Union 102 superintendent to determine last day

MACHIAS – Superintendent Betty Jordan will meet tonight with the chairpersons of Union 102’s seven school committees to determine when her resignation will take effect.

Jordan has been the Superintendent of Union 102 since July 1996. She submitted her resignation to the union board Nov. 9 and expects to leave sometime next month.

Jordan said Thursday she is leaving take a position as the executive director of the Washington County Consortium for School Improvement. Its previous director, Nancy Melhorn, resigned last month, she said.

The consortium was created in the early 1990s and is made up of the superintendents of every school system in Washington County and the presidents of the University of Maine at Machias and Washington County Technical College.

“I’ll be working on grant writing, staff development and curriculum, which is my area of expertise,” Jordan said.

The superintendent said she’s not leaving her position as the superintendent of Union 102 because she’s unhappy, but that being the superintendent for seven towns is a demanding job.

“Sometimes, I’m out four nights a week at meetings and that’s after working all day,” she said.

The four years Jordan has served as the superintendent of Union 102 have been busy.

After years of work, a $1 million air quality improvement project at the Rose M. Gaffney Elementary School will go out to bid in December, and Jordan and her staff have just moved into a new superintendent’s office on Court Street.

Both projects required allocations of local funds and went to Machias voters for approval following public hearings.

Jordan said Union 102 staff have come a long way toward implementing Maine’s Learning Results program, and all union schools have been working on curriculum design and assessment guidelines.

The adult education program is doing well and Director Bonnie Fortini has expanded the adult basic education program countywide, she said.

Jordan said a culinary arts program was implemented at Machias Memorial High School in 1998, and the school department has applied to the state for a new high school.

Jonesboro Elementary School received a Trout Foundation grant to add an information center to the school library. The school is expanding its computer lab, she said.

And, as superintendent of Union 102, Jordan has been instrumental in preparing two successful multimillion-dollar federal grant applications for Washington County schools.

The Safe Schools program is funded by a $2.79 million three-year grant to provide drug and violence prevention programs to five county school districts.

The 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program is a three-year grant of just under $1 million a year to provide after-school and summer academic and recreational programs for children in 12 county schools.

Both grants are administered by the Washington County Consortium for School Improvement so Jordan will be continuing her involvement in the programs, she said.

Jordan said the agenda for tonight’s meeting includes developing a search process for her replacement.