Lewiston school committee votes to make masks optional for students, staff this fall
The school committee voted 5 to 4 Monday night to adopt a plan that calls for optional masking at Lewiston schools Author: Sean Stackhouse (NEWS CENTER Maine) Published: 12:12 AM EDT August 3, 2021 Updated: 12:12 AM EDT August 3, 2021
LEWISTON, Maine The Lewiston School Committee voted to approve a plan at its meeting Monday night which will call for optional masking for students and staff upon return this fall.
The committee voted 5 to 4 in favor of the plan proposed by Lewiston Superintendent Jake Langlais. Members spent about two hours debating the topic and hearing public comment.
Daryn Slover/Sun Journal
LEWISTON School officials voted to reduce the local tax impact from next year’s school budget by 40 cents on Wednesday, despite a barrage of criticism from committee members over how the City Council has handled the budget negotiations.
The School Committee was forced to amend its budget during a special meeting Wednesday after the City Council voted down the proposed $95.7 million school budget Tuesday. The vote caused the school budget validation referendum on May 11 to be postponed.
Several committee members stood by the initial budget Wednesday, slamming city officials for handing down a ultimatum to cut sorely needed funding for a struggling school district.
LEWISTON The School Committee has directed the superintendent to appoint a task force on reopening schools.
In a 6-3 vote Monday night, the committee approved a motion by Chairwoman Megan Parks to create a task force with “equitable representation,” including teachers, parents, students and “other interested community members.”
She added, “I would request an effort is made to solicit at least one parent representative from each school and to connect to ethnic-based community organizations to ensure a diverse makeup on this task force.”
She said she had heard from community members, parents and educators who feel they do not have a voice in deciding when and how to reopen schools.
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LEWISTON An effort to increase the per-diem pay rate for substitutes to help fill those positions was derailed by the School Committee on Monday night.
Teacher vacancies in December ranged from 42% at Montello Elementary to 5% at Connors, with no vacancies at the Lewiston Regional Technical Center, according to information provided to the School Committee.
Educational technician vacancies ranged from 73% at Lewiston High School to 4% at Geiger Elementary.
Committee member Kiernan Majerus-Collins made a motion to increase the rate from $100 per day for teacher substitutes and $90 a day for education technician substitutes to $105 for each.
“We’re talking about people with no job stability, no guaranteed raises, no contract,” Majerus-Collins said. “I don’t think our district should say, ‘Sorry, but we want you to do this crucially important job for what is less than minimum wage in some places.’”