Over the past few months, the Mascenic Regional School District has seen many transitions.

There are multiple new board members, a new superintendent and business administrator and two new administrators at the high school. While staffing at both the elementary and middle school has been relatively stable, the turnover at the high school has presented building administration with quite a few challenges. Despite all of the transitions, schools opened smoothly and staff and administration are excited about the year ahead. 

We have quite a few important goals to accomplish throughout the year. First and foremost, is student safety. We have recently decided to partner with Blue-U Defense, a firm that is known nationally as a thought leader in working with schools and other institutions to create safe learning and working environments. This change has shifted our mindset on how we approach school safety and has been evident in the training provided to staff, the community and the way students will engage in safety drills/discussions over the next year. 

Another major goal is to create, present and pass the proposed school district budget. Last year, despite a proposed $1 million cut at the deliberative session, a default budget was passed by the voters. Although not as catastrophic, the default budget resulted in a reduction of multiple positions and resources being cut from our budget, which ultimately impacted our community We are making a concerted effort to educate the community on how we budget; it will be the topic for our Oct. 21 Community Conversation at 4 p.m. at the SAU.

The School Board has elected members to our Advisory Budget Committee, and we have adjusted how they are involved in the budget development process. We have shifted our timeline to try to provide the School Board and ABC more time to digest the budget, ask questions and make recommendations. Our goal is to increase communication to reduce confusion and misinformation surrounding the budgeting process and the proposed budget. 

Another initiative we are addressing is the relationship between the SAU, the schools and the community. As educators, often the focus is on “our classroom,” “our grade,” ” our school” etc., and that focus creates an insulated bubble. The community is not always aware of the wonderful things that we are doing in our schools! We are making a concerted effort to highlight the various activities we have within our schools to our community through the use of social media, newsletters and our website. Our Community Conversations that are planned throughout the year address hot-button topics. Our goal is to make gains in more effective and efficient communication with our stakeholder groups so they feel they are a part of the school community. 

While the work ahead of us may be challenging, we have a great team at Mascenic. We are excited to have the opportunity to continue the district’s forward progress. 

Elizabeth Pogorzelski is superintendent of the Mascenic Regional School District