NEW SWEDEN, Maine — The polarizing process of closing New Sweden’s K-8 school is moving forward, with the most recent step being a cost-savings analysis approval from the state education commissioner. The New Sweden School Committee determined that it would cost $571,393 to keep the school open, and the Maine Department of Education approved its findings on April 20.
“In accordance with 20-A MRSA 1512 (2), I have determined that the cost data submitted by you are in compliance, and based on the information provided, the expense of keeping the school open,” wrote Commissioner Robert G. Hasson, Jr., Ed.D. “Therefore, you may proceed with the next step of the school closure process.”
A number of local residents wrote letters to the MDOE before the agency’s April 20 approval of the figures, with many stating their belief that the New Sweden Consolidated School could stay open for another year without imposing a significant tax burden on local citizens.
Many residents opposed to the closure wrote that school leaders could significantly reduce the projected costs of keeping the school open if administrators applied for a bond to make needed repairs, received matching funds from the state, and made payments over time.
Union 122 Business Manager Chris Martin has said that the Maine Bond Bank is unlike a regular bank, and that administrators would need to go through the MDOE and access the department’s School Revolving Renovation Fund with a certificate of need — otherwise they would be unable to receive funding.
Others have accused Union 122 administrators of creating the illusion of a crisis by manipulating the budget to indicate a larger amount of money required to keep the facility open with one budget in particular showing a below average state and local allocation.
Martin has said he was unaware of how a school union could present multiple budgets (one showing educational costs with the school closed, another with the school open at minimal costs, and a version with the school open and all necessary repairs covered) in an honest fashion without showing a lower state and local allocation in the closure budget.
One letter, written by Brian Jenkins, a former private and public school teacher who holds a master’s in education, and currently works as a bus driver and custodian in Van Buren, Connor, and Woodland schools, addressed the superintendent’s take on multi-grade classrooms, citing studies showing the advantages of peer teaching over teacher instruction, and the history of New Sweden students graduating in the top 10 percent of their classes at Caribou High School.
Superintendent Karla Michaud said that, after looking through the available options, keeping the school open is not the best choice for students’ education, and that putting students from ten grades into three classrooms is neither fair nor equitable to New Sweden students, adding that the “budget (to keep the New Sweden school open) is so bare bones that it’s almost embarassing to offer that type of education.”
According to the superintendent, New Sweden currently has 51 students, with grades six through eight having the highest numbers. Next year, Michaud said New Sweden is projected to have “44 or 45 students, if no one moves over the summer.”
Michaud and Martin have said it was always their intention to bring the matter to referendum, as it would let local residents determine the school’s future.
The next step in the closure process is to hold a public meeting in which townsfolk can ask questions about the referendum. While the school has yet to set a specific date for that meeting, a timeline that Union 122 distributed shows a tentative date of June 1. Moving forward, the referendum is scheduled for June 13 and the annual town meeting for June 15. From there, the school committee is set to vote to accept the budget for the 2017-18 year based on the June 20 referendum results.
