Four vacant seats on the board that oversees schools in Holden, Clifton and Eddington have been filled following the abrupt resignation of half of the board in December.
The Regional School Unit 63 Board of Directors on Monday held its first meeting since Dec. 8, 2025, and will now be able to vote and conduct business with all eight seats occupied.
The new members — Chip Haskell and Julianna Prentiss of Holden, Jamie Youngblood of Clifton and Whitney Gould-Cookson of Eddington — were appointed by their respective town officials. Each appointed member will hold their seat until their town’s election this year.
Clifton holds elections in March, while Eddington and Holden have their next elections in June.
The four former members — Heather Lander and Cherie Faulkner of Holden, Linda Graban of Clifton and Heather Grass of Eddington — said they resigned due to Board Chair Scott Walton’s and Superintendent Sheila Caldwell’s failure to prioritize education and a lack of transparency about the board’s actions. The resignations came just days after 12 Holden residents took out recall petitions for Lander and Faulkner.
The petitions said Lander and Faulkner were hindering the board and not working for the students. Recall petitions were not taken out for Graban or Grass, although all four resigned at the same time.
Two of the new members, Haskell and Prentiss, were on the recall committee, Prentiss said. They were appointed by the Holden Town Council after volunteering for the positions.
Prentiss volunteered for the position because she’s been calling for change on the board through the recall and decided she wants to be part of the board that creates those changes, she said.
“The board now will be able to work together, which has not always been the case,” Prentiss said.
During her time on the board, Prentiss said she wants the eight members to work more efficiently with the school by having clear communication with teachers and administrators and giving employees more opportunities to bring their thoughts to the board.
The board is working toward this by holding a teacher town hall meeting later this year to hear the thoughts of the district’s educators, Prentiss said.
Teachers and administrators haven’t been as supported by the board in recent years as they should have been, Prentiss said, but the town hall and other possible events can improve that.
Other ways the board can help the district run smoothly is by interfering with Caldwell’s job less, which Prentiss said was something previous board members weren’t doing.
“I just want to be able to work efficiently and let the superintendent do her job and not be micro-managed,” Prentiss said.
Gould-Cookson shared a similar sentiment, saying students, including her two children who attend school in the district, deserve a “supportive, stable and welcoming learning environment.”
Positive change and efforts through the school board should be made to “better meet the needs of our students, teachers, staff and community,” she said.
Haskell and Youngblood did not respond to a request for comment.
Prentiss and Board Chair Scott Walton said the board’s first meeting was productive. Prentiss and Youngblood were elected to the board’s budget and finance committee, and Haskell, Youngblood and Gould-Cookson were elected to the advisory committee of efficiency, which is overseeing the option of consolidating the district’s elementary schools.
Walton said he’s “thankful for each of the town’s select boards for appointing replacements for the vacant school board seats and equally grateful for those individuals that volunteered themselves to do so.”
The board’s next meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 23, at Holbrook Middle School.