Countless vehicles parked on both sides of the road near the Limestone Fire Department for a special town meeting in which Limestone residents voted to allocate $25,000 to hire a consultant or attorney to help officials decide how they can keep high-schoolers in their town. (Christopher Bouchard)
LIMESTONE, Maine — Cars and trucks lined both sides of Main Street for a special town meeting at the Limestone Fire Department Wednesday night, April 12 in which residents authorized up to $25,000 to fund financial research efforts related to saving their high school.
While the Limestone Community School building is not technically in jeopardy, RSU 39’s recent vote to send Limestone’s high-schoolers to Caribou next year has made many townsfolk suspicious that it is only a matter of time until all Limestone kids will be bussed to Caribou, which will be getting a new preK-8 facility in 2020.
As a result, the town has accepted a petition to withdraw from RSU 39, and last night’s approved allocation will pay for a consultant and/or attorney who will assist municipal officials in determining whether or not this is a financially viable move. Both officials and school committee members confirmed that the main objective is to keep LCS open for all grades, and withdrawal is one of several possible means to that end.
Pierre Huntress, a social studies teacher at Limestone, expressed concerns that, since the wheels are already set in motion to transition Limestone’s grade 9-12 students/teachers to Caribou, those folks may not want to come back.
“We’ve already begun transitioning students to Caribou,” Huntress said. “They’re setting up their schedule for next year in my class. When this first happened, students at LCS dug their feet and said ‘this sucks,’ and I was right there with them.”
A large crowd of Limestone residents packed into the local fire station so they could vote on spending up to $25,000 to hire an attorney/consultant to look into various ways the town could keep Limestone High School students and staff, who are in the process of transitioning to Caribou. (Christopher Bouchard)
Huntress said he was born and raised in Limestone, and jumped on the opportunity to come back and teach in his hometown.
“As an employee of the RSU, ultimately, where would I want to teach? Limestone High School,” Huntress said, “but do you know what I like even more than teaching at Limestone High School? Having a job. Comments I’m hearing from wide-eyed kids in my class is that Caribou is being made out to be this huge monster of a school, it’s not that big,” adding that the $25,000 could be spent to “provide scholarships for Limestone Students when they graduate from whatever school they choose to attend, whether it’s Caribou High School, Fort Fairfield, or even an online academy.”
A Limestone School Committee member responded that they are “looking at all options,” adding that the town will likely lose the high school for at least the 2017-18 year, adding that tuitioning students to Caribou could be a financially viable option.
Huntress said that, while he can’t speak for any of the teachers transitioning to Caribou, he was skeptical that all students and teachers moving to Caribou would come back after a couple years if Limestone were to officially withdraw for the 2018-19 or 2019-20 school year.
Melissa Devoe, who serves on Limestone’s Board of Selectpeople, commented on the massive turnout, emphasizing how LCS is clearly important to the community.
“I’ve never seen a turnout quite this big at any meeting and this, as a Selectperson, speaks volumes to me,” Devoe said. “I think this $25,000 needs to be spent so we can make an educated decision for the future of the school. The only way to make a decision is to have a consultant and attorney and, with this many people showing up for the future of their school, it should speak volumes to everyone here as well.”
A member of the school committee echoed Devoe’s sentiments, stating that a professional could truly shed light on Limestone’s financial situation and that the total costs could potentially be under $25,000.
“Right now Caribou is throwing this number at us, but we need to know for sure,” she said. “The numbers we’re looking at are way different than what Caribou is giving us, and the $25,000 could be much less. This is just so we can have the numbers in front of us and then make an educated decision regarding withdrawal, but the only way we can get those numbers is to vote tonight so we can appropriate money to determine if we want to say ‘yes’ or ‘no.’”
The Fire Department building, crammed with concerned citizens, lit up with applause at her statement. Discussion continued for less than 15 minutes, after which those in attendance overwhelmingly approved the move to hire someone to look into the numbers, resulting in even more applause before adjournment.
