Organizations
Easton citizens gathered at the Easton Jr./Sr. High School gymnasium on Monday evening, May 7, for more enlightenment of the forced school consolidation. Approximately 100 concerned people attended and though the questions were less, they were very interested in what Superintendent Frank Keenan had to say to update the group on the latest facts.
More informational papers were available – one from The Maine Heritage Policy Center that stated that the two common assumptions about reducing education administration costs are that bigger is better and that the sacrifice of local control and parental involvement is necessary. A new report from this center reveals that both of these suppositions are not necessarily accurate.
The Hon. Stephen L. Bowen, an adjunct scholar at The Maine Heritage Policy Center, has analyzed and examined ways in which schools can consolidate administrative functions in order to achieve savings and preserve local control over education. The best thing about these policy solutions is that they are proven successes. He indicated that regional cooperative associations that allow local schools and school districts to share various educational services, such as human resources, maintenance, technology, staff development, transportation, special education and others, can achieve savings and preserve local control over education. Other states and areas of the country do this successfully. Mr. Bowen stated that drawing new and bigger boxes around existing problems will not reduce costs.
“The experiences of West Virginia and California reveal that consolidation in itself will not guarantee lower costs and may even increase them,” he stated.
Consolidation has the potential to negatively impact student achievement and parental involvement. Mr. Bowen’s report is available online at www.mainepolicy.org.
Another paper the group received was put out by Gordon Donaldson from the University of Maine. The claim that Maine spends too much on K-12 education is true to some extent. We do spend more per pupil than the national average. Maine’s state share is at 42.9 percent while the U.S. average state share is at 48.7 percent, Vermont’s is 67.8 percent and New Hampshire’s is 48.9 percent. Under the state’s new funding system(LD1/EPS), $50,000,000 more state dollars have been allocated to the state’s one-third wealthiest communities, according to Senator John Nutting’s analysis of MDOE records. These funds were not available to the one-third poorest communities or the communities with lower test scores and needier schools.
Nutting stated, ‘That education starts at home with parents’ assistance, local school boards, one student at a time and that the legislature and state executives who expect the best, support the best and know when to get out of the way.”
The state-mandated consolidation, Superintendent Keenan told the group, would be modeled after the Scarborough schools and Presque Isle’s SAD 1. They fail to see that Scarborough, perhaps the best school in the state, is a community school district, there are no other towns being transported into it. This community is also a very influential and prosperous community. They also project that there would be a 5 percent reduction in transportation costs. It was mentioned by one of the group that the town of Portage, which now attends Ashland schools, is about 40 miles from Presque Isle where this consolidation would be. Do they give a thought to the little kindergarten children who will have to get up in time, especially in the winter, to catch the bus to ride 40 miles. Do they give any thought to the young people who wish to be in sports, band and other activities that make school well rounded. An 80-mile round trip for practice would be out of the question for these kids. Have they taken into consideration that here in Central and Northern Maine that gas is now $3.18 a gallon? How many miles to the gallon does a bus get? One man stated that he had called his sister in southern Maine about what was planned and she was surprised because she thought that the plan was only to cut the supply of superintendents. This is how hush, hush this plan has been.
Keenan informed the group that these plans, so loosely made and rushed, are supposed to lead to new regional school units that are supposed to be operational by July 1, 2008. Some of the conditions unfavorable to Easton and the other small towns in this consolidation plan are the difficulties in administering contract obligations, there will be a large variance between joining districts, in salary and benefit structure. Many people will lose their jobs. All assets of the current school districts would become the property of the new RSU but all the debts of the current school district would be left for the current districts. All school district properties would be taken, with the school buildings shut up. Keenan praised the group for all the work they have done in these last few weeks with their calls and writings. He encouraged them not to give up and to keep up the pressure, with calls to representatives and senators and letter writing to anyone who might be helpful.
FFA
The Easton Future Farmers of America spent a couple of days in Orono attending the Maine State FFA Convention. They are a group to be very proud of for their efforts. Kristen Boxwell took first place in Job Interview. The Farm Business Manager team took first place, with Tyler Plourde in first placement. The others on the team were Kristen Boxwell, Sadie Romano and Kyle White. The Enviromental Natural Resource team came in second, with Luke Budreau placing first and Corey White placing third. The other two on the team were Caleb Bomar and Tony Brown. The Easton team took first place in the Dairy Competition with Luke Budreau the top individual. Others on that team were: Sadie Romano, Caleb Bomar and Chris Flewelling. The Agriculture Mechanics team came in third. Matt Blodget, Kristen Boxwell, Seth Cleaves, Kendra Conroy and Kyle White received their All-State degrees and Kendra was elected the state vice president. They all enjoyed the banquet held at the Bangor Motor Inn for the gathering. Now don’t tell anyone that this little school isn’t up to all the state standards.
Science Center
People are invited to go to the Francis Malcolm Science Center on Saturday, May, 19, to experience science together from 6 to 8p.m. for a Family Science Night.
Hospitalized
Flora Adams has been moved from The Aroostook Medical Center to the Mars Hill Health Care Facility to recuperate. Others from Easton who are at that facility are Freda Langley, Joan Gray and Katherine Ladner.
