Consolidation remains hot button debate for SAD 29, SAD 70

Efforts to consolidate two school districts, about five miles apart, continue to be a hot topic of discussion among school board members.
The proposed consolidation of central offices was on the agenda for both SAD 29 (Houlton, Littleton, Monticello and Hammond) and SAD 70 (Hodgdon, Cary, Amity, Haynesville, Linneus, Ludlow and New Limerick) when the two boards held separate monthly meetings Monday evening.
In SAD 29, the board chairman painted the consolidation discussions in a positive light.
A much different, and somewhat heated conversation was held in SAD 70 as some board members expressed growing frustration with the process.
The two boards have been trying to forge an agreement that would consolidate the districts into a Regional School Unit, as part of state mandate for smaller schools
The two school boards will hold a joint meeting on Thursday, Sept. 23 at 6 p.m. at Houlton High School’s cafeteria to hear a presentation on the AOS model, via a video teleconference. That meeting is open to the public.
For SAD 70, consolidation is a necessity since the state mandated smaller schools had to join forces as either an RSU or AOS last year. Because the district did not consolidate, it was penalized nearly $100,000 for not conforming to the state’s wishes. That penalty will increase each year that the district does not comply, thus making it imperative for SAD 70 to join forces with another school district.
Originally, SAD 70 was in talks with SAD 25 (Stacyville, Sherman, Mount Chase and Patten) and CSD 9 (Crystal, Dyer Brook, Island Falls, Merrill, Oakfield and Smyrna) to form a three-school RSU, but after four meetings the Hodgdon board pulled out of that plan in December 2009.
Instead, the board sought to re-open talks with neighboring SAD 29, due to its close proximity and in January the two groups started the process of merging central offices under the auspices of RSU 29. In August, the consolidation committee shifted its thinking to the formation of an AOS (Alternative Organized Structure) plan.
However, after nine months of meetings and negotiations, no definitive plan has emerged.
SAD 70 has also approached SAD 14 (Danforth) about forming some type of consolidated district, should talks with SAD 29 break down, but no formal action has been taken for this path.
At Monday night’s SAD 29 meeting, Chairman Liz Anderson updated the board on the progress made by the Regional Planning Committee, which is comprised of members of both school districts and members of the public.
“We had a very good meeting last week,” Anderson said. “We are still working on the model that we want to bring forward to the whole board. There were some concerns about the AOS model, which is what we are now moving toward. Part of our research will be to talk to a superintendent who has been working with an AOS model. We’d like to see how it has worked and what are some of the issues with it.”
Anderson said busing; food service; central office; and classroom space were among the items that needed to be reviewed.
“I really would like all of you to be at this meeting,” Anderson said. “You need to be informed. If we are not all committed to it and understand it, it’s going to be hard to move forward.”
No other SAD 29 board member commented on the consolidation issue at Monday’s meeting.
Later Monday evening in Hodgdon, at SAD 70’s meeting, board members got into a passionate discussion about the consolidation issue.
“The two things that you are going to be faced with are your superintendent’s office and the creation of an AOS board,” SAD 70 Superintendent Bob McDaniel said. “It includes special education, transportation, food services directors, but your board stays intact.”
SAD 70 Board Chairman Estela Lane said her hope was that some sort of vote would come from the Sept. 23 meeting. Because the group has changed gears to forming an AOS, a new letter of intent would need to be drafted by both school districts and sent to the Department of Education for approval before going forward.
“How it was explained to us at the RPC meeting was they [SAD 29] have some dissenters on their school board and this meeting would provide an opportunity for them to learn more about an AOS and how it will affect their staff,” Lane said.
Board member Joel Oliver, who also serves on the RSU committee, said he was extremely frustrated by the lack of progress made thus far.
“What this is going to do is push us back,” Oliver said. “There is no way we are going to meet a July 1 deadline for next year, so we’re going to get penalized again next year. They don’t need us.”
“They [SAD 29] are completely in the driver’s seat,” board member Kevin Scott said. “They are going to tell us what to do. How long have they been jerking us around and we still can’t get a straight answer out of them.”
“What we are trying to do is get a plan going so that we don’t get penalized,” board member William Fitzpatrick said. “That $93,000 penalty could be three teachers for us.”
“They [SAD 29] are going to keep pushing back the dates in order to educate their board, but that’s a small price to pay,” Tom Horton said. “We have kind of done the same thing, haven’t we? We keep throwing out different ideas about joining with Danforth or going back to Southern Aroostook. I feel we haven’t been committed to any one direction either.”
Lane reminded the board members that it was the SAD 70 board that voted to open negotiations with SAD 29 in the first place.
“We could have stayed with Southern Aroostook, but it was brought up that we should explore going to Houlton and that’s the path we chose,” Lane said.
McDaniel recommended that the full board attend the informational meeting on Sept. 23 and if at that time the SAD 70 board felt after that meeting that consolidation is not in the cards for the district, they should explore other avenues.
An AOS differs from an RSU plan in a number of ways.
First, governance of an AOS is different from an RSU. With an RSU, the two school boards would have been dissolved in favor of one larger RSU school board. The consolidation group spent considerable time debating how that board would be comprised before agreeing to a 13-member board, using a weighted vote system. Nine of those seats were proposed to be from SAD 29, while SAD 70 would have four.
Under an AOS, both school districts would keep their existing school boards and a third board, comprised of members from each would be created for core functions and duties of the group.
Secondly, the budget process for an RSU calls for the creation of one, unified budget for the two districts, which has been a sticking point for many during consolidation discussions. Under an AOS plan, both districts would keep separate budgets.
A full comparison between the two styles of government can be found online at: www.maine.gov/education/reorg/rsu_aos_comparison.pdf.
The two school boards would first have to approve the plan of action, and then the general public would need to approve the matter in the form of a referendum vote.