“Thank you, thank you so much,” Andersson said. “I’m really excited. We have a lot of work to do ... Wiscasset has it all. We have all of the dots, we just need to connect them. And this is our time. We’re going to make it happen, so I’m really thrilled.” Looking across the audience in the Wiscasset Middle High School library, she said she was happy to be seeing new people who want to get involved.

 

“I’m just so grateful, so thanks so much you guys,” Andersson told the school committee.

 

Andersson became Searsport District Middle High School’s dean of students in fall 2020, according to the files of Boothbay Register/Wiscasset Newspaper’s online sister newspaper Penobscot Bay Pilot. Before that, Andersson worked at WMHS as an educational technician and later a teacher. According to Wiscasset Newspaper files, she was a two-term selectman starting in 2018 and not seeking re-election last year; she also served on the budget committee, and on the Regional School Unit 12 board when Wiscasset was in the district.

 

Also in the March 22 meeting, carried over Google Meet, the committee accepted with deep regret Wiscasset Elementary School Principal Kathleen Pastore’s resignation, announced recently and effective June 30. Interviews are getting underway for that job and the WMHS principal’s job from which Charles Lomonte resigned. Interim Superintendent Robert “Bob” England Jr. hoped both hires can be made at the school committee’s 6 p.m. April 11 meeting in the WMHS library.

 

And England and the committee discussed seeking legal help reviewing the deal on the town’s withdrawal from RSU 12. Committee members said they want more RSU 12 students, but want to no longer be required to take all RSU 12 students other schools refuse. Some students’ behavior has led some parents to not want their children to attend school in Wiscasset, according to the discussion. Officials’ questions include where, if anywhere, does it say Wiscasset would take the students for 10 years as Putnam noted he and others have long understood.

Athletic Director Cameron Bishop, via Google Meet, told the committee Maine Principals Association is moving WMHS to Class D for basketball, so he is looking at pursuing a switch to the east-west conference. “From a competitive standpoint, I think it would definitely benefit our teams in the long run ...”

 

Bishop said he and Facilities and Transportation Director John Merry will need to discuss the impact on transportation.