HODGDON, Maine — A proposal to move seventh- and eighth-grade students from Mill Pond School to Hodgdon High School has proven to be one of the more contentious items the SAD 70 board has addressed in some time.
And even though that proposal has been put off for a year, the concept is still generating considerable debate by board members.
Monday evening, the board spent more than an hour debating what the purpose of the committee should be, who should be on it and even what the name of the panel should be.
The 11-member committee features two school board members (Joel Oliver and Angela Howland); two students (Madison Merritt and Autumn Ganzel); two staff members (Aimee Goff and Joe Fagnant); two parents (Melissa Berube and Suzette Belyea); and administrators Scott Richardson (superintendent), Mary Harbison (high school principal) and Loreen Wiley (Mill Pond principal).
Richardson said he chose people for the committee based on those that volunteered, and chose the board members to have one who voted for and one against the move. No date has been set for when the group will conduct its first meeting.
Richardson first presented the idea of relocating the two class levels at a March 13 meeting as a way to help bolster the number of students at the high school and also free up space at Mill Pond school to potentially relocate the central office to that building.
A public hearing on the matter was held March 31, 2015, with about 125 people in attendance. Many residents were in opposition to the move, for a variety of reasons. Some of those reasons included concerns that the younger students could be intimidated by the older ones due to differing maturity levels; fears there was not adequate time to do such a drastic move logistically; and others who felt the move was merely an attempt to increase the viability of the high school so it could remain open.
In April, the board unanimously voted to put the decision off for one year after an earlier vote to move the students was deadlocked at 6-6.
Some board members expressed reservations about information they were presented from the administration, which seemed to be indicating the direction the committee would be going in its research on the subject.
“What are we looking at here?” asked board member Tom Horton. “Are we looking at the feasibility of doing it (moving students) or are we just looking at how to do it (the move)? Has it been decided?” Richardson said while it hasn’t been decided, it was his first thought that the committee would examine how to make the move happen.
“What we heard from parents and the public is that they did not know enough about the plan,” he said. “We didn’t have enough details and there were a lot of unanswered questions. This committee will determine what the questions and concerns are and seek answers, develop a plan that will make it successful and communicate that plan.”
Horton disagreed, stating the committee should be tasked with not just looking at how to make the transition, but if the transition should even be made in the first place.
“I took the committee to be a feasibility study, to just take a look at it,” Horton said. “Is it a good idea or is it not a good idea?”
“I have real concerns with this,” board member Maureen Friel said. “The wording and even the name of this committee is to push for moving the students.”
Board member Lisa Dangerfield added the name of the committee should be something neutral, so as not to imply the group is to choose one direction over another when it comes to researching the subject.
Board chairman Estela Lane stated, “In my mind, we were going to have this committee and they are going to look at everything and explore the options. An option may be that we may not do this (move). We need to give the committee a chance to work on it.”
Keith Harrington, a member of the public, encouraged the committee to look at what the educational benefits would be, if any, of moving the students to the high school and added he hoped it was not just a tactic to bolster numbers at the high school to keep the building open.
Some board members asked if they could increase the number of members to the group.
Richardson said he was reluctant to add additional members to the committee out of concerns that it would become too large and unmanageable. However, he noted that any board member or member of the public that wanted to attend the meetings was free to do so as they are open meetings. He also suggested they could submit any questions they would like addressed to his office for the group to review.
The board will revisit the committee formation at its next regular board meeting on Monday, June 8.
