FARMINGTON — Superintendent Tina Meserve told Regional School Unit 9 directors Tuesday that administrators have been reviewing responsibilities related to the confidentiality of students and staff.
“We’ve had Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act training to make sure the confidentiality and privacy rights are protected,” Meserve said.
FERPA is a federal law that protects the privacy of student records.
“There are a few ways we ensure privacy,” she said. “One of them is to make sure confidential conversations are not happening in front of other people.”
Meserve said administrators must be clear with parents as to who could attend meetings.
“If there is a meeting regarding an issue between two students, we can’t have parents bring a neighbor or friend to the meeting,” Meserve said. “Parents can bring someone to support them to a meeting involving only their child.”
In other matters, Meserve said 2,525 students are enrolled in district school, an increase of more than 200 students over the past two years.
“Part of the impact of increased enrollment is the need for more computers,” director Irving Faunce said. “It is a real impact and it is one of those things you can’t estimate or budget for.
“When we think about the budget, we need to keep an eye on enrollment and class size and what we project that to be for next year.”
Meserve also said director Heather Ahern-Huish of Farmington had resigned from the RSU 9 board.
Meserve said applications to fill the empty seat are available on the town of Farmington website — www.farmington-maine.org. Selectmen will review applications and appoint a replacement to serve until elections are held in March.
“Whoever is elected in March will finish Heather’s term, which expires in 2020,” Meserve said.
Meserve also noted a safety forum has been scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday at Mt. Blue Campus. Several individuals from the school safety committee will be present to discuss school safety topics.
“The forum is presented by a conglomerate of RSU 9 administrators and local and county first responders,” Meserve said. “A lot of people are vested in the safety of our schools.”
dmenear@thefranklinjournal.com
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