School Committee in Brewer OKs Pay Raise for Staff

By Nok-Noi Hauger, Bangor Daily News, Maine

Jun. 14–BREWER — The School Committee approved a 3 percent pay raise for support staff, administration and the superintendent and discussed pending teacher contracts during its meeting Monday.

The board held a closed-door meeting to discuss Superintendent Daniel Lee’s raise and to negotiate teacher contracts, which expire in August. It approved the other raises during the regular meeting.

The school committee reviewed Lee’s performance in December and gave him a 5-year contract, which carries an annual salary of nearly $90,000, not including benefits.

Updates about the new summer school program that allows students to use the Internet to retake courses, school-based clinics that are scheduled to begin at the high school and middle school in the fall, and the Honors Diploma program at the high school were all presented to the board.

The board also:

. Accepted the resignations, with regret, of James Frost, principal at Washington Street School; Sharon Lisnic, high school English teacher; Martha Crossman, special education teacher; Barry Spofford, custodian; and Randy Ledian, education technician.

. Hired Brian Doyle, high school assistant principal; Andrew Geaghan, high school science teacher; Cara Coffey-Roope, reading recovery teacher; Morgan Hart, grade 5 teacher; and Florence Smith, anticipated pre-kindergarten teacher.

. Made in excess of 70 appointments for everything from freshman class adviser to varsity girls soccer coach. Still vacant are two high school English teaching posts, two teacher advisers and coaching spots for varsity boys soccer and ice hockey and middle school girls soccer.

. Held the first reading for new, tougher policies concerning compulsory attendance and truancy and rescinded the current policy.

. Appointed Mark Farley and Amanda Bost to a building committee created to make decisions about the proposed new school building. Brewer High School trustees Thomas Gardner and Frank Breau also sit on the new committee and are expected to be joined by a city councilor or two and members of the public.

. Jumped on board with several other school departments who are working on an appeal of Mr. and Mrs. I versus M.S.A.D No. 55, which significantly expands identification of disabilities, according to school officials, and issued $500 toward the appeal costs.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Bangor Daily News, Maine

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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