Schools renew efforts to merge

by Nick Sambides Jr., Bangor Daily News, July 15, 2008

There's a new mediator and a new set of pressure-inducing deadlines, but the people involved in a new effort to comply with a state education law and consolidate schools into one Regional School Unit of 27 towns mostly in northern Penobscot County are just about the same, officials said Monday.

That could be the biggest asset to the group trying to form RSU 17 or a variant thereof, said John Neel, chairman of the SAD 31 board of directors and a member of the consolidation organization.

"We already know each other pretty well," Neel said of the consolidation committee. "We have worked relationships out and we understand one another. It’s not like we’re starting from scratch."

The group of municipal leaders, school board members and residents was among many statewide that didn’t manage to fulfill deadlines identified in a state law requiring statewide school reorganization despite making at least some progress.

SADs 30, 31 and 67; Unions 110 and 113; the communities of Greenbush, Lowell, Seboeis Plantation and Grand Falls Township in Penobscot County; Bancroft and Glenwood Plantation in Aroostook County; and Medford in Piscataquis County are part of RSU 17.

Under the old state law creating the regional school units, each district must consist of at least 2,500 students and one publicly funded high school. Districts of at least 1,200 students are supposed to be permitted when demographics or geography make larger systems unreasonable.

The new law the state Legislature passed last session should help make consolidation easier to achieve, Neel said.

"It gives us more flexibility," he said.

The new mediator appointed to the group, Robert B. Kautz of Wells, said he found the group congenial when it met on July 7 at Region III Vocational School in Lincoln.

"I found them to be a group eager to get to work," said Kautz, a former superintendent of Sanford, SAD 55 and schools in Wells who also is facilitating consolidation efforts among Freeport, Pownall and Durham.

Original group facilitator Sandra Bernstein had to leave the group because of an ailment in her family, Neel said.

According to new state law, consolidation efforts must be ready for voter referendum no later than Jan. 30, 2009, Kautz said. A Jan. 30 timeline means that the plan must be ready for town officials’ review by Dec. 15; a Nov. 4 referendum timeline, by Sept. 8, he said.

Education Commissioner Susan Gendron and the Maine Department of Education must approve consolidation plans before town officials as well, Kautz said.

"In either case, they have a bit of time pressure, but they have done some work back in November and January that will be helpful," he said.

The group is set to meet next at Region III in Lincoln at 6 p.m. July 22. The public is invited.