NEW SWEDEN, Maine — Union 122’s new exclusive contract with MSAD 45 in Washburn was a topic of discussion during a meeting of the Union’s joint committee on June 4.
Woodland Resident and concerned parent, Jemelie Durepo, asked the school board during public comment if a counter offer given by RSU 39 was considered before the Union signed an exclusive contract with Washburn to send their high school students to Washburn High School for the next five years.
According to Union 122 School Board, a counter offer of $9,600 per student by RSU 39 was considered in April of this year, but was “way above the offer from Washburn.”
Union 122 requested a meeting with RSU 39 in December of 2014 to negotiate their tuition contract, Union 122 board member Wanda Anderson said. But due to scheduling conflicts RSU 39 board members were unable to meet with the Union at that time, according to RSU 39 board chair John Sjostedt. The meeting was rescheduled for late March 2015, but it wasn’t until late April that the Union and RSU 39 finally met to discuss a contract, Anderson said.
The previous contract with Caribou was for a set amount, Anderson said. In the past it was amount per child, but after things changed to a set amount and the Union began to lose students they realized they were also losing money on the deal.
“It was written into the contract that should there be a significant change on either side we would come back to the table and renegotiate,” Anderson said. “Our numbers dropped significantly and we overpaid for a couple years.”
A per student deal between the Union and Washburn was done before RSU 39’s final offer was made in April, according to Anderson. “We felt as a Union we had already made a commitment, it was our word, then Caribou made us an offer after we had voted.” Washburn made the Union a five-year deal with no increase, “we had never had that in our history, ever,” Anderson said. “Every contract with Caribou has always had an increase.”
“It is difficult, no impossible for me to imagine how this decision serves the best interest of this region’s students,” Sjostedt said at Thursday’s meeting. In an interview after the meeting Sjostedt said he felt the Union had grown impatient because of the four-month period it took RSU 39 to sit down and negotiate. “I’m very disappointed in them that they didn’t show more patience,” he said. “I’ve been trying to patch things up ever since. They really jumped the gun on this because we were still negotiating when they signed their contract with Washburn.
“[Union 122] informed us that they had already signed a contract with Washburn and that any offer we had made would be futile. They left us really hanging there. But we never gave up and we kept trying to communicate with them.”
Sjostedt said the last meeting between the Union and RSU 39 “just didn’t go well,” and the current situation has poisoned their relationship.
