Whiting may vote to dissolve SAD 77, create new union
by Gail Menzel
At a public hearing in Whiting on April 4, citizens considered their future options for school governance. With the withdrawal of East Machias from SAD 77 scheduled for July 1, the remaining towns of Whiting, Cutler and Machiasport could choose to dissolve the SAD and form a school union. Other options could include joining an existing union or becoming
a single-town district. Any such changes would require the approval
of voters in each town, the formation of study committees and a
yearlong process prescribed by the state Department of Education,
similar to the procedures that East Machias followed for
withdrawal.
Whiting took the first step in the process when 30 citizens
petitioned selectmen to seek voter approval for dissolution of SAD
77. The referendum on the matter will be held on Thursday, April
14, from 1 to 7 p.m. at the Whiting Community Center. Two SAD 77 board members from Whiting, Reinald Nielsen and Laura Pierce, along with district Superintendent May Bouchard, conducted the hour-long hearing that preceded the annual town meeting. Discussion focused on the possible formation of a three-town school union. According to a written statement by Bouchard distributed at the beginning of the session, "Whiting citizens [would] gain full control of their school in a union. It would be a Whiting community decision to maintain the school or close it and tuition the students elsewhere."
The three said they had estimated the potential costs for Whiting
as part of a three-member union based on 2005-06 figures.
Projecting a declining high school enrollment, thereby reducing tuition payments to Washington Academy, and the continued attendance at the Whiting Village School of tuition-paying Trescott students, the officials predicted "a wash" in the town's costs for a union versus SAD structure in the first few years. Part of the withdrawal/dissolution committee's task, if voters pass the referendum, will be to examine more closely the effect a change in governance would have on the town's school costs. Transportation, special education, equitable distribution of debt and assets and the impact of the coming changes in the formula for state subsidy are some areas the committee would address. Bouchard said Machiasport is presently taking the "same steps as Whiting." Asked about Cutler, Pierce said, "They're not as enthusiastic, but they realize they'll have to live with it," if Whiting and Machiasport withdrew from SAD 77, theoretically leaving
them as a one-town district, unless they took action to adopt another form of governance.
Speakers from the audience of about 35 people were uniformly
positive about their school, some citing a longtime history of
accomplished graduates. A factor in the East Machias withdrawal was
the view of their representatives that they shouldered an unfair
burden of the district's costs; a proposal to close the Whiting
Village School or change the cost-sharing formula to reduce the
East Machias contribution created a rift between the towns. According to Town Clerk Caron Kilton, the April 14 ballot question will read as follows: "Be it resolved by the residents of the Town of Whiting that a petition for dissolution be filed with the directors of SAD 77 and with the commissioner of education, that the dissolution committee be authorized to expend $5,000, and that selectmen be authorized to issue notes in the name of the Town of Whiting and/or otherwise pledge the credit of the Town of Whiting in an amount not to exceed $5,000."
Kilton said the $5,000 sum was already approved in last year's
budget, but would need to be appropriated for a dissolution
committee's expenses, such as legal or consultant fees.
a single-town district. Any such changes would require the approval
of voters in each town, the formation of study committees and a
yearlong process prescribed by the state Department of Education,
similar to the procedures that East Machias followed for
withdrawal.
Whiting took the first step in the process when 30 citizens
petitioned selectmen to seek voter approval for dissolution of SAD
77. The referendum on the matter will be held on Thursday, April
14, from 1 to 7 p.m. at the Whiting Community Center. Two SAD 77 board members from Whiting, Reinald Nielsen and Laura Pierce, along with district Superintendent May Bouchard, conducted the hour-long hearing that preceded the annual town meeting. Discussion focused on the possible formation of a three-town school union. According to a written statement by Bouchard distributed at the beginning of the session, "Whiting citizens [would] gain full control of their school in a union. It would be a Whiting community decision to maintain the school or close it and tuition the students elsewhere."
The three said they had estimated the potential costs for Whiting
as part of a three-member union based on 2005-06 figures.
Projecting a declining high school enrollment, thereby reducing tuition payments to Washington Academy, and the continued attendance at the Whiting Village School of tuition-paying Trescott students, the officials predicted "a wash" in the town's costs for a union versus SAD structure in the first few years. Part of the withdrawal/dissolution committee's task, if voters pass the referendum, will be to examine more closely the effect a change in governance would have on the town's school costs. Transportation, special education, equitable distribution of debt and assets and the impact of the coming changes in the formula for state subsidy are some areas the committee would address. Bouchard said Machiasport is presently taking the "same steps as Whiting." Asked about Cutler, Pierce said, "They're not as enthusiastic, but they realize they'll have to live with it," if Whiting and Machiasport withdrew from SAD 77, theoretically leaving
them as a one-town district, unless they took action to adopt another form of governance.
Speakers from the audience of about 35 people were uniformly
positive about their school, some citing a longtime history of
accomplished graduates. A factor in the East Machias withdrawal was
the view of their representatives that they shouldered an unfair
burden of the district's costs; a proposal to close the Whiting
Village School or change the cost-sharing formula to reduce the
East Machias contribution created a rift between the towns. According to Town Clerk Caron Kilton, the April 14 ballot question will read as follows: "Be it resolved by the residents of the Town of Whiting that a petition for dissolution be filed with the directors of SAD 77 and with the commissioner of education, that the dissolution committee be authorized to expend $5,000, and that selectmen be authorized to issue notes in the name of the Town of Whiting and/or otherwise pledge the credit of the Town of Whiting in an amount not to exceed $5,000."
Kilton said the $5,000 sum was already approved in last year's
budget, but would need to be appropriated for a dissolution
committee's expenses, such as legal or consultant fees.
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