On Feb. 11, school board members representing Windham and Raymond in the newly formed Regional School Unit 14 met for the first time since the merger of the school districts was approved by voters in November. At that meeting, Toby Pennels of Windham, a veteran of the Windham School Board, was elected chairman. Pennels sat down this week to talk about hiring a superintendent, bringing the two communities together, and the possibility of losing teachers and programs in a tough budget year.

Q: Both Windham Superintendent Sandy Prince and Raymond Superintendent Sandra Caldwell are under contract with the new RSU until 2011. How is the new board going to select a superintendent for RSU 14?

A: It’s my opinion that the board does not want to go through a full search with the budget looming. A motion will be put forward at the next meeting (Wednesday, Feb. 25, in Windham) with Sandy Prince (as the new superintendent). How the vote turns out will determine whether we are going to go in that direction. It’s an “either-or” situation (with Caldwell).

The point is that a full-fledged search is really time intensive. I think the board’s general consensus is that we have to focus on the budget. We can always go out and get another superintendent. That’s an option that is always available to us.

Q: How is the board going to determine the role and duties of the current superintendent not named to head the new RSU?

A: I think I would defer that question until we see what happens with the superintendent. We’ve got to get to point “A” first. We’re not there yet. It’s complicated.

Q: Looking solely at the Windham School Department budget for the coming year shows a cut in state aid of nearly a half a million dollars, coupled with a cost increase of around $1 million. How is the new school board going to tackle the budget?

A: We are going to spend a full Saturday looking at cost centers. We have four new board members who haven’t been through the process, and now we’ve got nine members instead of seven. Everyone has a right to chime in as board members. The question is, what do we want to preserve? My preference is to preserve the quality education and lifelong learning curriculum, and teachers are a big part of that. My gut feeling is that our communities do not want a tax increase from the schools right now. But there are eight other members.

Q: Many Maine school districts are looking at drastic cuts in personnel and programming. The town of Windham itself will likely need to cut positions in order to lower the budget. Is the board going to have to look at cutting teachers?

A: Our manpower cost is roughly 70 percent of our budget. Our incremental increase to payroll this year is roughly $1 million. It brings challenges, and that may mean personnel (cuts). We will almost certainly talk about it, and I think it is a possibility. I want good teachers in our community, and I want them to stay here. That’s the puzzle.

Q: What is the next order of business? Besides the superintendent decision, what is on the agenda for the next meeting?

A: The agenda is going to cover several things, including the naming of the RSU. We’re not going to call it RSU 14. A committee came together and has made a suggestion. It is either Windham-Raymond or Raymond-Windham. We also will have a motion for Windham (School Department) to handle the books until July 1 (when the new school board officially takes over.) It is the fiscal agent designation.

Q: How do you envision the new RSU board interacting with the Windham Town Council and the Raymond Board of Selectmen?

A: I would like to maintain some kind of status quo with the flow of information. I don’t want to surprise them with anything. I want to come to them with our problems. It’s up to us to solve them, but I want them to be aware. I don’t want that relationship to change except to get more communicative.

We also have to mold these two communities to thinking about school. We have to learn new personalities. The people from Windham have to learn what’s important to the people of Raymond, and vice versa.

Toby Pennels of Windham is the chairman of the new Windham-Raymond school board