FARMINGTON — The Regional School Unit 9 board of directors meeting on Nov. 12 focused on financial transparency, community support programs, and addressing the challenges of poverty, reflecting the district’s commitment to its students and community.

Superintendent Christian Elkington provided updates on several initiatives, including the approval of special allocations through the Maine Jobs and Recovery Plan. “It’s not a grant in the sense of several of our other grants,” Elkington explained. “It’s more like a special allocation based on numbers. I did approve it because it’s just a one-time amount of money.”

Elkington also discussed the district’s recent efforts to better support staff and students. Social workers and Board-Certified Behavior Analysts [BCBAs] are offering monthly office hours to address various needs. “They have an extra five days, and we were trying to figure out what’s the best way to use some of that time in supporting students and staff,” he said. “We’ll collect data and we’ll move forward with that, but another way to be looking at either supporting students through staff or supporting staff in these somewhat challenging times.”

Elkington highlighted a partnership between the Mission at the Eastwood [MATE], a nonprofit organization, and the Foster Career and Technical Education Center [FCTEC]. “The Mission at the Eastwood is a local organization, and FCTEC is going to be working with them and looking at ways to have some of our programs support those who will be needy in the community with helping to build things for homes and so forth,” he said.

In other news, Elkington and Director of Finance Alison Gamache plan to meet with Weld Selectmen to address concerns about the town’s increased financial contributions to RSU 9. “As we know, Weld’s numbers have gone up fairly dramatically in the last couple of years,” Elkington said. The discussions will include district costs by community, the impact of state property valuations, and mil rate adjustments. A full report will be shared with the board following the meeting.

The meeting also included discussion of a report titled “The Cost of Being Poor Is Rising”, which highlighted the increasing challenges faced by low-income families. “One of the things that has been shared, it’s more and more difficult for poorer people to get out of those holes than ever before,” Elkington said. “The cost of goods and services has gone up, making it harder and harder to try and pull yourself out.”

Elkington also shared information about an upcoming Geographic Information System [GIS] map that will detail community access to transportation, health insurance, and supplemental needs like food assistance. He referenced a recent conference in Waterville, noting that in some Somerset County communities, nearly 30% of residents lack access to a vehicle. “They could not buy groceries, they could not go to the pharmacist, they could not get to health care,” he said.

Board members were pleased with progress in filling staff vacancies, noting that openings have been reduced by half over the past three months. Questions about teacher retirements were also addressed. Elkington confirmed, “Most of the retirements are at the end of the year.”