MONTICELLO, Maine — It’s official. The RSU 29 school board voted Monday evening to go ahead with its plans to close Wellington Elementary School during a special meeting.
About 20 individuals, mostly staff members, attended Monday’s special meeting. No members of the public were allowed to speak, as the group does not have a public comments section on the agenda for any of its board meetings.
By a vote of 7-2, the motion to close the school passed. Voting for the measure were John Tribou, Jeremiah Crockett, Tammy Goetsch, Bruce Clark, Sandra Wilkins, Liz Anderson and Lori Holmes. Voting against the motion were Jennifer Johnston and Sandra Henderson. Board member David Loendorf abstained from voting.
The question now shifts from “if” the school will close to “when.”
The goal of the district is to have Wellington close at the end of the current school year, according to Superintendent Mike Hammer. Before that can happen, however, a public referendum will have to take place in Monticello, as only residents of that community can vote to close the school.
“Despite the financial reasons, due to declining enrollment, those students would be better served down here,” Hammer said.
“The reason this has really come to the forefront is finances,” added board chairman Fred Grant. “When we look at the district, we are looking at cuts in the range of $900,000 for next year. That is significant. It’s a difficult decision for the board, but in looking at all of our students, the question we need to ask ourselves is ‘What is the right decision for the district in order to meet the needs of all of our students?’”
Monticello residents now have 10 days to submit any concerns in writing to the Department of Education on the school closure. Statements can be dropped off at the Monticello Town Office.
Wellington Elementary School is a pre-K to third grade school. Built by the town of Monticello in the early 1950s, Wellington School joined the district in the early 1960s.
As of March 3, enrollment at the school was 66 students, with 17 in pre-kindergarten; 14 in kindergarten; 16 in first grade; 10 in second grade; and nine in third grade. In April of 2013, enrollment figures indicated the school had 58 students, with 14 in pre-K; 15 in kindergarten; 10 in first grade; nine in second grade and 10 in third grade.
Declining enrollment and increased costs district-wide are what first prompted the school board to look at closing the school back in March, 2011. At that time, a four-hour public hearing was held at the school, as residents of the community pleaded with the board to keep the building open. Many of the residents fought back tears when they talked about their school.
The board ultimately decided then to stay the course with the school, but continuing that trend is no longer economically feasible, said Hammer.
Enrollment projections for the school look good for the next two years, with 16-17 new students slated to enter the school. However, three years from now, the projected incoming class would be just four or five students, unless there was an influx of new families with pre-school-aged children to the town, according to the superintendent.
RSU 29 has about 1,300 students from the towns of Houlton, Littleton, Hammond and Monticello. Located about 13 miles from Houlton Elementary School, Wellington is one of two elementary schools in the district that educates pre-kindergarten through third-grade students.
Many Monticello parents have already been sending their children to Houlton Elementary School, as the district allowed open choice on which school they can attend dating back to when Littleton Elementary School was closed in 2000.
Now that the district has signed off on the closure, it will be up to the residents of Monticello who have the final say in the form of a public referendum. Exactly when that referendum will take place has yet to be determined.
If Monticello opts not to close the school, it will have to bear the cost of keeping the school open, in addition to its share of the overall RSU 29 budget. Based on the figures presented, Monticello would have to pay an additional $188,730.
If the town agrees with the closure, the district will have much work to do between now and the start of the next school term.
Hammer said the plan is to lease two modular classroom buildings and move areas such as the library, computer room and music into those buildings to open up room for more classrooms inside HES. The district plans to lease the modular buildings regardless of the Wellington decision, he said.
How the district will bus students to Houlton was touched on briefly. Hammer said after talking with his transportation director, no additional routes were necessary to bring the Monticello students to Houlton. However, three slightly larger busses, with seat belts, will be needed and is already in the pipeline.
There was no discussion of how early in the morning students would need to be picked up in Monticello to make it to school in Houlton on time for the first morning bell.
The board also touched briefly on class sizes. Hammer said class sizes would be “a little bit higher” in kindergarten through third grade with an average of 16-21 students per classroom.
Johnston said the increased class size is likely to be a point of contention for parents from Monticello.
“There are some concerns of going from a 12 (student) classroom to a 20 (student) classroom,” she said. “They think their child’s adjustment is going to be scary.”
Hammer said the district would look at ways to make the new students feel welcome at HES, including the possibility of having a big celebration event on the first day of school.
By closing the school at the end of the current year, Hammer added the majority of the staff would be retained in their current positions due to upcoming retirements. The same cannot be said if the closure were to take place a year from now.
Henderson said she felt there was simply too much work that needed to be done to get HES ready by the start of the next school year and suggested the board should consider it for the 2015 school year and cautioned that the district’s savings might not be as much as hoped.
“I don’t feel we will be saving a bunch of money,” she said. “I hope it does, but I have my reservations.”
If the school ultimately closes, the building will either be turned over to the town of Monticello or sold.
