In order to resolve rumors circulating in the Bonny Eagle school district about Superintendent Frank Sherburne being placed “on administrative leave,” Sherburne said he will post a calendar of his weekly whereabouts on the district’s website and in mass emails to town officials in the district and the Lakes Region Weekly.

Sherburne’s plan to post his calendar became known through a mass email that he sent to leaders in School Administrative District 6 and the Lakes Region Weekly on Sept. 26.

In the email, Sherburne wrote that it has come to his attention, once again, that a rumor regarding him being placed on paid administrative leave has been circulating in the district.

“Although this might seem unusual, it is time to be proactive about this issue and hit it head on,” Sherburne said.

Last week, school board members were contacted by the Standish Town Clerk and Town Manager Gordon Billington about why Sherburne was supposedly placed “on leave” last Monday and Tuesday.

“The town clerk came to me saying, ‘Gordy, there is a rumor on the street that Frank has been placed on paid administrative leave,’ but I hadn’t heard anything about it,” Billington said, this week.

“I can sense his frustration though, at having to respond three times to rumors, and certainly when it got the press involved,” he said. “I’m sure I’d feel very frustrated, too.”

Billington said he and Mary Chapman, the town clerk, were impressed at the lengths Sherburne feels he must go in an effort to prevent future rumors from spreading about him being placed on leave.

“I thought it was proactive on his part,” Billington said, about Sherburne notifying town and school officials each time he leaves the district.

Details of the rumors being circulated were not explained in Sherburne’s Sept. 26 email. Sherburne did not return calls as of press time, as he was busy with meetings, said the school district’s executive secretary Hedy Smith, on Tuesday.

According to Sherburne, on Sept. 23 and 24, he attended a workshop at Thomas College in which he trained to become a facilitator for performance-based assessments at the request of Department of Education Deputy Commissioner Don Siviski, in partnership with the Maine Cohort for Customized Learning.

In his email, Sherburne wrote that the SAD 6 School Board was made aware at the most recent meeting that he would be out of the district on both days.

“The first time this rumor circulated, I was on my annual family vacation the first week in August and was pulled away from my family for almost half a day to deal with media wanting to print this false story because someone had contacted them,” Sherburne said.

The rumor, according to Sherburne, has resurfaced three times since August. He said as a result, he now feels the need to post his calendar, in brief, on the district’s website, www.bonnyeagle.org, to let everyone know where he is throughout the week.

“I cannot understand why this rumor began in the first place or why it keeps resurfacing, but it seems to not want to go away,” Sherburne said. “Hopefully by posting my schedule, the rumors and speculation about where I am will end, and we (board members, Hedy, and I) can focus on the work that is our primary concern – our students.”

Sherburne also urges people with questions about where to find him during the week to contact Hedy Smith at 929-2331.

Frank Sherburne, superintendent of the Bonny Eagle school district, has started posting his weekly calendar, distributing it online and in emails to municipal employees and the local media. This week’s calendar is seen above.