staffing, which has been a challenge throughout COVID but is now more precarious after recent public clashes between Superintendent Dr. Monica Henson and the Oxford Hills Education Association.

She praised administrative leaders who have stepped up for the district since Henson was placed on paid administrative leave in January.

“Oxford Hills is a great place to live and work,” Green said. “We will resolve our staffing issues, for leaders, educators and support staff alike.”

In Hebron the position is by appointment rather than ballot election. Current director Amanda Fearon has indicated that she has already accepted Hebron’s Board of Selectmen’s request to continue her role; this will be her second term.

Fearon serves on the district’s personnel committee. She said a current priority for that committee is to improve the process for performance evaluations for employees.

June seats

This June voters in the five other Oxford Hills communities – Harrison, Norway, Otisfield, Oxford and Paris – will elect or reelect school board directors.

Direct Mark Heidmann, who was appointed in 2020 mid-term to fill a board vacancy in Harrison told the Advertiser Democrat he will stand for reelection. Harrison’s other school board seat is currently vacant. While Harrison votes on its town meeting referendum by ballot in March, local elections are scheduled for June 14.

In Oxford, Stacia Cordwell’s and Ron Kugell’s terms will expire in June. Paris (Scott Buffington), Otisfield (Diana Olsen), and Norway (Christopher Miller) will also have school board elections in June.

Community concerns

Ahead of annual elections, the community Facebook group Viking Voices (visit: https://www.facebook.com/groups/4778522718928829) recently queried its 2,000 members about the most important things for parents and kids in school. The most repeated concern is to improve communications to families.

Some parents feel that posting notices on Facebook is not the best way to reach everyone, which has become the norm. Some parents stated that schools’ expectations for kids to communicate back to their parents is not the best idea.

Others are looking for improvements with IEPs (individualized education programs) and improving school experiences for special needs students. Many listed requiring students to wear masks as something that needs to be changed.

One posted their concern about social media engagement and promotion. Others wish for flexibility for students who have benefited from remote learning, a return to focusing on the basics, and more transparency from the school board with the community when filling leadership posts in the district.