Building projects a strain on SAD 9

Morning Sentinel, September 27, 2007

(excerpt) School Administrative District 9 officials have frozen funds for classroom supplies and dipped into other accounts to cover higher-than-expected architect fees for two major building projects.

Superintendent Michael Cormier outlined to SAD 9 directors Tuesday night the measures he has taken to pay $400,000 this school year for design services for the Mallett School and Mt. Blue High School/Foster Regional Applied Technology Center projects.

Cormier included $100,000 in this year's budget for architectural expenses, but later found that figure far short of the fees that were negotiated later.

The fee for hiring PDT Architects of Portland is $374,000 to design the high school renovation, and for Stephen Blatt Architects, also of Portland, $190,000 for the Mallett School renovation or replacement. Of the $564,000 total, $400,000 is due this year.

Anti-consolidation rally postponed

Ellsworth American, September 27, 2007

(excerpt) A rally to kick off a petition drive to repeal Maine’s school consolidation law has been postponed, Lawrence “Skip” Greenlaw, chairman of the Maine Coalition to Save Schools, said this week.

Originally scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 29, the kickoff rally has been postponed and will be rescheduled in October.

Greenlaw said the petition drive has been delayed because the wording of the petition awaits approval from the office of the revisor of statutes.

The coalition formed after Greenlaw sought support statewide for an effort to repeal the state’s school reorganization law that mandates the number of school units statewide be reduced from 290 to about 80.

Coalition members expect to get the 55,087 petition signatures required to bring the repeal question to a referendum vote.

Winslow High agrees to limit strip searches of students

Morning Sentinel, September 27, 2007 (update)

(excerpt) The MCLU said in a press statement that it approached the school earlier this year after hearing from a student who had been required to remove all her clothing above the waist during a search for drugs.

The change in the student search policy came about as a result of the discussions between the MCLU and Winslow School Department attorneys.

The school agreed that such searches will not be conducted by school administrators or staff members, although police may be contacted and may search when a student is suspected of possessing contraband.

State tells schools to finish RSU plans

Bangor Daily News, September 26, 2007

(excerpt) While the majority of Maine schools have identified their consolidation partners and have moved into the planning phase, the Department of Education is pressing the few that have not to find a workable plan.

Department spokesman David Connerty-Marin said Tuesday that 80 percent of the state’s 290 school units filed notices of intent to consolidate with their neighbors that comply with state guidelines.

Of the other 20 percent, he said most were not in compliance for technical reasons while about a dozen areas in the state were resisting merger plans. He said the department’s Reorganization Implementation Team would meet with those units in the coming days.

"We are planning meetings with those units for the next few weeks and it could take a number of meetings," he said. "Finances have been a big part of it for those units. Some of their financial analysis showed them losing state subsidy if they consolidate."

Connerty-Marin acknowledged that the department has encountered some unforeseen difficulties within the consolidation law that will need to be revised by the Legislature next year. Under the current system, he said, some school units that receive the minimum state subsidy would be harmed financially by consolidation.

Robert Ervin : Bangor schools aware of drug abuse

Bangor Daily News, September 25, 2007

(excerpt) Renee Ordway’s opinion column 'Drug issue gets ignored by parents' (BDN, Sept. 15) deserves a response. Ordway wrote about her attendance at a meeting held at Bangor High School earlier this month to provide information on drug abuse to the parents of incoming Bangor High School students.

The program, "Ninth Grade Chemical Health Orientation," is part of a series the school department has initiated to address: support for parents in the transition to high school, information on educational programs and school assistance, and involvement of children in school activities. Obviously missing the point of the evening, Ordway reprimanded parents in general and dismissed the parents in attendance, whom she referred to as a "gaggle."

Ordway begins her article with a series of accusations against the Bangor School Department, none of which is true. For regular readers of Ordway’s column, this will come as no surprise; Ordway’s criticism of Bangor’s schools is a regular theme. The abuse of drugs by adolescents is, however, a serious matter, and the record of the Bangor school system in combating drug abuse should be set straight.

Pittsfield: SAD 53 drops consolidation talks with 38, 48

Bangor Daily News, September 24, 2007

(excerpt) SAD 53 notified SADs 38 and 48 on Friday that the district will no longer be pursuing consolidation with either of them. Instead, the Pittsfield area district will concentrate on working with SAD 59, the Madison, Starks and Athens district.

The SAD 53 board chairman was quick to point out that it was not a difference in personalities that prompted the decision, but rather priorities in school philosophy and a desire to maintain a relationship with Maine Central Institute.

SAD 48 officials, however, were surprised by the move.

"Frankly, I was shocked," SAD 48 board chairman Dan Costain said Sunday. "I thought everything was going well."

Costain said SAD 48 had been meeting with SAD 53 and he felt discussions were productive. "I am disappointed because I thought we had a good thing going. In our meetings, we were very clear that we had no issues with students going to MCI."

Critics target school mergers

Portland Press Herald, September 23, 2007

(excerpt) Lawrence "Skip" Greenlaw Jr. of Stonington, who serves on the regional school board there, is behind the most sweeping opposition plan, which calls for repeal. His Maine Coalition to Save Schools wants to force a public vote on the issue unless the Legislature agrees to abandon consolidation.

"I've got people from more than 100 towns willing to take these petitions door to door," he said last week.

Greenlaw said "forced consolidation" of school districts would raise costs in some communities and may close some schools. That, he said, would require students to endure overly long bus rides and effectively kill some small communities by robbing them of their schools.

Organizers of the repeal effort would have to collect 55,087 voters' signatures to force the Legislature to either repeal the law or send it to voters. Unless they collect those signatures by January 2008, the proposal will not go to the Legislature -- and potentially to voters -- until 2009.

Greenlaw said he is optimistic he and his allies can collect more than 55,087 signatures -- his target is 100,000 -- by January, which would force votes next year.

School districts with failed plans look to state

Portland Press Herald, September 16, 2007

(excerpt) Most of the 57 school systems that had their merger plans rejected by the state last week were turned down because their plans didn't match those filed by their proposed partners.

Maine's 290 school districts were informed Thursday whether their plans for complying with the state's new school consolidation law had been accepted or rejected by the state Department of Education.

While most school districts got a passing grade and can now forge ahead with their plans, others were sent back for more work. Thirty-seven were rejected because their plans didn't match their proposed mergers while 20 were sent back because the proposed district did not have the minimum number of students.

Many of those districts are in rural parts of the state where school administrators said they are not surprised their plans were rejected. Piecing together towns to make the required 2,500 minimum enrollment is complicated, they said, and concerns about the loss of local control continue to hamper their merger talks.

They said they will now rely heavily on the state's offer to help to get communities that are geographically far apart closer to the same thinking on district mergers.

State rejects several school plans

Kennebec Journal, September 14, 2007

(excerpt) Officials in Augusta and SAD 11 were told their letters were rejected because their plans would not have resulted in each having at least 2,500 students, and also were filed without a complete financial analysis.

But SAD 11 officials said they not only examined a state-provided financial analysis of merging the district and Augusta, they also conducted their own financial analysis to explore other scenarios before rejecting a merger of the two.

"I'm puzzled, because we certainly did do the financials," Superintendent Paul Knowles said. "We did exactly what the (Department of Education) asked us to do."

Augusta Superintendent Cornelia Brown said she was told by department officials their letters of intent should be very short and simple.

"Some of the guidance given by the department has not been clear, and that financial analysis piece is an example of that," she said. "It's news to me a financial analysis was to be filed.

"We disagree with the department's interpretation," she said.

Schools give Brown 3-year deal

Kennebec Journal, September 13, 2007

(excerpt) The Board of Education renewed Superintendent Cornelia Brown's contract for three years Wednesday night, despite concerns Augusta could be forced to consolidate with another school system before that term is up.

Whether Augusta stands alone or ends up having to consolidate and form a new school system, some board members said, they want Brown to be their superintendent.

Only Kim Silsby, who is both a board member and state representative, voted against the contract renewal.

Silsby praised Brown and her accomplishments as superintendent over the last six years at length, taking pains to make clear she supports Brown and would like to keep her as Augusta's superintendent.

But Silsby proposed waiting for two weeks to a month before committing to a new contract for Brown, whose contract expires this summer, until after Augusta learns whether its intention to remain on its own -- rather than consolidate with other schools -- is approved by the state.

State to reply by Friday

Kennebec Journal, September 12, 2007

(excerpt) Gendron said after the Aug. 31 deadline for school systems' letters of intent, her goal was to notify schools whether their plans pass muster with the state within 14 days.

David Connerty-Marin, spokesman for the Department of Education, said the department would have the responses to the school systems' letters of intent in the mail by the end of Friday.

And the state will respond to the schools all at once Friday, rather than inform them whether their plans were accepted, individually, over the course of the week.

Connerty-Marin said the main reason schools will be notified all at once is to allow the department to view the overall picture of school system consolidation statewide while making decisions on whether individual plans are in compliance.

SAD 59 committee eyes merger with Pittsfield district

Morning Sentinel, September 11, 2007

(excerpt) Selectman Robert Hagopian, a member of the School Administrative District 59 consolidation committee, told the board that a meeting is scheduled for Sept. 20. The meeting, with proposed partner SAD 53 of Pittsfield, is set for 6:30 p.m. at Madison Area Memorial High School.

Town Manager Norman Dean was quick to question the announcement.

"Why would the town of Madison even consider traveling that far?" Dean asked.

Hagopian explained that there would be no exchange of students, at least this year. Preliminary plans call for a consolidation of services and perhaps administration, he explained.

A recipe for disaster (letter)

Bangor Daily News, September 6, 2007

(excerpt) When governmental functions are consolidated, they also become more distant, less knowledgeable of local conditions and local people, and less flexible and responsive. At the same time, consolidation means that fewer local people are involved in these functions, learn how to carry them out, feel a stake and are willing to pay for what’s necessary.

Consolidation issues leave school panel in the dark

Morning Sentinel, September 5, 2007

(excerpt) Frustration and anger over school administrative consolidation dominated Tuesday night's Winslow School Committee meeting.

The session, held in the Winslow Junior High School library, turned tense at times when the board discussed concerns raised by member Wendy Roy in an e-mail message she sent recently to fellow board members.

Roy made clear her biggest issue was the lack of information she was receiving on school consolidation.

"I'm just concerned," she said, "that I hear more from the public (about consolidation) than I do as a school board member."

Member Wendy Nivison supported Roy on that claim.

"I share Wendy's concerns," she said. "When I find out things from other people in the community before I hear them as a school committee member, I think that is embarrassing.

"I feel decisions are being made about what direction we are going (as a school system), and we haven't even met as a board."

School Superintendent Elaine B. Miller told Nivison she is just as unnerved by the pace of the state-ordered consolidation process.

SAD 43 plays waiting game

Sun-Journal, September 5, 2007

(excerpt) SAD 43's [Rumford] proposed reorganization plan includes neighboring SAD 21, but only if the state makes changes that balances out costs among the communities.

Superintendent Jim Hodgkin told the board at Tuesday's SAD 43 meeting that although partnering with its closest neighbor in Dixfield makes the most sense educationally, the current impact as provided by the state would make it impossible for SAD 43 voters to support such a merger.

"This type of thing is going on around the state. We expect the Legislature to address the issue. The overall game plan is to go slow. We will not push for a Jan. 15 vote," he said. "Unless something changes in cost-sharing, there's no way we can seriously consider SAD 21."

Effort opposing consolidation moves forward

Bangor Daily News, September 5, 2007

(excerpt) With backing from 28 communities and more expected to join, a grass-roots effort to overturn the state’s school consolidation law will get under way this weekend.

Lawrence "Skip" Greenlaw Jr. of Stonington said he plans to hold an organizational meeting for those who have expressed an interest in working on a petition drive that would ask Maine legislators to repeal the law. That meeting is set for 9 a.m. Saturday at the Ramada Inn on Odlin Road in Bangor.

Greenlaw, a member of the Deer Isle-Stonington CSD school committee and a former state legislator, jump-started the repeal effort last month when he sent letters first to school committee chairs around the state, then to municipal officials, seeking their support and advice. The response was not overwhelming, Greenlaw said, but there was enough interest to move forward with the effort.

Stephen Bowen: Best way to keep local school may be to close it

Bangor Daily News, September 1, 2007

(excerpt) Local school boards, therefore, have few options before them. They can comply with the law, and give up local decision-making, oversight, and even ownership of their local schools, or they can go to voters and ask for a property tax hike to cover the loss of state funding that comes as a consequence of defying the law.

Or they could close their school, which, as unbelievable as it sounds, may be the best option available.

About a decade ago, the passage of a divisive school funding law in Vermont led one town there, Winhall, to undertake a novel act of civil disobedience. Fighting to hold on to its local school amid pressure to consolidate, the town replaced its public school with a community-created private one located in the same building. The town arranged to have its children tuitioned to the new private school under the state’s town tuitioning law, and students returned to school that fall hardly noticing that in their summer-long absence it had been converted from public to private.