POWNAL – It’s taken all summer, but Pownal finally has a second representative on the Regional School Unit 5 Board of Directors.

Ruth Broene, 52, was sworn in Aug. 15 to fill the seat that was left vacant after previous Pownal representative Eric Dube’s term ended in June and nobody stepped forward to run for the seat, said Pownal Administrative Assistant Scott Seaver. Broene’s first meeting as a member of the board will be Aug. 29.

With Broene’s appointment to the board, Pownal now has its full complement of two representatives, with Kathryn Brown holding down the other seat on the 11-member board. The number of representatives that each town has on the board is determined by population.

Broene said she decided to volunteer for the position after reading about the vacancy in the Tri-Town Weekly.

“I’ve been looking at a way to get more involved in the town in different ways and this was the first one that came up that really fit my background,” she said.

Broene, who has no children, has been a teacher in the Falmouth school system for the last eight years, but she has been teaching for more than 25 years, working in Windham schools before coming to Falmouth. She and her husband have lived in Pownal for two years.

“We love it. I have horses and we live across the street from Bradbury Mountain,” she said. “I’m loving it (living in Pownal).”

Broene’s appointment is for one year, though she could choose to run for a full term after her appointment expires.

“If I choose to serve again, then it will be elected, not appointed,” she said.

Nelson Larkins of Freeport, the chairman of the RSU 5 board, has not met with Broene, but said he and RSU 5 Superintendent Shannon Welsh plan to meet with her immediately before the Aug. 29 meeting to bring her up to speed and give Broene an orientation to the board.

Larkins said he was glad to see that Pownal would have its full membership in place before the school year began.

“I think it’s absolutely essential (to have a full board),” Larkins said. “It’s just full representation. You want the full board in place, you want representation from all the towns so they have a full voice.”

Welsh agreed that it was vital to have a full board in place.

“It’s very important to have each town represented on the Board of Directors,” Welsh said. “Because our board works very collaboratively, they listen to the opinions of each member. We were concerned about having one seat empty and a voice missing from those discussions.”

Dube was present at the board’s last meeting in June, Larkins added, so Pownal was never short a member at a meeting.

“There was no loss (of representation),” he said.

While she is still getting up to speed on the details, Broene said, she has been following what has been going on with the schools, saying that she believed that while there is no active movement to pull Pownal out of the district like there is in Durham, she knows that there is some dissatisfaction with the school budget in the town.

“I think the fact that Pownal hasn’t approved a (school) budget says something,” Broene said. “I think that sends a loud and clear message, but I think a quality education is the most important thing we can do (for our kids), and that costs money.”

Broene said that the next couple years “are going to be interesting years for RSU 5. I know that there are rumors of change afoot and I think that’s going to be very interesting to see where RSU 5 ends up.”