The importance of listening

To the editor,

At Kennebunk’s First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church, I’m known as, The Flag Guy. I’m responsible for doing what’s necessary to keep the American flag and our other flags flying. I also change the “other” flags occasionally and on April 1, in recognition of Earth Day, I’ll hang the Earth Day flag featuring a spectacular photo of Earth from space. Later in the year we will recognize and honor our gay sisters and brothers by flying the rainbow flag.

The purpose of this letter is to convey that any flag the church flies is not to make a political statement. Each flag reflects one or more of the Unitarian Universalist seven principles – to affirm the inherent worth and dignity of every person. For example; to affirm justice, equity and compassion in human relations; to respect the interdependent web of all existence.

We trust that these principles are held by all, but perhaps not. Listening is not one of the seven principles, but we members of First Parish believe in the importance of listening to both our supporters and our critics, so if you’d like us to listen, please call the church. We look forward to hearing from you.

Bob Wuerthner

Kennebunk

Board member has helped shape district’s reputation

To the editor,

I am asking Kennebunk to vote no on the absurd recall of RSU 21 board member, Tim Stentiford.

Part of what makes this recall so irrational and unfortunate is that Tim is such a valuable board member, bringing integrity, leadership, and commitment to the role. As a Human Resources Committee member, he created a much-needed update to hiring processes to ensure compliance, transparency and inclusion.

The recent superintendent search process included 42 faculty, administrators, community members and students. Elements of Stentiford’s approach were so admired that Maine School Management Association, with whom RSU 21 partnered, has shared his methods statewide, and other Maine districts have asked to study his model.

He helped lead the district’s important Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee and ensured district compliance with Equal Employment Opportunity laws.

He helped ensure that all coaches and extracurricular leaders received full stipends during the pandemic. He created a total compensation data analytics tool to support contract negotiations and led RSU 21 to conduct a comprehensive market analysis to support equitable pay.

As a local small business owner, Tim established student career mentoring and school internship programs, partnering with Kennebunk High School, Biddeford Alternative Pathways High School, Biddeford Regional Center of Technology, Greely High School and Yarmouth High School.

Keep in mind the leader of the recall effort told his supporters in a letter that targeting Tim Stentiford was personal and that their goal is to replace an unfit superintendent who had been on the job for barely a year and working under very adverse conditions.

Yet this board member has helped shape RSU 21’s reputation as a statewide innovator. There’s a reason the current board is unanimous in its support: because his impact and contributions have been exceptional.

Reserve recalls for their intended purpose: illegal or egregious behavior — not personal or political vendettas. Please vote no now at town hall, by mail-in ballot, or on March 29.

Tom McClain

Kennebunkport

Applaud courage and dedication of superintendent

To the editor,

Aside from the spurious accusations against a school board member in this recall campaign, there is another element in this matter that has not received much deep scrutiny. Some time back, it was revealed (quite after the fact) that an ultimate goal in this effort was to oust Dr. Cooper from her position as school superintendent. The stated reason being that she is unfit for this job. If one were being honest, to make this kind of a judgment, one would have to draw comparisons and contrasts between scenarios where the conditions are equivalent.

There is no way, however, to make such a comparison here since none of us – in Kennebunk or anywhere in the US – have ever before had to deal with a staggering and protracted health emergency like this one.

Dr. Cooper was hired months after the pandemic had arrived and has been working tirelessly – under continually shifting conditions – to safely manage the educational needs of all of the students in this district. At the same time, she has been responsible for protecting the health and safety of teachers and other district staff – while also laboring to meet the legitimate, heightened concerns of parents.

I applaud her courage and dedication to students to take on such a fraught and often thankless challenge.

So, circling back: If one were being honest, it would be recognized that there is no way to assert that Dr. Cooper is unfit in this situation unless one could objectively point to examples where other individuals in this situation have done a better job.

But then again, perhaps being honest has never been part of the game plan.

Tom Berry

Kennebunk

Why the animosity toward RSU leadership?

To the editor,

Regarding the current RSU 21 school board recall attempt (with the stated objective of removing our new superintendent), I am genuinely confused by the animosity toward the current board and administration.

After reviewing board records, here’s just a partial list of the past year’s RSU 21 accomplishments:

Returned to five day in-person instruction for 2021/22 school year under CDC and DOE guidelines.
Passed budget with 0 percent increase from prior year with a funded capital reserve.
Negotiated three memorandum of agreements to address issues raised by the teachers’ union, ed. tech’s union, and transportation union ensuring their safety and well-being during the pandemic.
Negotiated a three-year contract with the teachers’ union based on relevant market data that corrected salary scale inequities, introduced a master’s-plus-30 track, and added two instructional calendar days — with 92 percent teacher membership approval.
Negotiated a three-year contract with the Transportation Employees Association improving starting pay for entry-level drivers.
Completed yearlong study of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion with a committee open to all and engaging 45-50 community stakeholders (included 14-15 district staff/faculty, 13-15 community members, 12-plus students and 4-5 board members).
Created district’s first no-cost Summer Boost Program supporting students in need of educational recovery due to COVID.

In addition (still just a partial list), RSU 21 worked with community fundraisers to provide our district’s first fully inclusive playground (with a five-year plan to include all schools) and instituted a fully-funded plan to renovate the RSU 21 athletic complex, breaking ground in June 2022.

Instead of working to recall and oust our leadership, I’d like to thank and commend them. To the recallers who accuse them of incompetence and mismanagement, I can only ask: what are you talking about?

Support our district: vote against the recall on March 29.

Kate Manahan
Kennebunk