AUBURN — Peter Letourneau, recently elected to the Auburn School Committee, said his goal is to bring a fresh view to the committee.

Letourneau ran unopposed in an Aug. 12 special election to represent Ward 1, filling the void left when Mike Farrell resigned in March.

In answering questions from the Sun Journal, Letourneau indicated he’d look out for the taxpayer, but he stressed the district has good leadership.

He said Superintendent Katy Grondin “is wonderful at what she does.” So is Edward Little High School Principal Jimmy Miller, Letourneau said. “I’m sure there are many other fine teachers and administrators.”

Letourneau said he wants all to recognize it’s not the teachers who are the customers, but the students, parents and taxpayers.

Much goes right in Auburn schools, Letourneau said, but he has a few concerns, including the generosity of the benefit package paid to administrators and teachers.

“The annual pay is fine,” Letourneau said. “The benefits are out of line with anything that makes sense to me.” The health care premium for teachers and other workers is covered 100 percent by taxpayers. “In this day and age, that’s not done,” Letourneau said.

He said he doesn’t like the “whining about lack of parent participation without doing enough to encourage said participation.”

That was demonstrated, he said, on Aug. 20 when the committee debated asking parents for permission before teaching young students proper vocabulary for body parts in a safety class. An Auburn parent complained he didn’t know his second-grader was in such a class and the School Department had overstepped its boundaries. When he complained, his concerns were ignored, Letourneau said.

Grondin said a new policy would require parents to give permission before their young students take the class.

Letourneau also questioned the need for a high school principal and three assistant principals for a school of about 1,000 students.

And it’s wrong, Letourneau said, that it takes two years to fire an under-performing teacher.

Despite his concerns, Auburn schools “turn out many well-educated young adults, thanks to the sincere efforts of some fine teachers and the students themselves,” he said.

Letourneau, 66, is retired from Geiger in Lewiston where he was vice president of sales.