Tit-bits* from the Garland Meeting

There have been two articles in the Bangor Daily News covering the business transacted last Wednesday evening at the Garland School. On Friday, there was this piece, covering the presentation by Joe Hemes of Stephen Blatt Architects. And on Saturday, there was a piece on a change in the walking/transportation policy (unrevised policy here: EEAA), "Walker routes worry parents in SAD 46"( p. C3).**

Our intent here is to report some of what was not covered in the two BDN articles.

• The roof of the school is right now planned as sloping inward (toward the center), with heated drains carrying away melt water. Although this was at one point mentioned as being subject to change, it appears that the architect favors this approach, and argues that the State DOE likewise supports this type of roof. It should be noted that the two Blatt-designed middle schools in SAD 48 have this type of roof (see here and here).
• MEA results will be reported on at the November School Board meeting (November 1, Exeter School). You perhaps saw them here on August 17.
• Nicholas Raymond was hired as Middle School Assistant Principal/Athletic Director beginning December 4, at a salary of $43,000 annually (to be pro-rated). Mr. Raymond is a 1999 graduate of Bucksport High, and 2003 graduate of the University of Maine; he is now employed as a math teacher at Hampden Academy.
• The Disposition of District Properties Ad-Hoc Advisory Committee met with representatives of the Dexter Town Council on September 26. From the Board: Parola, Lancaster, Crane, Foster. From the Council: Banks, Haskell, Thompson. While both the District and the town have "no immediate use for the property," "we might not have to tear down the middle school."
• The Pre-K Ad-Hoc Advisory Committee had a large group at its meeting and is going to take a look at other pre-K programs.

Of course, there was a lot more to the meeting. You'll get a more complete report when the minutes are posted here! You should live so long!

*A tit-bit, tid-bit, or tidbit, is, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, a "small and delicate or appetizing piece of food; a toothsome morsel, delicacy, bonne bouche," or "a brief and isolated interesting item of news or information". The literary among our readers will perhaps recall Upton Sinclair's use of the word: "Things..went into the sausages in comparison with which a poisoned rat was a tidbit". (The Jungle, 1906)

**This article seems to be unavailable online. Here are the first two paragraphs:

A significant number of parents of fifth- and sixth-graders recently expressed concerns to SAD 46 officials about the distances some children have to walk and the houses they must pass where registered sex offenders reside on their way to school.

One parent supplied the policy committee with a list of registered sex offenders and their addresses, all of whom live along the child's route to school.