Merger plans: School panel eyeing Nov. 4 vote

by Winslow Durgin, Special to the Sun Journal, 7/11/08

POLAND - The Union 29 school merger panel wants Mechanic Falls, Minot, and Poland voters to act on a school consolidation plan during the Nov. 4 elections.

"A lot of people will show up at the polls; it's a national election and it's in our best interest to have as many people as possible in on the decision," Mechanic Falls member Dave Griffiths said at the consolidation group's third meeting Wednesday night.

Timeline

Superintendent Dennis Duquette pointed out that in order to have a plan ready for a Nov. 4 vote, the school merger panel would have to submit a plan to the commissioner of education in Augusta by Aug. 25.

Committee members agreed to block off Wednesday evenings through Aug. 25 in order to get the job done.

"We want to make sure the plan is the best we can submit. I believe we can do it; we have enough time," said Colleen Quint of Minot, chairwoman of the consolidation committee.

The options

The committee agreed to defer a decision on governance for how to run a reorganized school system serving the three towns after several members requested time to learn more about a new option for school reorganization, known as the alternative organizational structure, included in the state's amended school consolidation law. An AOS allows a greater degree of local control than allowed under the new regional school unit format the three towns are considering.

The governance structure under consideration calls for the election of a 15-member board, with five members from each of the three towns. Committee members would have weighted votes, based on criteria such as population, student numbers and town property valuation, to ensure compliance with the "one-man, one-vote" principle.

This would essentially extend the way the Union 29 board operates in running shared administrative services to include all educational services.

Transitioning

Learning from Mary Jane McCalmon, a Department of Education supplied facilitator, that the state will reimburse Union 29 up to $5,000 for expenses in developing and implementing a transition plan, the committee authorized Duquette to hire a part-time secretary to assist him by coordinating transition work and arrangements.

Duquette estimated the person would spend 10-15 hours per week putting pieces of the plan together.

Duquette was directed to come up with a transition plan and bring it to the July 16 meeting.

Duquette said one reason for voting in November, rather than waiting for the January deadline, is to allow time to rework the plan and revote if necessary.

Duquette said that according to a published DOE list, Mechanic Falls would lose about $75,568, Minot $67,803, and Poland $173,656 in state aid the first year if the district does not reorganize.

Chris Woodford of Minot noted that besides penalties for not consolidating, it would also create added costs for towns not joining in. Griffiths said that people will be voting their pocketbooks and deserve to know what the impacts will be.

"It's money, money, money for the towns. We need some really good figures," said Griffiths.

Tina Kelly said there's more to it than money. "It's what you get for your money," she said, and, in the case of Minot, consolidation will mean gaining access to educational resources the town now lacks, "like a music program."

Poland's Wendy Sanborn likened the situation to the mutual aid agreements local fire and rescue squads share. By pooling resources the separate towns gain access to what individually is not affordable.

The committee next meets at 6 p.m., July 16, in the library at the Poland Regional High School.