SAD 29 explores options for Monticello students

By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
    HOULTON — What should SAD 29 do with Monticello and Littleton elementary students who do not attend Wellington Elementary School?
    The school board broached that topic during Monday night’s meeting when Superintendent Mike Hammer brought the subject to the group for discussion.
    “When I came to that first meeting in Monticello (in March), we wanted to continue having this discussion,” Hammer said. “We should start thinking about policy or board expectations now, instead of when we are doing budget discussions. I just wanted to bring this to you for discussion purposes.”
    Back in March, the school district explored the idea of closing Wellington Elementary School, citing declining enrollment. Several meetings were held on the matter, culminating with a four-hour session at the school, with the board hearing from numerous residents of Monticello and Littleton, who urged them to keep the school open. The board, at that time, voted to keep the school open, citing the value of keeping the school in the community, as well as the costs associated with renovating HES to accommodate the extra students.
    However, even though the decision was made to keep the school open, a number of parents are still choosing to send their children to HES. The district has allowed parents to choose which elementary school they want their children to attend for several years.
    “So this is a discussion of ‘Do we mandate families of students who live in Monticello to attend Wellington?’” board chairman Liz Anderson said.
    There are currently 63 students enrolled at Wellington Elementary School, which is up from 56 students last March. Over the past 10 years, the most students enrolled in the school were 89 in 2001.
    As of Monday, there were 66 students from Monticello and Littleton who could be enrolled at Wellington based on their address. However, those students are presently enrolled at Houlton Elementary School, leaving the school board to wonder why so many parents from that area are sending their children to Houlton.
     In contrast only three Houlton students are attending classes at Wellington.
    Back in March, there were 21 students from Monticello and another 56 from Littleton who could have been attending Wellington School, but instead were enrolled in classes at HES. In comparison, back in 2005, there were only four Monticello students attending HES.
    Board member Paul Cleary asked if Wellington Elementary School could even handle an additional 66 students.
    “That’s the first question we should be asking,” he said. “You’re then talking about transferring or adding teachers. You may be requesting something that in the end costs you more than it’s worth.”
    Board member Sandra Wilkins said the school used to hold kindergarten through sixth grade.
    Wellington Principal Tiffany Karnes said some of the students could easily fit into some of the smaller classrooms with minimal impact.
    “It would require putting some walls back to where they originally were,” she added.
    There are currently 16 pre-K and eight kindergarten students in one combined classroom, along with 13 first-graders; 10 second-graders; and 16 third-graders.
    Hammer said the board could take any approach it wanted with the subject. The board could choose to allow all students who are currently enrolled to remain where they are. Or they could take a stricter approach and require students to change schools.
    “There are a lot of ways you could do this,” he said.
    “Or do we want to do this at all?” added Anderson.
    One issue the superintendent said he needed to clear up was whether there was a written or verbal policy when the district closed Littleton Elementary School in 2000 that allowed Littleton parents to choose which of the remaining two schools they could send their children to. Hammer said he would research that matter and report back to the board at its next meeting.
    Back in March, parents in Monticello stated there was a lack of after-school child care available in the town. The district currently does not have an after-school program, but one could be created if there was ample interest.
    “I think parents would prefer to send their kids to Monticello, but there has never been any after-school care,” Wilkins said.
    Board member Jennifer Johnston said an after-school program could easily be created, either in the school or at another location in the town.
    “There are a lot of factors for us to consider,” Hammer said. “Another issue is we have some pre-K and kindergarten students riding the bus for an hour and 20 minutes (from Houlton to Monticello.) We have to start making a decision to try and cut down on that bus run because that is too long for little ones.”
    Hammer said he would send a survey home to parents in Monticello to find out why they opt to send their children to HES instead of Wellington. He also encouraged residents to call his office to voice their opinion on the matter. Hammer can be reached at 532-6555.
Bus storage issue
    In other agenda items, the board learned that the town of Houlton has sent a formal request to the school district asking them to find alternative storage for its busses. The school district currently uses a portion of the town’s municipal garage to store up to three busses.
    Many school districts in the state park their busses on site, but SAD 29 has traditionally stored many of its vehicles at the town-owned municipal garage.
    “It’s not a top priority right now,” Hammer said. “The town is not kicking us out by any means. It’s just one of those things that the town would like to put some of their equipment into the bays that we are using.”
    Hammer said the district would start investigating where it could park its fleet if they needed to remove them from the town lot. He added there was no timeframe set on when the town would like to have the space.
    The board also discussed the costs associated with purchasing and installing video cameras in its fleet of busses. Hammer stated it would cost between $27,000 and $37,000 to purchase and install cameras in the 18 busses the district operates.
    Several board members questioned whether the cost for such a purchase was necessary and asked if there was an increase in incidents on school busses to warrant such an expense. Hammer said that it was more of a proactive approach and not a reaction to any increase in bus-related incidents.
    The board instructed Hammer to seek more data from schools districts that have installed video cameras in their busses before pursuing the matter further.
    The next regular meeting of the SAD 29 school board is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 7, at 6 p.m. at Wellington Elementary School.