Sanford Middle School Principal Joe Mastraccio addresses the School Committee on Feb. 9.
Photo: WSSR-TV
By Zendelle Bouchard
The Sanford School Department is deep into its annual budget process, with workshops being held for School Committee members to review the department’s request for fiscal year 2026-27. At the Feb. 9 workshop, principals Joe Mastraccio of Sanford Middle School and Tracy Gibson of Sanford High School made the case for adding staff next school year.
Mastraccio is seeking to restore two teaching positions at SMS that were cut after federal funding available during the pandemic ended. He is asking to add a grade 5 classroom teacher as well as a grade 8 social studies teacher due to an expected increase of 46 students enrolled at SMS next year. He is also proposing to shift another teacher from 6th to 7th grade to achieve appropriate student/teacher ratios.
Mastraccio is also requesting an allied arts position to offer a foreign language program, as a majority of middle schools in Maine have at least one foreign language teacher. “We are doing our students a disservice by not offering them a foreign language experience,” he said. Several years ago, the school offered one block of French when a teacher from the high school had an open block and was willing to come over. The schools were next door to each other at that time.
He is also seeking to add two full-time academic interventionist positions at the Middle School, to focus on math and literacy. Mastraccio told the committee that the majority of middle schools in the state have these positions to provide interventions for students before they are referred to special education. “The goal is to cut down on special ed referrals,” he said. About a quarter of middle school students in Sanford receive special ed services.
Mastraccio concluded by recognizing that he is asking for a lot, but “these are needs as opposed to wants.”
At the high school, Gibson is requesting an attendance/learning coordinator position that would combine two positions that were cut from the budget in prior years. While overall attendance has improved, since eliminating the attendance/truancy coordinator two years ago, the number of students present in the building but coming late to class or skipping class altogether has jumped substantially. Most notably, she said, with no staff member to address them, the number of disciplinary actions for students who don’t come to class has dropped to a fraction of previous levels, leading students to conclude that they will not be held accountable for skipping.
Gibson’s proposal is for the attendance/learning coordinator to focus on attendance issues for the first two blocks of the day, and academic interventions and credit recovery for the last two blocks. The state of Maine has made it more difficult for students to qualify for an education disruption diploma beginning next year, she said, and this position will help students access alternative paths to graduation, including work/study, online courses and extended learning opportunities.
Gibson said the elimination of a study hall ed tech position at SHS will help to offset some of these increases.
In the Special Education budget, additional positions are also being requested for SMS and SHS. At the middle school, a resource room teacher is needed to handle the rising number of students needing these services. “If we look at case load sizes, it would put us up to 35 plus, which is outside what is legal” without the new position, said Mastraccio. At the high school, a self-contained teacher and two self-contained ed techs are being requested.
Additional positions proposed in the budget include an administrative assistant at SMS to help the assistant principal with record keeping, attendance and communication; and an assistant athletic director at SHS, which has been requested but then cut in the past.
At Sanford Regional Technical Center, new positions for a nail technician teacher and a welding ed tech would be offset by the revenue those programs bring in. Staffing for two pre-K partnerships would also be offset by revenues.
No new positions are being requested at the elementary schools this year.
According to the school district’s budget summary, Sanford spends less per pupil than any other comparable school district in Maine and has higher student/teacher ratios. “We are doing an outstanding job under the circumstances,” said Superintendent Matt Nelson. Mastraccio concurred: “We have a great staff, and they do a lot with a little.”
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