School Committee Recommends Cutting 31 Positions in Tough Budget Year

L to R: Business Manager Cheryl Fournier, Superintendent Matt Nelson, School Committee Chair Paula Cote, Vice Chair Amy Sevigny, Committee members Jen Davie, Melissa Simpson and Emily Sheffield, Assistant Superintendent Steve Bussiere. Photo: WSSR-TV By Zendelle Bouchard The Sanford School Committee met in emergency session on Thursday morning, Feb. 29, 2024, to approve a budget recommendation that reflects a major reduction in teachers and other staff for the 2024/25 fiscal year. In all, 31 current positions are being axed in…

New Arrivals Getting Jobs

New Americans Pedro Mussumba and John Lumbala got hired recently as corrections officers at York County Jail. Also pictured are hirees Shelley Melendez, Andrew Dumond, and Joshua Rand. Credit: York County Jail By Lee Burnett, Submissions Editor Sanford’s asylum-seekers are starting to get jobs, a personal milestone for them and a lessening of the financial burden on state and local governments. One of the lucky ones is Abel Nimi, an engineer in Angola, who is in the final stages of…

News Notes

A team of women from Maine Community Bank volunteered to work on a home under construction in Sanford, part of a Habitat for Humanity Women Build Day. Photo: Maine Community Bank Compiled by Carolyn Cadigan Empowering women to build stronger communities: Maine Community Bank recently sponsored a Habitat for Humanity Women Build Day at a Sanford home under construction. A team of women from the bank participated. Through Women Build, which started in 1991, women volunteers from all walks of…

Out In The Woods – Stone Walls Tell Stories

Like wall wardens of old, Steve Mallon inspects a wall forming the boundary between Springvale and Lebanon Photo: Kevin McKeon By Kevin McKeon, Director, Mousam Way Land Trust Earth was born in a fiery blazing tempest 4.5 billion years ago, molten lava forming a bubbling, red-hot ocean. Heavy metals sank, forming a solid inner core of iron and a liquid outer core, surrounded by an enormous pliable rock mantle. Gasses boiled up forming a primal, noxious atmosphere holding almost all…

2/26/24 School Committee Highlights

By Kendra Williams Members: Paula Cote, Amy Sevigny, Jennifer Davie, Melissa Simpson and Emily Sheffield Student Representatives: Aiden Gendron, Emma Adawadkar and Elise Gendron. All were present. Public Comment Several parents, students and others spoke to advocate against eliminating the Alternative Education Program. See separate story. Michael Kane cautioned about the elimination of a teacher in the Health and PE Programs based on the large square footage of the building they cover as well as the outstanding qualifications of the…

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