Wiscasset school committee

Kim Andersson Wiscasset’s next superintendent of schools

Panel eyes RSU 12 student acceptance matter
SUSAN JOHNS
Wed, 03/22/2023 - 7:00pm
Wiscasset’s next superintendent of schools Kim Andersson signs her contract March 22 as School Committee Chairman Jason Putnam looks on. Jodi Hardwick photo

    Wiscasset’s school committee Wednesday night, March 22 named past Wiscasset schoolteacher and past Wiscasset selectman Kim Andersson its next superintendent of schools.

    School Committee Chair Jason Putnam started by saying the superintendent search committee made up of the whole school committee and several teachers and administrators had made a pick. “I think she’s a great candidate, and I think things are going to go very well,” Putnam said.
     
    Then he revealed the name: “I would be very happy to accept a motion to approve the hiring of Kim Andersson to be our next superintendent.” After the unanimous vote, he congratulated Andersson, people applauded and Putnam invited her to speak.
     
    “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.
     
    Responding March 23 to an email question, Putnam said Andersson has a two-year contract, with a salary of $116,500 the first year, and the second year salary to be negotiated later.
     
    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.
     
    Bishop also said he is working to hold an alumni basketball game over April vacation.

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