Superintendent: RSU 73 secured ESSER acceptance and pursued a drug-free communities grant; robocall vendor winding down

Superintendent Scott told the board he was grateful for community support of the budget and outlined several funding and operational updates. He said the district is collaborating on a drug-free communities grant that "is a little over a $100,000 a year for possibly up to 10 years" if awarded; the application is being developed with Maine Health and Community Coalition partners and the district will await grant decisions.

Scott also said the district’s ESSER performance report was submitted and approved, covering ESSER 1–3 and CARES Act reporting; the final ESSER 3 phase remains due in the next school year. Separately, Chris (administrative reports) said a summer-school grant application was approved to fund K–8 summer school staffing.

On communications technology, Chris told the board the district’s current robocall vendor is going out of business effective June 30 and that PowerSchool now offers a messaging product that integrates with its student information system; Chris said the PowerSchool option typically costs more and the district will explore alternatives to avoid an expensive immediate switch.

Why it matters: Grant awards and federal-state reporting affect staffing, summer programming and operational capacity. If the drug-free communities grant is awarded at the scale described, it could fund multi-year programming aimed at reducing youth substance use; ESSER reporting and approvals impact federal compliance and use of pandemic-era funds.

What’s next: The district will wait for grant award decisions, continue ESSER reporting obligations, and evaluate replacement messaging options that integrate with PowerSchool or third-party vendors.

Source: Superintendent Scott and administrative reports in the RSU 73 School Board meeting transcript.