RUMFORD — Regional School Unit 10 directors voted Monday to extend Superintendent Deborah Alden’s contract for three years.
Alden’s began her duties in November 2016, when she succeeded interim superintendent Michael Cormier.
Directors on Monday also voted to establish a Jobs for Maine’s Graduates program at Mountain Valley High School.
MVHS Principal Matt Gilbert told the board that he thought the JMG program would be another tool to “help support kids” at the school, while Maine Sen. Lisa Keim also shared her support of the program.
According to JMG, the program is a “partners with public education and private businesses to offer results-driven solutions to ensure all Maine students graduate, attain post-secondary credentials and pursue meaningful careers.”
Said Keim, “I think we need some kind of mentoring program where we could get students to be with businesses; our kind of businesses, the mom and pops’ (businesses) that you’re finding right here in Rumford and Mexico and the River Valley Area.”
Craig Larrabee, president and CEO of JMG, also spoke to the board about the program. JMG has programs all over the state of Maine, he said, and the nonprofit will fully pay for the program at MVHS “for at least three years.”
“Of the 104 programs that we have now,” Larrabee said, “each of the schools is asked to pick up 40 percent of the direct costs, so that’s about $24,000 and JMG makes up the difference.
“We want to sit down with community members and you folks to help develop a program that you think would be best for young people in the state of Maine. The program teaches students financial literacy, goal setting and academic remediation to keep students on track,”
In other matters: Eileen Pew, district literacy coach, and Cynthia Bernard, MVHS’ manager of the school-nutrition program, each submitted a letter announcing her intention to retire by the end of June.
mhutchinson@sunmediagroup.net
Craig Larrabee, president and CEO of Jobs for Maine’s Graduates, speaks Monday to the RSU 10 board of directors. (Marianne Hutchinson/Rumford Falls Times).
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