The new school year is approaching, but area superintendents are finding themselves grappling with many of the same old concerns.

Stretching scarce finances, filling teaching vacancies, dealing with declining enrollments, and developing student curriculums and assessments were some of the issues on their minds during the first sultry weeks of August.

In SAD 68, which is comprised of schools in the Dover-Foxcroft area, fewer students – and the resulting decrease in state funds – have meant that, for the second year in a row, the district won’t be hiring a principal for Morton Avenue Elementary School.

Superintendent John Dirnbauer, who must juggle his administrative duties along with running the school, is aided by the district’s curriculum director and another teacher.

Part of the problem is not being able to find a “qualified person to fill the role” and offering a $53,000 annual salary – about $7,000 below the statewide average.

“We’ll survive and schools will open on Aug. 27, but the complexion of the school district is changing,” Dirnbauer said. “There are seven less people working [than last year], and services to students are being rearranged so we can live within our financial means without putting an unreasonable burden on local taxpayers.”

Accountability is a front burner issue for SAD 22 in Hampden, according to Elaine Emery, the district’s curriculum coordinator.

Like all other school systems in the state, the district is developing local tests to measure student achievement as required under new state education standards, the Learning Results.

SAD 22 is well on its way to meeting the June 2004 deadline for creating local assessments in English and mathematics, she said.

Now the aim is to make sure that incoming freshmen and their parents know what the new learning standards are and that before the new high schoolers graduate, they will have to pass a variety of assessments, something their predecessors never had to do.

The district plans to hold informational meetings and send out newsletters about the new requirements “so there will be no surprises” for parents and students, Emery said.

In addition, Hampden Academy Principal Ruey Yehle said she plans to call parents of new freshmen who didn’t meet the English standards on the most recent Maine Educational Assessment. The standardized test is given yearly to students in grades 4, 8 and 11.

“It’s an indicator that we have to pay more attention,” Yehle said she’ll tell parents.

In SAD 3 in Unity, graduation requirements have been expanded beyond mastering the local assessments.

By the time they graduate from high school in 2007, Mount View High School students will be required to create a personal learning plan, develop a presentation on a subject of their choice, and help out in the community. For example, the students could volunteer at a hospital, pick up litter, or organize a fund-raiser.

The new graduation requirements are intended to help students “round out their academic offerings and take responsibility for their own education,” said Principal Barbara Adams. “We want them to start looking at what they want to get out of high school.”

Many superintendents also are anxious about new federal education requirements.

In SAD 64, comprised of Corinth area schools, Superintendent Leonard Ney said he was having trouble finding qualified applicants to fill five educational technician positions because of new federal regulations.

Ed techs help out in the office and the cafeteria, prepare instructional materials, work with students one-on-one or in small groups, and supervise special needs students.

With the federal No Child Left Behind Act stipulating that ed techs must have at least two years of college, many school systems now don’t have the money to hire them, Ney said.

Many people who traditionally held ed tech positions had no college background, he said. People with post-secondary experience tend to be looking for jobs with benefits, something that many systems can’t afford to provide, he said.

Ney said he is coping by “reassigning responsibilities … and re-crafting how we’re trying to manage things.”

With declining enrollment in schools in the Lee area in SAD 30, the third, fourth and fifth grade classrooms at the Edith Lombard School in Springfield will be merged for the first time, said Principal Kathy McEvoy.

Taught by two teachers, the 39 students now will be grouped, not by grade, but by their abilities in individual subjects, reading, writing and math.

“Instead of teaching to the middle, this way we’ll be able to meet the needs of all kids, our higher learners and the ones who need extra help,” she said.

Across the state in the Camden-Rockport area, where MBNA has brought in hundreds of new jobs, SAD 28 Superintendent Patricia Hopkins has the opposite problem.

“We just don’t have enough space,” she said. “We’re seeing increased enrollment and no options.”

Just last month the district enrolled 28 new kindergarten through fourth-grade students, Hopkins said.

Last year, the district applied for state funds to build a new elementary school, but was rated too far down the priority list. Now the state has delayed accepting applications for new construction, she said.

“This concerns us because we have immediate needs.”

For more than a dozen years, two trailers and a modular unit at Rockport Elementary School have been used to accommodate the continually increasing school population, Hopkins said.

Even so, grades two and four are nearing the district’s maximum class size. This year another kindergarten class has been added at Elm Street School.

Other districts may wish they were in the same predicament because of the state funds that accompany increased enrollment, Hopkins said. “But it’s a real dilemma for us.”

Problems surrounding decreased enrollment and budget constraints haven’t eluded him, said Superintendent Steven Pound of Union 60 in the Greenville area. “But you can’t lose sight of where you want to be in three to five years. I think we’re going in the right direction.”

He said graduation requirements have been increased, the art program has been extended down to the middle and elementary grades, and more teachers and students will be involved with Reading Recovery, a program that helps students improve their reading and writing skills.

“Thanks to tremendous community support and teacher and staff efforts,” the Union has been able to offer innovative programs and new courses including economics, psychology and industrial math, he said.

In SAD 70 in the Hodgdon area, where high school classes begin Aug. 19 so students can break in late September to help with the potato harvest, Superintendent Deborah Stewart has been thinking about “how much the state is requiring from school districts.”

For example, a new data management system that the state is putting into place means her district may have to spend as much as $20,000 on new computer software. Money to hire someone to enter the information into the system also may have to be included in next year’s budget, she said.

“As all of this unfolds there are hidden costs that are coming to light. And it’s more difficult for smaller districts like us,” Stewart said.

Schools in SAD 48, comprised of schools in the Newport area, will start out on an uncertain note. The budget has yet to be approved and, consequently, teacher contracts haven’t been renewed, Superintendent William Braun said.

Without knowing “what we have for money,” Braun said the district hasn’t been able to hire new teachers.

With elementary and high school positions left vacant, classes may have to be merged to make up for the dearth of teachers, he said.

But amidst the turmoil, school will open as scheduled at the end of the month.

“The kids will show up with smiling, happy faces, ready to learn, and we’ll greet them with open arms and do the best job we can to provide the best quality education we can,” Braun said.