SAD 70 votes to withdraw

By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
    HODGDON — After two years as an Alternative Organizational Structure, SAD 70 is making plans to withdraw from its partnership with SAD 14 (Danforth and Weston).
    At a Dec. 11 meeting, the SAD 70 board voted unanimously to start the process of withdrawing from AOS 48.
    If the district wishes to withdraw from the AOS, it must do so 60 days prior to the next fiscal period, which begins July 1, 2013. A public hearing on the withdrawal is tentatively slated for Tuesday, Jan. 22, pending board approval. The referendum vote on the matter has been set for Feb. 5 in the communities of SAD 70 (Hodgdon, Amity, New Limerick, Linneus, Ludlow, Haynesville and Cary). A simple majority vote is all that is needed for SAD 70 to pull out of the group.
    SAD 70 and SAD 14, as well as Orient and Bancroft formed an AOS in January, 2011. At the time the AOS was formed, the state was punishing all small school districts that did not consolidate in some manner with a monetary penalty.
    By not consolidating, SAD 14 was penalized $23,000 in 2010-11, while SAD 70 was penalized $93,000 for not conforming to the state’s consolidation wishes. Those districts were told the penalties would increase each year as long as they remained as stand-alone entities.
    The state has since abolished penalizing school districts for not consolidating and many school districts around the state that formed unions are now mulling the benefits of staying in their consolidated districts or reverting back.
    Before the merger, Bob McDaniel was the fulltime superintendent for SAD 70, while SAD 14 employed a part-time superintendent. McDaniel has been with SAD 70 for the past eight years, but has since tendered his resignation, effective at the end of the current school year.
    SAD 70 board member Joel Oliver, who serves as chairman of the AOS 48 board, said the board met Dec. 3 in Hodgdon for a regular monthly meeting, and at that meeting numerous questions were raised.
    “It seemed like the whole thing was really in turmoil,” Oliver said. “There was a lot of drama and it’s created a hard work environment. I think it’s time for us to make a decision about pulling out.”
    SAD 70 chairman Estella Lane said her concerns were the toll the AOS was taking on the central office staff, especially the superintendent and special education director.
    “It’s not just two days a week they spend down there (in Danforth) and three days they are here,” she said. “They are constantly getting calls and the paperwork is incredible. My main priority is the amount of stress this is creating on the staff for this district.”
    SAD 70 has also seen an increased cost associated with the consolidation. It was estimated the district had spent $29,000 more by being in the AOS. Because SAD 70 is the larger of the two districts, it pays 79 percent of the costs associated with the combined central office. Much of those extra costs come from an increase in salaries for the superintendent and special education director to accommodate the greater workload, as well as mileage traveling from Hodgdon to Danforth.
    Under the current plan, McDaniel and Cynthia McNutt, director of special services, spend three days a week in SAD 70 and two days a week in SAD 14. However, when they are at either location, they are often fielding phone calls from the other location.
    “When they are not here, their responsibilities fall down to other staff members,” Oliver said. “Beyond the $29,000 we are losing, the toll this is taking on our employees is more of an issue than the money.”
    In other agenda items, the school board:
    • Presented Brian Fitzpatrick (28 years of service) and Rhonda Foster (13 years) with gifts of appreciation for their years of dedicated service to the school district.
    • Granted permission to Rusty Watson to use a classroom for drivers’ education courses at Hodgdon High School.
    • Named Chad Belyea as a middle school boys coach’s aide; Anita Levesque as a ticket seller at basketball games; and Jody Barker as a cook’s assistant.
    The next meeting of the SAD 70 school board will be Monday, Jan 7, at 7 p.m.