It is anticipated that within the next week or two (from the date of this petition on December 8), the City of Saco's school board will be voting on Superintendent Dominic DePatsy's contract renewal. Many in the community feel that this is a step in the wrong direction especially after the handling of the hasty expansion of the Pre-K program.

Despite this, the school board is considering a renewal of his contract! This debacle cost the citizens of Saco nearly $100,000 of dollars in fees for a lease of the Toddle Inn building which in turn could not be used due to covenants in the business park. The entire approval process to use such a building was handled in an entirely opposite order of a typical planning process. With the denial from City Council to use the Toddle Inn building, it, in turn, cost thousands of dollars in attorneys' fees, IN ADDITION to the monthly lease payments, to appeal each decision in the City. 

Again, despite the poor location planning process, the Pre-K was expanded and is now located in 3 different locations (Saco Parks and Rec building, Local Church on Beach + Main Streets, and at Young School). The day before the first day of school, the classes located at the church were told that they couldn't start due to oversight / a lack of occupancy permit from State Fire Marshall. Students do not have play equipment at the church location. 

Citizens / Parents are in full support of the Pre-K expansion but wish that the process was handled more professionally and left parents feeling more confident in the process than they were.

Additionally, there have been several other poor decisions on the part of Superintendent DePatsy including:

1. Broken relationships with city departments;

2. $7million 20% budget increase with no facility improvements (ie. no longer have dedicated art/music rooms, refusal to improve Fairfield School's playground drainage issue which in turn makes the playground inaccessible to students);

3. No progress on new Pre-K through Grade 2 schools;

4. Went to China w/o School Board approval, claimed vacation time against rules of contract (needs approval for vacation time and/or to go on a trip for school purposes);

5. City bailouts totaling over $1m on TA student count and State reimbursement calculation errors;

6. SMS ex-principal hire and hostile treatment towards parents on investigation questions;

7. Coming FY20 budget shortfalls in TA SPED and Day Program.

PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION demanding that the School Board NOT RENEW DePatsy's contract. Also, PLEASE consider: The next School Board meeting is on DECEMBER 18th at 6:30PM at CITY HALL. WE NEED CITIZENS OF SACO TO BE THERE, IN-PERSON!

SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS email addresses can be found here:

WARD 1: gabrahamson@sacoschools.org
WARD 2: lleary@sacoschools.org
WARD 3: ewalters@sacoschools.org
WARD 4: sshiman@sacoschools.org
WARD 5: atardif@sacoschools.org
WARD 6: smozden@sacoschools.org
WARD 7: bjohnston@sacoschools.org