A course on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV's) or drones is a go for this fall at Wiscasset Middle High School. The Wiscasset School Committee on Aug. 12 agreed to let Principal Cheri Towle tap the Seth J. Wingren fund for up to $4,750 to buy supplies and equipment.

The course had been headed for cancellation after Wiscasset selectmen rejected 2-2 a proposal to tap another fund on Aug. 4.

Using the Seth J. Wingren fund does not take a selectmen’s vote, school department officials have said.

The school committee’s decision showed support for the students who wanted to take the course, Towle said.

“I’m glad for the kids,” Selectmen’s Chairman Ben Rines Jr. said in an interview later Aug. 12. Rines and Selectman Jeff Slack had supported funding the course Aug. 4.

“I hope it will be the type of educational experience we want it to have and will be done under good supervision,” Selectmen’s Vice Chairman Judy Flanagan said. Flanagan and Selectman David Cherry had voted in opposition on Aug. 4.

The specially called School Committee meeting in the middle high school library took just minutes. Members did not discuss the proposal or take public comment before voting. The discussion and public comment happened when the committee first decided to pursue the course’s funding with the selectmen, Committee Chairman Steve Smith said.

Residents Steve Mehrl and Cliff Hendricks turned out for the Aug. 12 meeting and expressed their support afterward for the committee’s decision. Hendricks said he understands concerns about drones as a new technology. “But they’re here and they’re going to be here. So if you don’t educate and get out in front of it now, then it degrades into something on the back side of it,” he said.

Students will learn how to use the technology responsibly and will gain marketable skills in mechanics and other areas, Mehrl said. ”There is no reason to hold up an educational opportunity (for when) we have all the answers.”

The course is an exciting opportunity for students and fits with the school department’s mission to offer different pathways for learning, Superintendent of Schools Heather Wilmot said.

Dawn Jones will teach the course; Towle said she will provide support. Jones teaches seventh and eighth grade science in Wiscasset. The course will be open to students in grades nine through 12, officials have said.

If the full $4,750 is taken for supplies and equipment, more than $17,000 will remain in the Seth J. Wingren fund, Wilmot said.