Robert Klose: An alternate option for Orono schools
Bangor Daily News, December 18, 2007
(excerpt) Should Orono consolidate with the larger Old Town and its environs? Or with the smaller Veazie and Glenburn? I think there is a third way.
My modest proposal is that Orono do neither. Instead, I suggest that we consider converting Orono High School (because this is what we are in danger of losing) into a charter school — one of those entities that is, indeed, a public school, but which is largely free of state governmental strictures, so long as learning results are honored.
What would this mean in terms of nuts and bolts? In order to strike out on our own and create something we can afford — and here my fellow residents of Orono must brace themselves and break out the hard liquor — the industrial-level sports teams would have to go. This means no football or hockey. This isn’t as radical as it sounds. Ellsworth dumped its football team years ago. Its muscle defaulted to its soccer squad, which immediately became a juggernaut. Orono’s elimination of these teams would immediately save a bundle.
The next item on the chopping block would be the school buses. This means that we would have to pitch in and get each other’s children to school. Can this be done? Sure. Private schools already do it. This would require organization and commitment, not bad virtues no matter what the circumstances.
(excerpt) Should Orono consolidate with the larger Old Town and its environs? Or with the smaller Veazie and Glenburn? I think there is a third way.
My modest proposal is that Orono do neither. Instead, I suggest that we consider converting Orono High School (because this is what we are in danger of losing) into a charter school — one of those entities that is, indeed, a public school, but which is largely free of state governmental strictures, so long as learning results are honored.
What would this mean in terms of nuts and bolts? In order to strike out on our own and create something we can afford — and here my fellow residents of Orono must brace themselves and break out the hard liquor — the industrial-level sports teams would have to go. This means no football or hockey. This isn’t as radical as it sounds. Ellsworth dumped its football team years ago. Its muscle defaulted to its soccer squad, which immediately became a juggernaut. Orono’s elimination of these teams would immediately save a bundle.
The next item on the chopping block would be the school buses. This means that we would have to pitch in and get each other’s children to school. Can this be done? Sure. Private schools already do it. This would require organization and commitment, not bad virtues no matter what the circumstances.
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