I hadn’t heard too much of the MSAD 1 restructuring plan since the communities voted not to fund the $15 million that the school board wanted to close Pine Street and Zippel elementary schools. So I contacted my school board member and was told the board is focused on finding a new superintendent and that the restructuring was put on hold with a plan is to invest about $80,000 on a new roof for Pine Street Elementary School.
I can’t help but wonder why the board would invest that much money into a school that is no longer needed and why with so many board members they can’t tackle both issues at the same time. I remember hearing members of the board say doing nothing is not an option and yet it seems that is exactly what they are doing.
I still don’t understand how the board can leave the high school at half capacity while sending our children to an old out of date building like Pine Street and then wanting to invest $80,000 on a building that should be torn down in the near future. The school board should use that $80,000 to cover the moving expenses to send 6-8 graders to the high school (which currently sits at less than half capacity), place K–5 pupils at skyway, close Pine and place staff offices and pre-K at Zippel.
This would save the communities thousands of dollars, which could then be used to pay down the multi-million dollar loan that was needed to close Cunningham and expand Skyway a few years ago.
This is a common sense approach to help lower the already huge tax burden the towns are in. I urge all communities in MSAD 1 to contact school board members and press them into doing what’s right to lower our taxes.
We have seven board members up for re-election this year and we should replace them with people that might offer fresh ideas leading to better management of our taxes.
Dave Gardiner
Chapman
