AOS to file lawsuit if Calais does not pay contract share

The AOS #77 school board will file suit against Calais if the city does not agree by May 23 to honor its 37% share of the remaining years of AOS Superintendent Jim Underwood's contract. The decision was made at the board's May 9 meeting.
The departure of Calais from AOS #77 could place additional pressures on the 2013B2014 budget. Currently, Underwood earns $87,000 per year, with the AOS share at $55,680. The Calais share would be $31,320 per year of the remaining contract. The three board members from Calais and the Baring and Charlotte members voted against the motion. However, the weighted vote carried the action.
Attorney David Fletcher, who is counsel to the City of Calais, explains that, in terms of the process for Calais' response, "the [Calais] school committee is the first line, but the budget issue would be recommended by the committee to council for action." However, he notes that he is not representing the Calais School Committee and is only explaining the process, not the particulars of the AOS contract situation. Attorney Daniel Stockford of Brann and Isaacson of Lewiston has been hired by the school committee to represent it on the AOS issue. Stockford and city officials did not respond to requests for information on whether the city planned to take action on the issue at its May 23 city council meeting.
The proposed 2013B2014 AOS budget is significantly lower than the previous year's of $873,847, in part because Calais will no longer be a member community. At the May 9 AOS meeting, board members considered four draft budgets, all similar but with slightly different scenarios accounting for the high of $553,399 to the low of $528,215.

Recruiting special education director a challenge
Some additional challenges with the AOS budget lie ahead, said Underwood. He was not confident that the AOS would be able to attract a special education director. "We've had a difficult time getting a qualified person." If the AOS is unable to find one, he suggested some possible scenarios to meet the needs and requirements of the schools. The AOS could be organized into three school "regions," each region with its own special education coordinator. A special education consultant would work one day a week with the three coordinators. The superintendent felt confident that the budgeted line item for the special education director position of salary and benefits would cover the cost of a consultant and three coordinators. He also assured the board members that while the consultant would have to meet special education qualifications and that it would be important to hire coordinators from "in-house" who have experience, the AOS is not required to have a special education director.
"The four drafts are very similar," Underwood explained about the budgets. "But they are about how to address different scenarios of things that we don't know." Changes in common with all four budgets are related to positions that are being cut or consolidated because of the Calais withdrawal and the decision to relocate the central AOS office from Calais to the Eastport Elementary School. In budget #4, for example, the following numbers were pointed out. The school board expense line is down to $9,555, a reduction of about $24,000. Staff positions that have been eliminated include: an executive secretary at $40,800 with benefits of close to $18,500; a finance manager at $54,000 with benefits of about $14,000; a reduction in bookkeeping salary costs of about $25,000 and benefits reduced by about half; a reduction in special education staffing salary and benefits, bringing the line item down by about half, to $65,184.
The superintendent noted that some additional trimming has taken place, particularly in the administrative technology expense line item.
With the exception of Alexander, all the member communities would see a reduction in expenses. The other communities are Baring, Charlotte, Crawford, Dennysville, Eastport, Lubec, Pembroke, Perry and Robbinston. In budget #4, Alexander would see an increase of $921.