WESTBROOK – Cindy Button has been hired as the new transportation coordinator at Westbrook School Department, despite the wishes of some department employees who wanted staffing to remain the same.

On June 19, the Westbrook School Committee members unanimously agreed to hire Button as the new coordinator for $45,000 per year and to eliminate one of the current administrative assistant positions in the transportation department.

Joan Harmon and Peggy Bowden, the administrative assistants, said they have been running the department’s daily tasks for the last few years.

Before the School Committee council voted, Mark Crawford, a school bus driver, read a letter on behalf of the staff supporting Harmon and Bowden.

“We feel that this hire would be a mistake for our department,” Crawford read from the letter. “These two women have worked at Westbrook Schools for many years, and have run the daily operations at the Transportation Department with different administrators for the past three years…There are two people currently working in our office that have demonstrated that they can, and have, run the transportation department. They work well together. They are already trained. They know their drivers, and have our respect. We know that the choice for this position is not ours to make and we realize that decisions have been made, but we respectfully ask you to please reconsider your choice.”

According to the letter, Operations Manager Dean Flanagin, who is also in charge of maintenance and technology, oversees the transportation department, but there is no daily administrator on site at the bus depot on Saco Street. The daily tasks fell to Bowden and Harmon.

Last week, Harmon said she received notice that her position would be eliminated and she would be moved to a new department within the school system.

Superintendent Marc Gousse, however, said this is not the case.

“We have a process. Now we have to sit down with a team of people and identify an individual [to leave the department] and that hasn’t even begun yet,” Gousse said.

Harmon has been with the department for 21 years, while Bowden has been there for 29. Gousse said seniority did not drive the process and there were other factors at play when deciding which woman would leave.

The decision to cut one of the assistant positions was made during budget discussions to help offset the cost of bringing on a new coordinator.

“This was part of the budget process that we recommended and the committee approved. All three coordinator positions [operations, technology and transportation] were offset with eliminations [of other positions] so that was what was passed on to the city and approved and the voters approved it,” said Alex Stone, School Committee member.

Button, who will begin her duties in July, is one of only three certified transportation directors in Maine. She was most recently the transportation director at School Administrative District 60 in North Berwick.

Harmon spoke during the meeting, suggesting the committee support funding more professional development, which could provide training to further the careers of staff members.

“I’m requesting that we look at the cuts you keep making to professional development. We cannot move on and improve through professional development if you don’t support it,” Harmon said.

Suzanne Joyce, School Committee member, thanked the transportation staff for coming to the meeting to show support for one of their own.

“We might not always agree, but I do welcome your concerns. I know there’s been a lot of changing of the guard, but it’s not just your department. There’s been enormous turnover changes. I don’t want you to think we forget you over on Saco Street,” said Joyce.

Button also spoke, saying she was looking forward to becoming “part of the Westbrook team” and thanking the committee for its approval.

In other school news, Westbrook will continue using Apple products in the school system instead of switching to PC-based Hewlett Packard computers, an option given by the state as part of this year’s Maine Learning Technology Initiative that gives computers to all seventh- and eighth-grade students and teachers. The Apple MacBook Airs will cost the district approximately $15,000, while the HP computers would have been free to the district. Gousse said he recommended the Apple computers because the district “wanted to be consistent” with its technology platform.

Also, the unnamed third party fundraising for new lights on Olmsted Field has raised more than $41,000 so far. An additional $9,000 is needed to reach the goal of $50,000 to purchase the new lights. Once that goal is met, the city and the school will contribute $50,000 each toward the project. The lights could be purchased and installed in time for the fall football season.