March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

It is with great dismay that I read that the school board refused free federal money, $85,000 (BDN, Oct. 9), for the Goals 2000 application grant. This was a grant prepared by SAD 46 educators to comply with the Learning Results. It would have been used to identify the needs of curriculum and to provide for staff development to better prepare our children for the future. As three-fourths of all schools in Maine apply for this program, what makes some members of our school board feel that they have better information or knowledge than these other school districts? So what if there are strings attached, what program doesn’t? Life is filled with strings. We must learn how to pull them.

Our quality of education in SAD 46, as measured by state MEA scores, at all grade levels is declining. At the Sept 2. school board meeting a motion was unanimously approved to develop a plan to address deficiencies in MEA’s. Goals 2000 is a plan to further develop staff’s abilities to educate. This vote is a contradiction in direction in my view.

I encourage the public to contact your board members and request a special meeting before the Oct. 19 application deadline and request that all 13 members be present for a re-vote of the Goals 2000 grant. Also, the public needs to attend and participate more at the regular board meetings to advise the board of their feelings about our students receiving a quality education in SAD 46. Michael McCormick Dexter


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