KENNEBUNK, Maine — Community members are concerned about what the upcoming school year holds for students who attend RSU 21 schools as the district continues to lose staff members ahead of the 2024-2025 school year.
RSU21 includes Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, and Arundel.
According to the district's communication specialist Matthew Shinberg, there were 37 staff members who departed from the district from April to July.
Among those resignations are the principal of Kennebunk High School and the district's human resources director. Those departures also include some staff members who retired.
"Keep in mind, there is a significant portion of our staff who do not go before the board for nominations or resignations/retirements, like education technicians and operations staff," Shinberg said. "The numbers above only reflect the staff who go before the board for approval. Either resigned or retired."
Shinberg explained that the district currently has 14 academic/instructional openings and eight administrative openings.
Those administrative openings include a principal for Kennebunk High school, an HR director, two social workers, a speech and language pathologist, and a school psychologist, he said.
For community members and parents, the heavy turnover throughout the district is concerning, but Shinberg explained that education departments across the country are at risk, with many facing the same issues with staffing.
He pointed out that other districts locally are experiencing similar issues. Shinberg said RSU 57, Waterboro school district, also has more than 50 positions open.
When asked about the high turnover rates, the district's board chair Lesley Stoeffer wrote in a statement, "We hate to lose good staff." She also added, "It is important to know that the recent departures happened for several unconnected reasons; some left for higher pay, others left due to relocation, and several retired."
Although Stoeffer and Shinberg both expressed that the issues with turnover aren't unique to their district and can't be blamed on administrators, parents like Beth Fossett begs to differ.
"People don't leave jobs, they leave leaders, and this is a lack of leadership," Fossett said.
Fossett said she's watching the school district that she cares deeply about crumble. She graduated from Kennebunk schools, and now her daughter, who is in seventh grade, attends a school in the district.
Fossett explained that she's dumbfounded by the number of staff members who've announced they're resigning recently.
Despite the board chair saying that staff members are leaving for unconnected reasons, many people NEWS CENTER Maine spoke with said the district's work environment is unhealthy.
NEWS CENTER Maine obtained a copy of Kennebunk High School Principal Jeremie Sirois' resignation letters, which were shared with the district and his colleagues through email.
In the letter shared with his colleagues, Sirois wrote, "I wish things would've turned out differently," further explaining "I never thought I would leave KHS, but in order to stay healthy, I made the decision to leave."
The resignation emails were shared with Fossett. She said the district is also losing longstanding educators who have worked for the school system for years.
"These are not people who have left, started here, and then left two years later," she said. "We are losing long-term teachers."
In the past few months, all three guidance counselors at Kennebunk High School have resigned. The district rehired guidance counselors to fill the open positions, but one of the newly hired guidance counselors, who was welcomed to the team in June, quickly resigned one month later.
Fossett said parents are left wondering whether their children will get the necessary support that they need.
"Families with juniors and rising seniors especially, they're already having to get transcripts to send out to schools to apply to colleges," Fossett said. "There are things that need to be in motion now in order for those kids to apply to college next year."
Former fourth grade teacher Greg Cavanaugh, who resigned from the district last school year, said pay was an issue, but the district's toxic culture sealed his decision to find an out.
"It's a culture that you're always waiting for the next shoe to drop, and you really don't feel like when you provide feedback to upper administration on what you need to do your job effectively... it's just met with a stone wall," Cavanaugh said.
Cavanaugh said he doesn't believe the issues within the district will improve until some "recognize that they're not built for the moment and act as great leaders and step away for those who are built for this moment."
In addition to what was described as an unsettling work environment, Fossett said many in the community are questioning how money is being spent in the district.
Fossett said community members from all three towns voted to decrease the school's system administration budget by $400,000 for the 2024-2025 school year in hopes to force the district to only make spending choices that were necessary and beneficial to the district, students and teachers.
The decision was made after many questioned why the district's superintendent Terri Cooper, brought in consultants from Renaissance West STEAM Academy to train staff members based on the book "Driven by Data 2.0."
Renaissance West STEAM Academy is based in Charlotte, NC. After submitting a FOIA request, community members and parents learned that the district paid the two consultants $4,000 each to train staff members between March 13 and March 14.
Information shared through the FOIA request revealed the consultants also stayed at superintendent Cooper's home during the two-day period while being paid by the district. The school that the two consultants work at also has a D-rating for academic performance in math and reading.
NEWS CENTER Maine attempted to contact to Superintendent Cooper but has not heard back.
Fossett said she and others find it strange that the superintendent and the district would outsource spending thousands of dollars to hire consultants from a low-performing school instead of connecting with local educators who are qualified to get the job done.
After the budget was decreased, the board and the superintendent's office made reductions to the system administration budget, taking $170,000 away from the board's legal services, $40,000 away from the insurance, $20,455 away from the communications specialist benefits, and funds from other areas, Fossett said.
Fossett said she predicts that the board and the superintendent will have to add some of that funding back, especially being that there are a few pending lawsuits against the district.
For many like Fossett, the turnover seen in RSU 21 is unlike issues seen in other districts, despite how school board members and district representatives continue to frame the concerns, she said.
"We need to stop the bleeding and rebuild as soon as possible," Fossett said.