School cancellation days adding up in RSU 73

LIVERMORE FALLS — Like other Maine school districts, RSU 73 has had to cancel plenty of school days this year due to snow and ice.

At Thursday’s RSU 73 board of directors meeting, Superintendent Kenneth Healey said there have been six school-cancellation days so far for 2017-18 in RSU 73. School board member Tammy Frost asked Healey to explain his plan for making up school-cancellation days. Healey said he would need to talk to administrators in the schools to figure out the best option.

“It really has an impact on the seniors,” Healey said.

The Spruce Mountain High School graduation is scheduled for Sunday, June 10. By state law, the seniors must attend school for 170 days in a school year.

According to the school district’s calendar, a day will be added after June 7 for every storm day used.

Spruce Mountain Adult Education Director Robyn Raymond provided an update on the program’s activities.

“We just developed an EMT course that’s going to be here starting in March,” she said. “You can be 16 years old and take this class.”

The adult education program and Spruce Mountain High School librarian Amy Ryder partnered for a “Code Night” recently. Parents and their children worked together doing problem-solving exercises on the computer.

“What I liked about it was parents were as deeply involved as the kids,” said Raymond.

Spruce Mountain Middle School Principal Scott Albert said eighth-grader Kim Fleury won the geography bee at the school. She will take a test along with other students across the state, and the top 100 scores will advance to the state meet April 6.

In the school’s spelling bee, eighth-grader Kaila Godbey placed first, seventh-grader Peyton Martin second, seventh-grader Savannah Duggan third, and seventh-grader Mackenzie Curtis fourth. They will advance to the Franklin County spelling bee at Strong Elementary School on Feb. 6.

Directors received an update from Spruce Mountain High School teachers Jenna Cote and Heather Ahern-Huish regarding the school’s accreditation process. Different lesson plans were collected from teachers, said Cote.

One of the positive aspects was students felt that teachers were effectively using group activities to help them learn the subject matter, Cote noted. An area to work on is to have students and parents provide more feedback on what types of instructional practices might be most effective.

Another strength is clearly defined social and civic expectations at the high school, said Ahern-Huish.

“We were told the standards were easy to apply, which is good,” she said.

Both Cote and Ahern-Huish said late starts to school on Wednesdays were extremely beneficial in allowing the staff time to improve their instructional practices.

The next RSU 73 meeting is Thursday, Feb. 8, at 6 p.m. at the Spruce Mountain Middle School cafeteria.

bmatulaitis@sunmediagroup.net