Lisbon has approved purchasing new band uniforms for the Lisbon band program at a cost of roughly $35,000.
Between the matched donations from the Lisbon American Legion, community donations, the Hwy. 1 Marching Band Classic fundraiser held this past fall and substantial donations from the Lisbon Boosters Club (pursuant to a coming bylaws change), Lisbon band director Joseph Arch said the program has raised more than enough funds to help get the order placed and start the process of getting the uniforms to Lisbon.
“It’s a great step forward for our program,” Arch said. “We’ll be able to cover this purchase without touching any general funds for our program, which is huge. That’s all because of the strong community involvement we’ve seen already for this project.”
Arch said the order will be made now to get the uniforms here in hopes for uniforms to arrive by the Memorial Day ceremony in late May 2023. That turnaround may prove to be tight, as the company has a 180 day turnaround time.
Arch said his program has roughly 150 to 152 students between middle school and high school, with 43 currently in the high school band.
“We’re on track to retain roughly 70 percent of students from middle school band to high school band, which will increase our numbers upwards in coming years,” Arch said. “The company will keep our design on hand and if we need to purchase new uniforms in a few years, they will be ready. This first order will be to buy roughly 70 uniforms.”
Lisbon superintendent Autumn Pino said that the donations from the American Legion and the Lisbon Boosters club came about because of a great relationship activities director Brandon Horman has fostered.
“It’s been a collective approach for us to get to this point,” Pino said.
Arch said that having community support, from small individual donors to the larger donations, has also been a huge boost to the band program.
“I’ve explained to our students that our band is a part of our larger community,” Arch said. “This community support for these new uniforms is a huge reminder to our students of that community connection, and something the students and I really appreciate.”
Early retirement to be offered again
The Lisbon School board will be offering early retirement again for certified and non-certified staff.
The requirements are the same as in past years – staff have to be 55 or older and have worked 10 years consecutively in the Lisbon School District in order to apply for early retirement. The retirement will amount to 50 percent of their base pay for certified staff and 66 percent of their base pay for non-certified staff. If employees remain on the school’s health plan, the stipend will be distributed to an HRA account that will cover those costs. If not, the amount will be sent to a retirement account.
Discussion was held on if teachers could return as substitutes or long-term substitutes for the district in the next year after retirement, especially as the state deals with a teacher shortage.
“With the teacher shortage, it seems silly to not let teachers return as a substitute teacher if they want to,” said board president Jen Caspers.
School board member Abbe Stensland asked if having a teacher back for a long-term substitute position in the next school year would defeat the purpose of financial planning for the district, as the teacher might have to be paid similar to their former base salary if they came back from an early retirement.
Lisbon business manager Laurie Maher said she will be looking at language that explains that position of the district.