HAMPDEN — The SAD 22 board of directors approved the elimination or reduction of nine teaching positions Wednesday in what is heating up as a controversial budget for next year.

There was little opposition to cutting the nine positions that would save the district an estimated $190,000, although some on and off the board criticized the board’s budget process for not involving the public enough.

Hampden board member Jean C. Camuso was the sole opponent of eliminating two of the positions, a second-grade teaching position at the Earl C. McGraw School in Hampden and an unfilled eighth-grade teaching position at the Samuel L. Wagner Middle School in Winterport. Camuso argued that eliminating the positions would compromise the quality of education at the schools.

Also approved for reduction or elimination were:

An assistant teacher of music

A third-grade unfilled teaching position at the Leroy H. Smith School in Winterport.

A reading teacher position.

Four instructional improvement team positions which don’t eliminate actual teachers but eliminates the duties and compensation of four teachers for supervising teacher development.

Most of the controversy came Wednesday when the board rejected a request to hold an informational meeting June 15, one day before Hampden, Newburgh and Winterport residents will meet to vote on the $11.77 million budget for the year that starts July 1. Tha figure is an overall increase of more than $700,000 from this year.

With even some board members confused about some aspects of the budget, those board members in favor of an added meeting argued that a simple question and answer public meeting was necessary. Opponents, however, successfully argued that residents of the three towns can ask questions at the June 16 district-wide meeting, which is, they said, the appropriate place for questions.

The rejection of this informational meeting angered Hampden resident Dewey Martin who said he still had many questions that couldn’t be answered at the district-wide budget meeting.

A certified public accountant and a Husson College professor, Dewey also contended that the board didn’t go far enough in looking for savings. The $35,000 that the board is figuring will be left over this year to be carried into next year, could be 10 times as large, he said, and savings were easy to be found.

“I could find $100,000 (in savings) tomorrow,” he told a reporter while the board held its meeting.

District Superintendent Richard Lyons disagreed, saying that $35,000 was what he expected would be carried forward to next year.

Copies of the district budget are expected to be mailed to residents of the three towns sometime early next week, giving residents about a week to study the budget before the district meeting.

In other action, the board voted to continue to look at having Hampden Academy as a closed campus, meaning that students would not be free to leave the school during lunch as is permitted currently.

Hampden Academy senior Kevin Cuddy pressed the board to curtail action on the closed campus proposal, saying the school was slowly being turned into a prison for students.

He said that recent efforts like extending the school day by one 40-minute period and eliminating a brief break during the day was limiting the freedom for students.

“Hampden Academy is a learning institution and not a prison,” he told board members.