BREWER, Maine — The school board accepted with regret the resignation of high school Principal Becky Bubar on Monday night, but it’s not goodbye for the longtime educator, who will return to her roots as a special education teacher.
Bubar was hired as the interim high school principal for one year in 2006 and accepted the full-time job the following year, Superintendent Daniel Lee said Tuesday.
“Ms. Bubar came to the position at a time when Brewer High desperately needed stability,” the superintendent said. “She provided a strong sense of order and got things back on track.” Bubar also helped move the school forward and was instrumental in researching and putting into place “a number of important programmatic improvements during her tenure,” Lee said.
“I will always be grateful for her excellent leadership and commitment to our students,” the superintendent said.
The job has been or shortly will be posted and “we’re hoping to fill that by Aug. 6,” Lee said.
The Brewer School Committee also approved pay raises for two groups.
Support staff and administration — secretaries, accountants, directors — got a 2.5 percent pay raise but “they are going to take on a greater share of their [health] insurance,” the superintendent said. “They didn’t have an increase last year.”
A collective bargaining agreement for nonunion staff — custodians, maintenance and food service personnel — also was approved and gave “a 1.5 percent increase for the past year that we didn’t have a contract; 1.5 percent for this year; and 2 percent for the year after, fiscal year 2013-14,” Lee said.
Teachers are on the last year of their 3-year contract, which means contract negotiations will begin in the fall, he said.
The school board also approved researching the possibility of starting a lacrosse club sport, which means “we’ll begin looking to see if there is interest in the area,” Lee said.
No estimates about costs were available. The move is the first step in starting a program and whether or not there is interest will determine if the club sport is pursued, the superintendent said. “I think there is interest in the area,” Lee said.
They cut the swimming out for special needs children in the whole district, which for many is all they can do and instead start a lacrosse team. Nice. Way to go Brewer.
Brewer has a YMCA and plenty of programs. There is no need for the district to cover the program.
Good luck! Brewer needs more good people like Bubar.
If a couple of the top executives at Brewer’s Eastern Maine HealthCare empire gave a day’s pay to the Brewer public schools, that swimming program for special needs kids could be funded, I’d bet. How about it, Michelle Hood, Deborah Johnson, Erik Steele, and others who earn hundreds of thousands a dollars a year merely in base pay? But don’t “count” of these folks offering any charitable. Indeed, they’d be first in line to condemn that tiny increase in salary for some staff workers, rest assured.
Ms Bubar has done an excellent job in her years as principal. She’ll continue to be an asset to the school in her return to a teaching role