School board creates arts trust

When he died recently, Louis Fineberg, a longtime resident of Scarborough, left the school district a gift of $150,000. His goal was for the money to be used to support arts education and enrichment opportunities for students.

During its meeting last week, the Scarborough Board of Education officially accepted the gift, which will be overseen by the newly created Scarborough Schools’ Art Council. In addition, all expenditures from the trust will require the approval of both the business manager and Superintendent George Entwistle.

So far the council, which includes Jeff Ertman, president of the Scarborough Education Foundation, Nancy Crowell, director of the Scarborough Public Library, and Ginny Ketch, the community life services director at Piper Shores, along with several teachers, has brainstormed a number of ideas for how to best use Fineberg’s gift.

The goal, according to Entwistle, is to use the money to seed arts-related projects and initiatives that would become self-sustaining in the future and that would also build connections between the schools and the wider community. The council plans to continue meeting this summer and by the fall it hopes to select an initial project for the 2014-2015 academic year.

– Kate Irish Collins

City seeks funding for school officer

Hoping to get enough funding to hire a new school resource officer for the city’s two middle schools, last week the South Portland City Council approved a request by the police department to seek a COPS Hiring Grant.

Under the grant program, the federal government would pay up to 75 percent of the costs for the new police officer, including salary and benefits, for a three-year period, according to City Manager Jim Gailey.

If the application is approved, South Portland could receive up to $125,000 for the new officer. The grant money would become available to the city in October, if it’s chosen to receive the funding.

– Kate Irish Collins