SOLON & BEYOND: School news; open municipal positions

by Marilyn Rogers-Bull & Percy
grams29@tds.net
Solon, Maine 04979

Good morning, dear friends. Don’t worry, be happy!

Didn’t have room for all the Solon Elementary School news last week, so I’m going to start with that this week.

The Solon School had a Thanksgiving Food drive and they wood like to thank families for donating to their Thanksgiving Food Drive during the month of November. Students brought in 554 items which were donated to the Solon Food Cupboard to help needy families in our area. This was the most food they have ever collected!

After a lively competition between classes to see which class could bring in the most items, Mrs. Campbell’s first graders won with 174 items. Thanks to all of the families who donated to this worthy cause!

Students celebrate on the Polar Express. This fall students have received a colored pom-pon each time they did a good job meeting school expectations, displaying positive behaviors, or being helpful and/or cooperative as part of the second year of our Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) program. Students put these pom-pons in a jar on the counter behind Mrs. McFadyen’s desk. When the jar is full, they hold a special schoolwide celebration activity.

In December the jar was full so they held a Polar Express activity. Students could wear pajamas and they served hot cocoa, popcorn and marshmallow treats during the movie. Students had the chance to enter into a raffle to win holiday prizes.

At Halloween, Ms. Rich’s third grade class decorated a pumpkin and won second place in the annual contest sponsored by Smart & Edwards Funeral Home in Skowhegan.

The Solon Staff all dressed up in emoji T – shirts for their Halloween costumes this year.

As always, I was so happy to receive the above news from Solon Elementary School and many thanks are extended!

The Solon budget meeting was held last Saturday. I am pretty sure that was the only one I have missed in all these years….but, I will try to get some information to share with you in next weeks column.

I wrote in last week’s news who was running for the empty selectmen’s seat. (For those who might be considering putting their name in a write-in vote, the following information required for the job is that the selectmen meet every Wednesday from 7:45 a.m. to noon, and 1 to 4 p.m., and 6 to 7:45 p.m.. Also in the spring, property tax assessing on several other days. Most of the work is done on computers using Word and Excel so familiarity with those programs is very helpful.

For those considering road commissioner a Class A or B driver’s license is needed along with knowledge of plowing, road maintenance, and equipment maintenance . It is a full time job with overtime when weather and/or road conditions demand it. The road commissioner is in charge of the road crew employees.

You all know by now, if you read this column, how old I am ! This goes out to all you older women who are in your 80s or older! I didn’t let on how old I was because I didn’t want to be classified as a ” Little Old Lady!” But now you all know my age after the wonderful birthday party I was given in April on my 90th birthday. Anyway, I sent away for a book entitled How Not To Become A Little Old Lady.

Already knew I had some of the traits such as wearing the plastic rain hats and all my slacks have elastic tops, to name a few, so I’m going to quote one of the items mentioned in this book, entitled Need Things Explained: “A Little Old Lady called her travel agent and asked, ‘Do airlines put your physical description on your bag so they know whose luggage it is?’ The agent said, ‘No, why do you ask?’ The little old lady replied, ‘Well, when I checked in at the airport at Fresno, they put a tag on my luggage that said FAT, and I’m overweight.’ The travel agent explained that the city code for Fresno is FAT, and that the airline didn’t think she was obese.”

Percy’s quick memoir is For Every Minute you Frown You lose 60 Seconds of Happiness.