Bullying problems addressed by Vassalboro school board

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Vassalboro Community School (contributed photo)

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro School Board members heard a parent’s complaint about bullying at Vassalboro Community School (VCS) at the beginning of their Sept. 21 meeting. They reacted with sympathy and concern and said they, administrators and their policy committee will continue to address the problem.

Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer, who has had positive experience with anti-bullying programs earlier in his career in education in Maine, is looking at a broad approach. He reported that after “significant conversations” with Maine Department of Education (MDOE) officials, he has just signed up VCS for an MDOE pilot program called SEL (social emotional learning, which includes bullying, school safety and related issues).

Pfeiffer’s statement continued: “The MDOE Office of School and Student Supports and the Maine School Safety center are supporting this effort. More conversations will occur in the coming days and weeks to build a thoughtful sequential framework of steps for the next several years.

“This is an effort to support all students, families and staff through the effects, residual effects and ongoing effects of the pandemic over the past 18 months,” he concluded.

Most of the rest of the Sept. 21 meeting involved reports on the beginning of the 2021-22 school year.

Pfeiffer was upbeat. There have been scattered coronavirus cases, which have been handled promptly and appropriately, he said. But, he said, the good news is, “We’ve been in school all day every day for 14 days,” and he hopes to continue.

VCS offers a remote option for students unable or unwilling to attend in person. Curriculum Director Carol Kiesman said 11 students were learning remotely as of Sept. 21.

Kiesman praised new remote teacher Jennifer Bonnet as “a superstar.” Bonnet is certified to teach both regular and special education students, she said.

Nurse MaryAnn Fortin had conducted the first pool test for coronavirus the day before the meeting and was pleased with the cooperation from students and staff.

Dr. Steve Diaz, Chief Medical Officer at MaineGeneral Hospital, in Augusta, spoke from the audience about the Delta variant, which he said is affecting children more than previous versions of the virus did.

It is important for students to attend school in person, educationally, socially and emotionally, he said. Since children under 12 cannot yet be vaccinated, school authorities must use multiple other protective measures – he specified keeping sick children at home, observing social distancing and masking.

“You’re doing the right thing,” he assured VCS officials and the audience.

Principal Megan Allen said teachers are finding out what students missed during last year’s disruptions as they begin the current year. Assistant Principal Greg Hughes said intermural sports have started normally.

In the usual beginning of the year routine, school board members approved hiring Bonnet and more than a dozen other new staff members. Pfeiffer reported a continuing shortage of teacher aides, substitute teachers and bus drivers.

Previously-retired driver Ellie Lessard is still back at work, he said, and Maintenance and Grounds Director Shelley Phillips is finding time to fill in as a bus driver.

The next regular Vassalboro School Board meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 19.

Vassalboro selectmen approve purchase of two compactors

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by Mary Grow

At their Sept. 16 meeting, Vassalboro selectmen unanimously approved purchase of two new compactors for the town transfer station, concluding a years-long discussion of updating the facility.

Tom Maguire, head of Maguire Equipment Inc., of Readville, Massachusetts, reviewed his company’s proposals with selectmen, Town Manager Mary Sabins, Transfer Station Manager George Hamar and Public Works Director Eugene Field.

Selectmen plan to order two compactors immediately. One will be installed when available – Maguire estimates delivery within five or six weeks after he receives an order.

There will be a pause to repair the cement underneath the site of the second machine; then it will be installed, probably not until 2022. Maguire will store it until the town is ready for it.

Selectmen will also order two new large trash containers.

Board and staff members debated spreading the work over several years and decided to get it done in one blow. They discussed related work, like electrical changes and how extensive the concrete repairs are likely to be.

Their plan is to have the town public works crew do the concrete work. Field reminded them that his men might need to be plowing by November and will have spring road work.

If selectmen want them to make concrete work at the transfer station a priority, they will, of course, he said.

“You guys answer to the residents,” he reminded them.

Selectmen agreed it is time to make the transfer station upgrade a priority. They are satisfied that the approved additions and changes can be made within the $156,000 budgeted.

In other business, after hesitation, selectmen approved a short policy statement requiring all employees “whose duties include routine work in the Town Office” to be vaccinated against Covid-19. The only exception is a medical exemption; any exempted employee must be masked when within six feet of anyone else.

Hesitation was because the issue has become politically controversial. Approval was because all town office staff are already vaccinated, Sabins said, so the policy would affect only job applicants; and because social distancing is difficult in the “super-close quarters” (Selectman Barbara Redmond’s phrase) in the office, as well as in some transactions with the public.

Selectman Chris French voted against the policy, because he thinks it should apply to all town employees who meet the public, not just those in the office.

The meeting began with a very short public hearing on the annual update to the appendices to the General Assistance Ordinance, adjusting the allowable amounts of aid. There being no public comment, board Chairman Robert Browne closed the hearing and the selectmen unanimously approved the changes.

Sabins said resident and retiring Codes Officer Paul Mitnik would like to rejoin the Conservation Commission. Selectmen unanimously appointed him to finish out Betsy Poulin’s term, which ends in 2023.

There is still a vacancy on the Conservation Commission, since French resigned after he was elected selectman. That term ends in 2022.

Selectmen unanimously approved the annual resolution declaring the week of Sept. 17 through 23 Constitution Week, honoring the United States Constitution.

Sabins reported the Vassalboro annual report for 2020 had earned a Supreme award from the Maine Municipal Association, for the ninth year in a row. “Supreme” means Vassalboro produced the best annual report of any Maine town in its size category.

Because selectmen plan an extra meeting they have labeled a goal-setting workshop, and because November holidays disrupt their usual Thursday schedule, they developed the following list of pending board meetings.

— Regular meetings at 6:30 p.m., on Thursdays, Sept. 30, Oct. 14 and Oct. 28;
— A special goal-setting workshop meeting at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 21, open to the public to watch and listen but not to participate; and
— One November meeting, unless a press of business requires another, scheduled for Thursday evening, Nov. 18, at 6:30 p.m.

French led an inconclusive discussion of the unsatisfactory solid waste disposal situation, which Browne suggested as a topic for Oct. 21. French objects to too much landfilling and too little recycling, due to the failure to restart a successor to the Hampden facility that minimized landfilling and emphasized recycling.

Vasssalboro planners approve three applications

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Planning Board members unanimously approved all three applications on their Sept. 7 agenda, including what board Chairman Virginia Brackett said was the fourth application presented for a solar array in town.

The board previously approved a solar farm on Route 32 between North and East Vassalboro, which has been built. An application for a development west of Cemetery Street was presented in January and approved in June.

In March, board members granted the applicant for a Riverside Drive solar array a one-year permit extension, to allow more time to negotiate the necessary agreement to connect to Central Maine Power Company (CMP) lines.

Sunvest, a company with main offices in Illinois and Wisconsin, was represented at the Sept. 7 meeting by Bill French, regional director for project development, who previously appeared before the board in April.

The Sunvest project is on David and Jennifer Jones’ farmland on the east side of Webber Pond Road about 1,500 feet south of the Bog Road intersection, French said. The company plans to lease about 40 acres of a 93-acre parcel and use about 18 acres for solar panels that will turn to follow the sun — “single-axis tilt” panels, in French’s words.

As with other projects in town, it is expected to last at least 25 years and probably longer. As with other projects, its impacts are expected to be minimal. French and board members discussed buffers around the array; non-reflective panel surfaces to avoid glare; lack of noise and traffic (once construction is finished); and absence of dust, odor, trash, effects on soil, water and groundwater or other disturbances to neighbors or the environment.

Board members approved the permit with two conditions:

— Sunvest is to submit a plan acceptable to the codes officer for screening in two areas on the north and west sides where natural screening is inadequate; and
— The Town of Vassalboro is to be added as a secondary beneficiary, after the landowners, on the bond that guarantees removal of the panels and supports when the lifetime of the solar array ends.
Sunvest, too, needs a connection agreement with CMP. French did not know how long negotiations might take.

The other two applications approved Sept. 7 were:

— From Lisa Polevoy, to enlarge a deck at 111 Sandy Point Road in the Three Mile Pond shoreland area; and
— From Judith Elderkin and Christopher Ingalls, to remove a recreational vehicle and deck and replace them with a recreational vehicle of the same size or smaller, without deck; and to repair a shed. Their property is at 107 McQuarrie Road in the Webber Pond shoreland area.

Codes Officer Paul Mitnik, who has tried repeatedly to retire, told board members town officials are considering hiring a person without experience, whom Mitnik will train over the next several months.

Vassalboro Fire Department receives canned drinking water for wildfire response

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Vassalboro firefighter Lt. Donald Breton, right, accepts canned water donated by Anheuser-Busch, from Mike Crowell, left, and Nate Purington, both of Valley Distributors, Inc., of Oakland. (contributed photo)

The Vassalboro Fire Department recently received canned emergency drinking water to help provide critical hydration to its responders during this year’s wildfire season. On September 13, Valley Distributors, Inc., of Oakland, a local Anheuser-Busch wholesaler partner, delivered one pallet load to the department to help support its wildfire response needs. Maintaining firefighters’ hydration during long incidents or disasters such as wildfires is a major safety concern for many departments.

“Firefighters lose a tremendous amount of fluid during high-intensity response such as battling wildfires in addition to other fires. Proper hydration is critical to ensure the safety of our firefighters and to keep them performing at their best,” said Lt. Donald Breton. “Thanks to this water donation from Anheuser-Busch and the National Volunteer Fire Council, we have the resources to keep our firefighters hydrated and ready to respond when needed.”

The water was donated by Anheuser-Busch through a partnership with the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC). Anheuser-Busch has a longstanding tradition of providing emergency drinking water and supplies for disaster relief efforts. The company periodically pauses beer production each year to can emergency drinking water to be ready to lend a helping hand during natural disasters and other crises.

Building on this commitment, the brewer teamed up with the NVFC – the leading nonprofit membership association representing the interests of the volunteer fire, emergency medical, and rescue services – in 2019 to provide emergency drinking water to help firefighters stay hydrated and healthy when responding to wildfires and large incidents. To date, the program has donated over 3.2 million cans of water to volunteer firefighters across the country.

Learn more about the program at www.nvfc.org/water.

Vassalboro celebrates 250 years as a town

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Vassalboro parade

Vassalboro Rec did a great job decorating their float for Vassalboro’s 250th birthday parade on Saturday,
September 11. (photo by Melissa Olson)

Color Me Fun Run

Getting colored at the Second Annual Color Me Too Fun Run, sponsored by the Vassalboro Business Association and Vassalboro Recreation Department. Kerri Foster is coloring Mason Gilman at one of the stations during the race on Sunday, September 12. (photo by Kevin Giguere, Central Maine Photography)

Scavenger winners

The winners of Vassalboro’s Sestercentennial Scavenger Hunt are, from left to right, Micki, Jamie and Brad Berard. They all worked together as a family and got 15 of the 21 items. (photo by Jessica Breton)

2021-’22 Real Estate Tax Due Dates

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Albion

Tax year runs Feb. 1 to January 31
Taxes due September 30, 2021

China

Semi-annual
September 30, 2021
March 31, 2022

Fairfield

Four quarters

August 25, 2021
November 10, 2021
February 9, 2022
May 11, 2022

Palermo

October 31, 2021

Sidney

September 1, 2021

Vassalboro

Four quarters
September 27, 2021
November 22, 2021
February 28, 2022
April 25, 2022

Waterville

Four quarters
October 8, 2021
December 10, 2021
March 11, 2022
June 10, 2022

Windsor

Semi-annual
September 30, 2021
March 31, 2022

Winslow

Four quarters
October 8, 2021
December 10, 2021
March 11, 2022
June 10, 2022

To be included in this section, contact The Town Line at townline@townline.org.

Michaud completes New Zealand project

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Madison Michaud, of Vassalboro, a member of the class of 2019 majoring in biomedical engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), in Worcester, Massachusetts, was a member of a student team that recently completed an intense, hands-on research through the WPI project center, in New Zealand. The project was titled Designing an FSC Campaign for Wellington Zoo. In their project summary, the students wrote, “Our project evaluated community perceptions of FSC and designed components for the campaign. To accomplish this, we conducted consumer surveys, administered semi-structured interviews, and reviewed past conservation campaigns.”

At WPI, all undergraduates are required to complete a research-driven, professional-level project that applies science and technology to addresses an important societal need or issue.

Vassalboro voters to decide mass gathering ordinance

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro voters will have a chance to approve or reject a Mass Gathering Ordinance at the polls on Nov. 2.

Selectmen unanimously approved the proposed new ordinance at their Sept. 2 meeting, after reviewing and mostly accepting town attorney Kristin Collins’ recommended changes to the draft Town Manager Mary Sabins and Selectman Barbara Redmond prepared.

Selectmen will hold a public hearing on the ordinance at one of their remaining two September meetings, scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 16, and Thursday, Sept. 30.

They were motivated to prepare the document by a planned country music concert in town in July 2022. The ordinance spells out requirements intended to make such events safe for residents and attendees, including provision of drinking water and sanitary and waste disposal facilities; availability of medical services; and policing for traffic control and law enforcement.

If voters approve the ordinance, anyone hosting a mass gathering as defined will need a town permit, with the permit fee to be set by the selectmen. Selectmen will hold a public hearing before acting on the permit. The applicant must publicize the hearing in a newspaper and on the Vassalboro website and must individually notify property-owners within 1,000 feet of the site by certified mail.

The definition of “mass gathering area” in the proposed ordinance exempts many types of established permanent assembly places. Selectmen agreed in a July discussion that the ordinance would not apply to places like the Olde Mill, St. Bridget’s Center or Natanis Golf Course.

Two other major topics were left undecided at the Sept. 2 selectmen’s meeting: how to spend American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) money, and from whom to buy a second compactor for the transfer station.

Both discussions involved significant sums. Sabins said ARPA money coming to the town is currently estimated at around $461,000; for the transfer station upgrade, voters have allocated $156,000, Board Chairman Robert Browne said.

The Vassalboro Sanitary District (VSD) submitted a list of ARPA-eligible projects, as proposed in August; the total cost is $2,233,000. Items include repairing 54 manholes in town roads and streets; building storage tanks for odor control chemicals at two pump stations and making other pump-station improvements; repairing the VSD office building; updating the 1982 VSD map; and extending sewer lines to unserved areas.

Selectmen sympathized with the need to help the VSD, especially to lower user fees (which the VSD request says are among the highest in Maine). Board member Chris French commented that manhole covers flush with the pavement might save wear on town snowplows.

However, no board member was interested in giving the VSD $2 million. The district is eligible for Kennebec County funds, Redmond said.

French suggested Delta Ambulance as a possible recipient of money from Vassalboro and other municipalities it serves. He also mentioned expanded broadband for Vassalboro Community School. Redmond replied that she thought state money would be allocated to broadband.

Sabins had heard from one area businessman who had been negatively impacted by the coronavirus. Private businesses whose owners can demonstrate pandemic-related losses are eligible for ARPA money.

Since, as far as Sabins knows, the rules for distributing ARPA funds are not yet final, selectmen agreed to postpone further discussion to a future meeting.

Continued consideration of the transfer station upgrade is tentatively on the Sept. 16 agenda.

French had done research on two offers for a second compactor and explained the differences and related electrical needs, to thanks from the other board members. After discussing French’s findings, selectmen asked Sabins to invite a representative of one company to the next meeting to clarify his proposal.

Both companies offer the new compactor for less than $156,000. Selectmen said either will require additional electrical and other work that will add to the cost.

In other business Sept. 2, Sabins threw out the idea of contracting with a grant-writing company to try to get money to create a park on town-acquired land between Route 32 and Outlet Stream, south of the town office.

Selectmen expanded the idea into seeking bids from more than one company to write multiple grants for projects, work Sabins has been doing as needed. They took no formal action.

Sabins said she visited the town’s property for the first time recently and was favorably impressed by its possibilities for streamside recreation. Conservation Commission members might be willing to draft a park plan, she suggested.

Selectmen made two appointments, Paul Oxley as a member of the Trails Committee and Joseph Henry as a member of the Recreation Committee.

VASSALBORO: Despite parents’ objection, board votes to require face masks indoors by a split vote

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Vassalboro Community School (contributed photo)

by Mary Grow

On a split vote and over audience objections, Vassalboro School Board members approved requiring students, teachers and staff to wear face masks indoors when school opens Sept. 1.

The “mask mandate” was part of a multi-item school opening plan, and the only part discussed at length during the board’s Aug. 17 meeting.

Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer and Board Chairman Keven Levasseur spoke in favor of requiring masks as a safety measure.

“I don’t think we have a choice to do anything different,” since children under 12 cannot yet be vaccinated, Levasseur said. Pfeiffer said a high percentage of adults working at Vassalboro Community School (VCS) are already vaccinated.

Four of the 10 audience members argued vociferously against the mandate. They wanted the choice left to parents.

Masks are bad for children’s mental health by interfering with socialization, one woman argued. They are harmful to physical health, especially for children with illnesses like asthma, another said. And they don’t work anyway; there is no standard for an effective mask, and virus particles are small enough to penetrate most masks in common use.

[See also: CDC mask guidelines.]

The eventual vote to approve the back-to-school document, including mandatory masks, was 3-2, Levasseur announced. Principal Megan Allen said face shields instead of masks will be allowed with a doctor’s note.

Allen said other procedures in place last year, like temperature checks, social distancing and keeping windows open as often as feasible, will continue to be followed. Pfeiffer added that students and drivers on school buses will follow state regulations.

VCS will also do pool testing, nurse MaryAnn Fortin said. She explained the procedure: classroom members’ individual samples are tested in a bunch, and if there is a positive result individual tests will follow.

Aside from the mask debate, the Aug. 17 meeting was mostly upbeat. Pfeiffer set the tone with his repeated “The good news is:” school will open with students in classrooms five days a week, recess and sports will happen as in the old days.

But he kept adding, “As I sit here now,” promising he and school administrators will monitor updated rules and recommendations from state and federal governments.

Pfeiffer reported staff shortages: VCS needs substitute bus drivers, educational technicians, a sixth-grade teacher and substitute teachers, he said.

Allen reported the summer school, Viking Summer Adventure Camp, had been “hands down a success.” Six staff members and 33 students spent two four-day weeks working on projects tailored to students’ interests.

The summer course was intended to help students catch up after the disruptions last school year. Allen recommends continuing it after a return to pre-Covid normalcy.

John Hersey, new food service director for Vassalboro, Waterville and Winslow schools, said that even though school meals are now free for everyone under 18, regardless of family income, it is important that parents continue to fill out the annual applications for free and reduced-price meals.

Currently, school meals are free under a federal pandemic program that will continue through the 2021-22 school year. By a new law signed in July, the State of Maine will take over the free meal program in 2022-23, when the federal program is scheduled to end.

Applications for free and reduced-price meals brought in federal funds in pre-Covid days and will do so again, Hersey explained.

School Board member Jessica Clark seconded his reminder. She added that any parent who skipped the application for fear of taking away meals from another family need no longer worry.

“Jessica, you are spot on,” Finance Director Paula Pooler said.

Hersey also said that the school cafeteria is running into supply problems. As a result, he warned, menus may change on short notice.

Pooler’s report had two pieces of good news. She said the budget deficit that has characterized the school lunch program at many Maine schools for many years has been erased at VCS.

And she said that the unaudited final report for the fiscal year that ended June 30 shows a budget surplus of around $260,000. In addition, she said, after voters approved the 2021-22 school budget, she was notified of additional state subsidy money, as a result of the legislative decision to raise state funding to the long-promised 55 percent level.

Both the left-over money and the unappropriated money will go into the school’s surplus account. As school board members plan the 2022-23 budget, they can decide how much to recommend using from the account.

Director of Maintenance and Grounds Shelley Phillips reported on building renovations over the summer, including transforming the area formerly for industrial arts into two classrooms. She said a specialist in browntail moth control will return in the fall to decrease next year’s outbreak.

Neither the new lighted sign for the front yard nor the generator that will make the school building qualify as an emergency shelter is in place yet, due primarily to delays in getting parts, Pfeiffer said.

Technology Director Will Backman cheerfully described unwrapping boxes and boxes of new computers, and said he expects another 100, enough so every student will have one. Pfeiffer said federal CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act funds bought the computers.

School board members heard several other reports; approved many appointments and two requested reassignments Pfeiffer had authorized; accepted four resignations; approved a variety of policies; and rescheduled the workshop postponed from August to Wednesday, Sept. 22.

The next regular Vassalboro School Board meeting will be Tuesday evening, Sept. 21.

Vassalboro school supplies drive at VCS

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Help Our VCS Kids, the 3rd annual school supplies drop off, hosted by Don and Lisa Breton, will take place at the North Vassalboro Fire Station, Rte. 32, on Saturday, August 28, from 10 a.m. – noon. For more information, contact Don at 207-313-3505, or dlbreton@roadrunner.com.