RUMFORD – SAD 43 directors on Monday approved spending nearly $130,000 from this year’s budget for several special needs and computer projects.
The items were not budgeted in the 2003-04 spending plan. However, because sufficient money remained from the prekindergarten to grade 12 instructional budget and other commitments, the board decided to take the money from this year’s leftover, said Superintendent Jim Hodgkin.
Approved was $9,500 for the purchase of a harness that will allow a special needs student to more easily be moved from a wheelchair. Another $12,000 was approved to update one boys’ and one girls’ bathroom in each of the five schools to comply with Americans with Disabilities Act requirements. The bathrooms will have automatic flushes, hand dryers and spigots, along with one wide stall to accommodate a wheelchair.
A third approval was for $18,000 to replace the carpets in the upstairs classrooms of Mountain Valley High School.
The largest expenditure, just under $91,500, was approved for the replacing and updating the computer labs in the district’s three elementary schools.
Hodgkin said the computer labs will be portable and could be moved if one of the elementary schools is closed in the future.
Because student enrollment continues to decline, Hodgkin said the district will take another look at the possible closing of Virginia Elementary School, the smallest of the three, in the fall.
Also on Monday, the board approved second year probationary contracts for 15 teachers and first continuing contracts for 15 other teachers.
SAD 43 wellness coordinator Kathy Sutton and SAD 21 wellness coordinator Laurie Soucy told the board of a half-million-dollar, three-year federal grant they are seeking. The two districts would share in the grant if it is awarded. Funds would be used to provide equipment and training for the development of lifelong wellness activities for students, staff and community members. Hodgkin said the districts should know whether the grant application is successful by late August.
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