Schools begin consolidation talks

Kennebec Journal, April 15, 2007

(excerpt) "We don't know what the actual numbers will be," Mitchell said. "Right now, we're hearing 2,500. But in three to five years, will that be the number to plan for? What will happen down the road? We need to ask those questions and have an open dialogue."

Union 42 Chairwoman Holly Stevenson said the true purpose of the consolidation talks among neighboring districts "is to determine if these are realistic mergers."

"Our job is to figure out who makes the most sense for us to try to consolidate with, and it gets pretty sticky pretty fast because you realize there's a great economic factor involved," Stevenson said.

As an example, teachers' salaries are not uniform across the various towns. Therefore, if two schools join together -- one of which has lower teacher salaries -- does that town have to bring its teachers' pay up to match the other schools in the district? Or, will salaries and contracts remain at a certain point for an amount of time after the school districts consolidate, with new contracts negotiated after consolidation?

Those, Stevenson said, are the types of questions the group is wrestling with.

"We did touch on different things the state could do that wouldn't affect our schools as negatively as a consolidation, such as a statewide teacher salary or curriculum," she said.

Aside from all the variables, the school officials said they're simply trying to wrap their arms around all of the different options -- consolidation or not -- and then present that information to their communities.