LIVERMOREFALLS — The RSU 73 board looked at accomplishments the district has made in the past year Tuesday night and what needs to be done to promote community relations.
The annual board retreat is a refresher course for veteran members and a learning experience for new ones on their goals and responsibilities, Chairwoman Denise Rodzen said. But with the unusually challenging goal of bringing the former Jay School Department and RSU 36 in Livermore Falls together, the tasks could be considered greater than a routine retreat, she said.
“When we look at our vision, it is an incremental process,” Superintendent Robert Wall said. “Consolidation doesn’t happen overnight. We want to achieve satisfactory results, rather than optimum results. Optimal results could involve too much change all at once.”
One goal is for certain, however.
“We want to promote high achievement for all the students,” Wall said. “RSU 73 is a good RSU, and provides the services that would not be possible without being together.”
The two school systems voted to merge in the summer of 2011. Since then, accomplishments include:
* All middle school students are together in one school and all ninth-graders attend classes at the Spruce Mountain High School in Jay.
* A budget has been passed.
* One high school student each for the high schools in Jay and Livermore Falls sits on the school board.
* Extracurricular activities, such as sports and music, are combined.
But more is needed, particularly when it comes to the community, Wall said.
Jay and RSU 36 experienced strong parental and community support, and RSU 73 officials want to bring them together.
“We must get rid of us and them,” one board member wrote.
Board member Tim Madden said he knows of a district that invites veterans in for lunch close to Veterans Day, as well as a community supper the Jobs for Maine Graduates students’ is sponsoring.
Other members suggested art shows in the school and displays in area businesses.
Wall said the possibilities were virtually endless for bringing in the community.
Also Tuesday, board members listed possibly beginning students on potential career paths in the sixth grade, building tennis courts, field bleachers and a track, offering a more diverse group of courses and nontraditional sports, and establishing a performance arts center.
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