RSU 24 Superintendent Michael Eastman sent out a letter to the parents and guardians of students attending Grades 6-12 at the Charles M. Sumner Learning Campus, informing that the school opening would be delayed again, but this time by only a few days. The revised planned opening is now Wednesday, September 14th.

Here is the letter that was sent out.

Dear Parent/Guardian,

The opening of the Charles M. Sumner Learning Campus is within reach. We had hoped that our staff members would be able to enter the building this week to begin preparing for students to arrive. We received the Certificate of Occupancy inspection results from the Sullivan Code Enforcement Officer and there are a number of remaining items to be addressed before we would be issued a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy. The work needing to be addressed has prohibited our staff from entering the building at all this week. Much of the required work was done today and more will be done tomorrow. We are hoping for a final inspection at some point tomorrow (Friday) evening, or this weekend. As a result, our staff will not be able to get in the building until Monday, September 12th (at the earliest) to unpack the stored items and to set up their classrooms. We originally had set aside four days for our staff to get ready, but we are anxious to get our students in school as soon as possible and instead we will now provide our teachers two days to get ready - Monday and Tuesday. It is our great hope that the inspection will pass and that we will be welcoming students to the new building on Wednesday, September 14th.

I join everyone who is frustrated with the delay. As Superintendent and a parent of a child who will be entering the school, I want nothing more than to get our students into school. The school district and more importantly our students have been at the mercy of the building process and those responsible for it. The delay is beyond our control.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at meastman@rsu24.org. I will provide an update at the beginning of next week. I remain focused on the end result, understanding that the delay will be well worth the wait.

Sincerely,

Michael Eastman Superintendent

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