During an emergency meeting, Community School District Superintending Committee members officially heard how administrators planned on handling the elementary school flooding. On Feb. 7, school officials provided initial plans for handling the school’s closure. Beginning, Feb. 13, the plan calls for pre-kindergarten to grade five students to attend daily classes at the high school. Sixth through eighth graders will attend classes at Boothbay Region YMCA. And on Feb. 9, high school students were to begin remote learning.

All six CSD committee members attended the trustees meeting where school administrators first explained an emergency plan for continuing local public education. So none of the members were surprised during an announcement during their emergency meeting. But one member believed the committee should have made the decision. Boothbay committee member Bruce MacDonald agreed with the emergency plan, but he disagreed with the process. “I’m not saying it was a bad suggestion, but the school committee is responsible for educational decisions. The administration gives us a recommendation, and we should be the ones who are making the final decision.”

Chairman Peggy Splaine explained the administrators needed to make an emergency decision and the committee would be more involved in future decisions as more information became available. The CSD was waiting for air quality and mold assessments to be complete. Splaine said one more emergency meeting would be held to act on new information. 

In other action, Splaine complimented the community on how it rallied following the crisis. “This really showed how great our community is,” she said. “It can turn on a dime and help people in a crisis. I want to thank everyone who gave up their weekend to make plans for the next week. I also want to thank our families for their patience, and students for their resiliency.”

The committee holds its regularly scheduled meeting at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 14.