Regional School Unit 9 Directors vote unanimously on new policy revisions regarding bomb threats on Wednesday, March 15. More than seven weeks have passed since Mt. Blue High School was evacuated over a potential bomb threat. Brian Ponce/Franklin Journal

FARMINGTON — Regional School Unit 9 board of directors continues with it’s policy updates, having a first reading of new policies as well as the passing of previously read policy updates on Wednesday, March 15.

The board of directors had first readings for policy revisions regarding chemical hazards and emergency evacuation drills, as well as a simplification of an existing policy surrounding pests.

“Fire drills has been changed to evacuation drills, and there was a total rewrite because it now includes lockdown drills, special evacuation drills and so forth,” Superintendent Christian Elkington explained to the board.

New policies regarding chemical hazards and emergency evacuation drill were given a complete rewrite with updated language.

The board will vote on those revisions at an upcoming board meeting.

The board also passed unanimously policy revisions regarding bomb threats, including policies on lost instructional time due to school closures as well as procedure.

In the procedure, it now states that upon receipt of a bomb threat, the building principal will be the first to be immediately notified over the Superintendent or the police. After that, the Superintendent will be notified followed by the police.

The changes to instructional time are as follows:

“Instructional time lost as a result of a bomb threat will be rescheduled at the earliest appropriate (or practicable) opportunity, as determined by the superintendent in consultation with the Board and through meet & consult with the Association. Time lost may be rescheduled on a weekend or vacation day or after what would normally be the last day of school, except on days when schools are closed as required by law.”

The revisions come after a bomb threat forced the evacuation of Mt. Blue High School on Monday, Jan 30. According to Elkington in a phone interview, the policy revision coinciding with the recent bomb threat was a “massive coincidence.”

“It was on our list of policies that we are going through and updating,” Elkington stated. “Our policies are outdated and haven’t been looked at in over a decade plus. They really should be reviewed every seven years.”

“I will say this,” Elkington added, “with [the bomb threat] happening, it allowed us to review the policy and make adjustments that we were already in the process of making.”

Elkington stated the old policy was crafted with the intent that the superintendent would be present when a bomb threat occurs. The changes made would grant more autonomy to the principal to react without having to get into contact with the superintendent.

“On this day [Jan. 30], it just happened that I was already in the building, but our other buildings aren’t so lucky to have me available to them at a moment’s notice, so the principal would need to act and that is why we are making these changes,” he added.

The revised policies fall under Section E – Support Services and are as follows: EBCC: Bomb Threats, EBCC-E1: Bomb Threats Form and EBCC-R: Bomb Threats Regulation.

Policy KI under Section K – School-Community Relations was also passed, which added to the policy, “Any staff member who becomes aware of the presence of a person on the grounds of any RSU 9 school who is listed on a Sexual Offender Registry must immediately notify the school’s principal.”