NEW SWEDEN, Maine — School board Union 122 met at the New Sweden Consolidated School on April 17, for their regular meeting. Community involvement was the major issue stressed by the board at Thursday’s meeting, as a handful of faculty members from New Sweden School sat in on the meeting after being urged by board members to attend.
Unfortunately, a number of board members were unable to attend, leaving the board just below the necessary number of members to establish a quorum able to vote matters on the agenda. Therefore, the meeting became more of a think tank, where board members deliberated amongst each other, while also receiving vital input from those community members able to attend. The board expressed just how important it was for board and community members to work together throughout any upcoming issues Union 122 may face.
At the previous meeting, the board made the decision to create a number of small sub-committees to deliberate on issues currently being worked through. Thursday night served as an ideal time for the board to provide updates on what the sub-committees have been doing, and where they currently stand in terms of achieving their ultimate goals.
With current acting Superintendent Roland Caron planning to eventually step down from his managerial role on the board, there has been a constant search for a replacement occurring within the superintendent search committee.
Board member Pat Anderson informed those in attendance that the search for a new school Supt. is still ongoing, with no news to report at this time. She went on to thank Caron for his service, and for staying on to aid the board during the search.
The school union summer celebration committee was next to present any progress made on the summer celebration the board is hoping to hold at some point toward the end of school summer vacation. Committee member Laura Ostlund brought a handful of ideas to the board, such as a rock climbing wall, a bouncy house for children, as well as an idea to provide local artists with a canvas they could paint their rendition on, then donate back to the school board for display at the fund-raising celebration.
However, there was growing sentiment among some board members that the timetable for putting together such a celebration may not be conducive. Pat Anderson voiced her concerns on the matter by explaining that with only approximately two months remaining before the anticipated event, there may simply not be enough time to find the necessary number of volunteers for such a large-scale fundraiser.
“I’m worried we haven’t had enough time to get our ducks in a row,” said Anderson. “I’m beginning to get a little nervous about it.”
Despite growing concerns regarding the timetable of the event, the board has decided to continue preparations for some kind of summer celebration. The skepticism possessed by a number of board members means the final decision on details, as well as the event itself, are still very much up in the air. However, as board members like Pat Anderson pointed out, Ostlund has worked very hard preparing the finer details of the event, up to this point. Therefore, the board has decided to momentarily continue with preparations for the time being. The final decision on whether or not the event will be held will depend a great deal on how much interest Ostlund can attract from both Union 122 staff and community members who may be willing to volunteer their time and effort.
Pat Anderson continued the discussion by explaining to community members in attendance exactly what the thought process behind the event was, and why the board felt it important to hold such a celebration.
“Originally the thought behind this was to reinforce the idea that we’re all one community, providing services to the students. We wanted to provide something that would help us come together as one community. That was the crux behind this event. The truth is we’re not just small separate towns, but one community,” said Anderson. “We also want the public to see that we are working together to create something special for the kids.”
Supt. Caron added, the fact the board didn’t have a quorum for Thursday’s meeting may not be a bad thing for the decision-making process.
“I like to think I’m the type of person who always looks for the silver lining in a situation. The fact that we don’t have a quorum is probably a good thing,” said Caron. “We don’t have to take action right now. This will give Laura time to have another meeting and try to find more people that are excited about putting this event together. I believe that once both schools are more aware of what our plan is we’ll find a lot of people will be interested in helping.”
Pat Anderson interjected to point out how vital it is they get the message out to the public, and how important it will be to gather as many volunteers and as much community involvement as possible.
“We’ve got to get the message out there. The more people involved the more successful the event will be. We’d also really like to have all of your input, not just on this particular event, but in all of our decisions. After all, you people really are the heart of the school,” Anderson said, as she spoke directly to the Union 122 staff members in attendance.
The last committee on the agenda to provide an update on their recent activities was the organizational management committee, represented by Nancy Holmquist.
“Since December, or maybe even earlier, the school board has been having meetings every other month to have these discussions, and despite the fact that we are two separate schools and four separate communities feeding into those schools, but we are together,” said Holmquist. “That’s why the effort to have these meetings every other month is in place and what has been discussed is keeping our schools open and alive. That’s the bottom line.”
Holmquist expressed how important she feels it is for the board, as well as the community to come up with a new way of thinking and new methods for running both schools to get maximum utilization out of school funds, while continuing to provide a top-notch education.
Holmquist explained that she did meet with the other members of the organizational management committee, however they were not in attendance for Thursday’s meeting. The committee did meet to discuss some of the possible strategies that may possibly be implemented in order to better run the two schools.
This type of discussion, of course, attracts ideas like consolidation and major transfers of students from one school or another, with even the possibility of bringing high school students to a school like New Sweden Consolidated School, which Holmquist mentioned was more suitable for high school students.
“The thing I really want to make clear is that these are just ideas currently being explored, and the board members who are not on the committee don’t even know what was discussed at our meeting, so nothing has been decided.” said Holmquist. “One of the options that was discussed and that has been discussed since I was a teacher is the possibility of sharing students, meaning perhaps the students from the lower grades would go to Woodland, while the students from the higher grades would travel to New Sweden. The reason being, New Sweden simply has a newer building and a regulation size gymnasium more suitable to the upper level students.”
Holmquist reiterated the fact that this was merely the earliest stages of discussion, and the committee wasn’t anywhere near the actual decision making process.
“That’s still an option that’s on the table and is worthy of discussion, but once again, these are just possible ideas,” said Holmquist. “With that said, there may be other ways we can go about sharing students that we’ll address in the future.”
Holmquist discussed a few other options that were tossed around during the committee’s meeting including combining the school lunch programs between both Woodland and New Sweden’s schools. The lunch would be prepared at only one school, and either the food or the students would be bussed to the other school for lunch. This is an idea that may seem costly, on the surface, however, Holmquist pointed out that with the reimbursements the school would receive in regard to the busses would make the option much less far-fetched than it may seem.
Supt. Caron then spoke up with another option that may not be popular with students, staff or community members, but one that he claimed can’t be ignored and must be brought acknowledged.
“Another option that we have to deal with is simply sending all the students to Caribou. If that’s what the committee wants to do we may as well deal with it and get it over with,” said Caron. “What I don’t think the general community understands, however, is that we’re still going to have an educational cost with this option. The groups consensus has been that if we’re going to send students anywhere we should be sending them amongst ourselves and maintaining our programs.”
Wanda Anderson explained the reason for these discussions is due to the fact that the current strategies simply aren’t working and there isn’t enough support financially to keep operating in the same manner.
“One of the things we’re dealing with is the fact that the way we’re operating now we cannot continue. The funds aren’t coming and our communities aren’t supporting us to continue to ask for the increase,” said Anderson.
“Doing the same thing we’ve been doing isn’t going to work. It’s no one persons fault, but the state is cutting back and we can’t ignore the voice of the taxpayer,” said Supt. Caron. “However, we certainly haven’t thrown in the towel. We would not be working proactively if we just stuck our heads in the sand and waited for the sandstorm to pass.”
Prior to the meetings adjournment Caron made it a point to mention one last time how important it was for the community to get more involved with the board’s activities, as well as decision making.
“It won’t work if we do this in a vacuum,” Caron said. “We welcome more teachers and staff, as well as community members to all our meetings.”
The Union 122 school board will meet again at their next regular meeting on June 11 at the Woodland Consolidated School.
