HODGDON, Maine — Only a handful of SAD 70 residents came out Jan. 22 for a public hearing on the district’s proposal to withdraw from its consolidated school union with SAD 14.
The matter is now in the hands of registered voters in SAD 70. On Tuesday, Feb. 5, voters will be asked to decide if they favor withdrawing from AOS 48 in a district-wide referendum. Polls for voters in Hodgdon, New Limerick, Ludlow and Linneus will be open from 1-8 p.m. at their respective town offices, while voters in Amity, Cary and Haynesville can cast ballots from 4-8 p.m.
A simple majority vote is all that is needed for SAD 70 to pull out of the consolidated group.
“We’ve been part of AOS 48 for almost two years now,” explained SAD 70 board chairman Estela Lane. “We went through an awful lot of work and joined with SAD 14 to form AOS 48. We did that in order to save penalties the district was facing.”
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 those penalties.
In December, SAD 70’s school board unanimously voted to begin the withdrawal process.
“We very quickly realized that this (consolidation) was not to our benefit,” Lane said. “It has cost us an additional $29,000, but what it has really cost us more than anything is the stress on our staff.”
Neither Superintendent Robert McDaniel, nor Cynthia McNutt, director of special services, were able to attend the public hearing as they were in Danforth that night for a SAD 14 school board meeting. McDaniel has also tendered his resignation from the two districts, effective at the end of the school year.
If the withdrawal goes through, both SAD 70 and SAD 14 would have to search for a new superintendent. McDaniel has declined to say if he would re-apply for his job as SAD 70’s superintendent.
According to SAD 70 officials, the district has 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 McNutt, 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.
“What this does is, when they are not here, the problems that are normally theirs to fix get pushed on to someone else,” Lane said. “That means our principals, assistant principal and home-school coordinator all the way down the line are dealing with issues. It’s a domino effect that is causing an incredible amount of stress on our staff.”
SAD 70 board members acknowledged that SAD 14 would likely have the harder road ahead if the withdrawal goes through. However, any group purchasing agreements that the AOS has used since forming could still be done if SAD 70 pulls out.
“It doesn’t cost us anything to withdraw, except perhaps some ill will from people in SAD 14 and understandably so,” Lane said. “We need to be focused and responsible for the people we are in charge of and that is our district. We owe it to them.”
