School merger plan hits snag: Freeport's school board balks at a plan to merge with Pownal and Durham, citing the tight deadline

By Deirdre Fleming, Staff Writer, Portland Press Herald, July 10, 2008

A plan for Freeport, Durham and Pownal to form a consolidated school district is on hold indefinitely, as members of the Freeport School Committee request exceptions to a state law that Maine says are impossible to grant.

On Tuesday night, the Freeport committee voted 3-2 against a plan to consolidate, with one person abstaining.

The vote prevents the plan, which has been approved by Durham and Pownal, from being sent for review to Maine Education Commissioner Susan Gendron.

It also could lead to penalties against the Freeport district.

The plan must be submitted by Dec. 15 and approved by the commissioner before it is sent back to the towns for a public vote before Jan. 30, the deadline imposed by the Maine Legislature.

Susan Martling, a Freeport committee member who cast one of the dissenting votes, said that the deadline for consolidation was too restricting and Freeport would be better served if the committee crafted an alternative plan.

"There are enough exceptions to the law; we should be allowed that option," Martling said. "Many communities got exceptions, and the law was changed."

Martling also said she thinks that the penalties for missing the strict deadlines set by the Legislature are rushing Freeport toward a plan.

"I don't think that's the way to work, with the threat of penalties," Martling said. "Having to do it on a forced march is not the way I believe it should be done."

Martling would not elaborate on what exceptions she was seeking.

Regardless, it is beyond Gendron's power to grant any exceptions, said David Connerty-Marin, a spokesman for the Department of Education.

"There is nothing in the law that gives the commissioner the ability to grant an exception. Freeport has fewer than 1,200 students, and they are certainly not in a rural or isolated area," Connerty-Marin said. "She flat-out does not have the authority."

Martling said she is not opposed to consolidating the districts. And Freeport School Committee Chairman Chris Leighton, who voted for the plan, said all of Freeport's committee members are willing to work with Pownal and Durham. But the three members who opposed the plan feel the school district is being rushed to decide how to do that.

"They felt this was moving too fast. And the public needs to better understand this," Leighton said. "When they talk about an exception, they want a go-slow approach, rather than hurry-up-and-vote. They are trying to put together a more deliberate process."

Leighton said the committee members who approved the plan believe that the district should meet the state's imposed deadlines.

"The clock is ticking. There is no choice. The law is the law," Leighton said.

If it does not meet the Dec. 15 deadline, Freeport could face a 2 percent reduction in annual state subsidies, as well as a lower standing on state construction application reviews, Connerty-Marin said.

Freeport Superintendent Elaine Tomaszewski said Tuesday's vote came as a surprise.

She said the next step would be for herself, the School Committee and the education commissioner to discuss alternatives.

Leighton said he is going to try to schedule another Freeport School Committee meeting for Monday.

 

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