DIXFIELD — Regional School Unit 56 Athletic Director Jess McGreevy told the board of directors Tuesday that she and the district’s football community have decided to pursue an eight-man football team in the fall.
The district canceled the rest of its varsity football season in September 2019 because a lack of players posed a safety issue, McGreevy said at that time.
The school must get a waiver from the Maine Principals Association for the two-year suspension of the varsity team. The next step is to advertise for a coach, McGreevy said.
In other business, Dirigo Elementary School Principal Charlie Swan gave statistics on enrollment, truancy, absenteeism and discipline referrals at the school, which serves Canton, Carthage, Dixfield and Peru students:
- 390 students are enrolled at the elementary school.
- 7 students are classified as truant.
- 18 students have missed 10% or more of school days.
- 18 students have been tardy 10 or more days since the start of the year.
- 20 students have had six or more discipline referrals since the start of the school year; the highest percentage, 13.2%, is in grade two.
- 12 students are enrolled in the school’s Check-in Check-Out program to decrease the high level of discipline referrals.
In other matters, Superintendent Pam Doyen told the board the district received a $250,000 grant from the Barr Foundation, in conjunction with other districts in the Western Maine Educational Collaborative, to work on their Portrait of a Graduate program.
Through the private Boston-based organization RSU 56 administrators and community members will receive training and “will outline what it means to be a Dirigo High School graduate,” she said.
“So, it’s really expensive training that we’d never be able to afford on our own, but we’ll be able to take part in it as part of our WMEC,” Doyen said.
mhutchinson@sunmedia.com
RSU 56 Director Samantha Noyes of Dixfield, right, reads a paper at the board’s meeting Tuesday night in Dixfield. Next to her from right to left are student representative Spencer Jacques, Directors William Hine of Peru, Bruce Ross of Dixfield, Tammy Brown of Carthage and Deborah Mooney of Peru, and board secretary and district payroll/accounts payable specialist Cathy Arsenault. Marianne Hutchinson/Rumford Falls Times
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