Candidates agree on teachers SAD 67 board hopefuls see competitive salaries as key to retention

LINCOLN – Keeping quality teachers, competitive salaries and improving communication are the issues being discussed by the five residents running for two three-year terms on the SAD 67 board.

The candidates are incumbent Mary Keegan, Darrell R. Libbey, Lynn Sanderson, Jan M. Whitney and incumbent Donald Worcester Jr.

Keegan, 47, co-owner of Thompson Trucking, said teachers’ salaries are a major issue. “Right now, we have good, qualified teachers leaving our district to go to nearby districts because the salaries are so low,” she said.

Keegan said teachers’ salaries are near the bottom of the scale in comparison with area school districts and within the Penquis region.

“It really needs to be addressed,” she said. “We need to find a way to establish our teacher salaries so they are competitive and, at the same time, be conscious of the fact that we have got to meet the needs of the community as well.”

Libbey, 42, a postal worker, said keeping good-quality teachers is important. “Maybe our salary isn’t in the range it should be,” he said. “A few have left in the last couple of years, and their main thing was money and the difference in insurance. I think there was a $5,000 to $7,000 difference in salary.”

Libbey said there are some maintenance projects that were deferred because of the financial situation. He said he is concerned about how the state budget deficit could affect school subsidy.

Sanderson, 42, a branch manager at Key Bank, said she is concerned about the district losing good teachers to other school systems.

“We have lost two good teachers recently,” she said. ” I heard it was over money.”

Sanderson said as the mother of two children, she wants her children and everyone else’s children to receive the best education they can. She said the first issue she will look at is why the district is losing good teachers.

Whitney, 48, a day care provider, said it is important to have open lines of communications among the school district, parents, students, teachers and administration. “I think a lot of the public feel like they are not heard,” she said. “People need to feel like they can talk to whoever they need to talk to and voice their opinions.”

Whitney said she plans to listen to people and be their voice on the board. “I am going to take the voice from the people to the meetings, if they feel they can’t be there to speak.”

As a former board member, she said she would not be afraid to speak out and ask questions.

Worcester, 52, manager of Worcester Bros.-Daigle Oil Co., said the biggest issue facing the district is providing more pay for teachers.

“Our teachers are the lowest paid in the area and in all of the Penquis region,” he said. “We are losing teachers every year to other districts because they are paying more than we are. We can’t continue to do that.”

Worcester said the school district needs to bring its teachers’ pay up to a level that is competitive with other districts. “We are losing a lot of experience,” he said.

Polls for municipal elections will be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the high school gym.