Tyler Washburn, right, serves as the Maine School Administrative District 75 chair in this March 2019 file photo. Darcie Moore / The Times Record
BOWDOIN — Maine School Administrative District 75 school board member Tyler Washburn of Bowdoin announced his resignation Monday.
Washburn’s departure from the school board will be effective Jan. 15. Washburn, who has served on the school board for 2 1/2 years. He also served on the school board for two years from 2009-11 as a Mt. Ararat High School student representative.
Washburn, whose term would have expired in March, said he is resigning because he is moving to Harpswell in the coming weeks, meaning he can’t continue as a Bowdoin representative to the board.
“It was really difficult to walk away from the board because I think there is a lot of work to get done,” Washburn said Tuesday.
One of the difficulties the school board has faced is a high turnover rate, Washburn said.
“I think turnover is definitely something that leads to some of the struggles of getting everyone on the same page,” he said.
His resignation follows a spate of board resignations in 2019. Harpswell representatives and longtime board members Joanne Rogers and David Johnson resigned from the school board in early 2019, stating they no longer had the trust of the board and shouldn’t continue to serve. Topsham representatives Matthew Drewette-Card resigned in July 2019 for family and professional reasons and Jane Scease resigned in September 2019 because she moved to Brunswick.
Washburn served as the school board chair in 2019 during one of the more tumultuous times in the school district. Washburn said he is proud the board was able to hire a permanent superintendent and build a new high school during that period.
More recently during the coronavirus pandemic, Washburn helped spearhead the effort to reopen the district’s food pickup site in Bowdoinham. The district has food pickup sites in all of the communities it covers, but was initially told by the state it had to shut down the Bowdoinham pickup in order to get reimbursed for the food. When it reopened, Washburn helped pass out more than 2,300 meals for students.
The most pressing issue on the horizon for the school board, Washburn said, is the mental health crisis on the district’s doorstep, “and is something that really requires us to rise to the occasion.”
The district must get back to in-person instruction and will have to work hard to catch kids up academically, Washburn argued.
“I hope MSAD 75 can help lead the way out of the darkness and find solutions that may stretch the dollar a little further to make sure kids get the education and emotional supports they need,” Washburn said.
Bowdoin elects their school board representatives at the annual town meeting in March. In his resignation letter, Washburn urged selectmen to appoint a replacement who would seek reelection at the next town meeting.
The selectmen plan to appoint a replacement for Washburn on Jan. 4, according to Clyde Cavender, Bowdoin’s assessor.
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