The search is on for a new Edgecomb Eddy principal. Dr. Christina Boursaw officially tendered her resignation at the June 5 committee meeting. Boursaw served one year in the job. Boursaw arrived in Edgecomb with two decades’ experience in education.

Boursaw told the school committee she accepted another job. She declined to say where because the school board hadn’t officially approved her hire. “I had a wonderful year here and would like to thank the staff, committee and parents in making me feel so welcome,” she said.

Committee Chairman Heather Sinclair thanked Boursaw for her efforts. “This has not been an easy year working through a pandemic. I want to acknowledge you for the fantastic job you did, and wish you well in the future,” Sinclair said. 

The committee hopes to have a replacement in place sometime next month. June 8, the committee plans on forming a search committee of school staff, administrators and community members. Sinclair said the application closing date is June 27; later that day, the search committee would pick candidates to interview on June 30 and July 1.

In other action, the committee welcomed new member George Chase who was elected last month by a write-in vote. On his first meeting, he was elected committee vice-chairman. Heather Sinclair was re-elected chairman. The committee authorized a change in the school’s debit card limit. The previous limit was $200 which made it hard to pay for teacher training courses. So Sinclair and Chase voted to raise the limit to $2,000. “The petty cash fund really wasn’t meant to pay for courses. It was just that, petty cash, which could pay for school supplies,” said Superintendent Robert Kahler. 

The committee scheduled a couple of retreats to discuss long-term planning goals. Sinclair announced the retreats would be a couple afternoon sessions running longer than a typical committee meeting. “Sometime in July, we’d like to have a couple sessions probably between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.,” she said. “This would help the committee (with) philosophical work and planning. This will help us avoid jumping from crisis to crisis as we have done during the pandemic.”

The committee wants to avoid holding meetings on nights selectmen convene. Typically, the school committee meets the first Monday of the month. The select board meets every other Monday. So months with five Mondays often have both boards meeting the same night. “We’re going to discuss this with town officials and try to make a schedule which avoids this from happening,” Sinclair said.

The committee set its next meeting for 6 p.m. Monday, July 11.