MONTICELLO, Maine — Residents of Monticello will soon be asked if they wish to begin the process of withdrawing from RSU 29.
To initiate a withdrawal process, a petition bearing the signatures of at least 10 percent of registered voters from the last gubernatorial election must be submitted. A total of 337 ballots were cast last November, so only 34 names were needed to make a legal request.
A petition bearing the names of 51 registered voters was recently presented to the Monticello Board of Selectmen, according to Town Manager Ginger Pryor. There are about 500 registered voters in the community.
A public hearing on the withdrawal will be held Wednesday (tonight) at 6 p.m. at the Monticello Fire Station on U.S. Route 1. After that meeting, a town referendum will be held on March 16.
The exact wording of that referendum question is: “Do you favor filing a petition for withdrawal with the board of the directors of Regional School Unit 29 and with the commissioner of education; authorizing the withdrawal committee to expend $2,500 and authorizing the municipal officers to issue notes in the name of the town of Monticello or otherwise pledge to credit the town of Monticello in an amount not to exceed $2,500 for this purpose.”
Voters will be given a “yes” or “no” option.
There are 101 students from Monticello who attend classes in RSU 29, which is also comprised of Houlton, Littleton and Hammond.
RSU 29 Superintendent Mike Hammer sent a letter to parents of children from Monticello on Jan. 21. In that letter, Hammer wrote, “I would not like to see Monticello withdraw its students, but feel that the voters have (the) right to express their opinions and do what they feel is educationally and fiscally responsible for their students.”
Hammer acknowledged the fact that the district’s decision to close Wellington Elementary School at the end of the last school year was a difficult and controversial decision.
“While I know the loss of Wellington has been difficult to the district and especially Monticello, we are trying to provide the best education we can and offer the most opportunities for our students given the financial restrictions being placed on us,” the letter states. “As such, while we have seen significant impacts from reduced state funding in recent years, we have still been able to maintain an educational environment that places RSU 29 near the top of all benchmarks and provides both curricular and extra-curricular opportunities that many schools cannot provide.”
