Staff Writer
The board members of the Eastern Aroostook RSU 39 (Caribou, Limestone and Stockholm) convened at 7 p.m. Monday evening at the Caribou Superintendent’s office. RSU board members present were: Kent Forbes, Dale Gordon, Chairperson Scott Willey, Kathryn Anderson, all of Caribou; Michelle Albert, Limestone; David Strainge, Stockholm; and RSU Superintendent Frank McElwain. The first order of business on the agenda included the board considering approval of the 2009-10 school budget and the authorization of a warrant for the Regional School Unit 39 budget meeting; a warrant and notice of election for the Regional School Unit budget validation referendum and the notice of amounts adopted at the budget meeting.
At this time it was determined that the Warrant for the Regional School Unit 39 (Caribou Limestone and Stockholm) School Budget meeting would be filed and posted to take place on Monday, June 22, beginning at 7 p.m. at the Caribou Performing Arts Center.
At the June 22 meeting, each of the 17 articles pertaining to the $19,584,984 school budget will be introduced to the public. Residents from all three communities attending the meeting will have a chance to discuss each of the articles that make up the total budget as well as voting individually on each of these articles during the public meeting. The individual articles are the cost centers of the total budget amount.
Should an article fail to be approved, changes will be made during this same time and the article(s) will be voted on again.
Clerks from each of the three communities involved in the Eastern RSU, will be at the meeting site. All persons wishing to vote on these articles must be proven to be a registered voter within an involved city or town. Upon entering the meeting place, those who are not locally registered voters will be directed to a separate seating area, where they may observe the public session. This separate seating arrangement is due to the fact that voting on the articles will be done by a show of hands.
With approval of all of the 17 cost center articles, the final budget approval will take place on Wednesday, June 24. At this time, each of the three RSU communities will hold separate Regional School Unit Budget Validation Referendums. This single overall vote validates the approval of the previous decisions voted upon at the June 22 public meeting. This vote will be done by secret ballot at the three individual regular polling sites. The RSU referendum question will consist of a single “yes” or “no” vote on the total $19,584,984 RSU 39 budget.
Polling locations and times for the June 24 referendum are:
• Caribou: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Caribou Wellness Center.
• Limestone: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Limestone Municipal Building.
• Stockholm: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Stockholm Town Office.
Earlier in the meeting, following the call to order and approval of the previous meeting’s minutes Chairman Willey asked for public comment. Limestone Community School student representative, Sam Portera addressed the panel, seeking consideration of having regular student representation on the Eastern Aroostook RSU 39 Board.
After discussion among board members it was agreed not to include student representation on the RSU’s policy committee but that at a later time, consideration would be given to have student involvement on a broader scope , i.e. on tasks committees to deal with special purposes.
During his address to the RSU board, the LCS student was obviously upset regarding the way he felt a previous appearance before the board had been handled. The senior also commented that when he had approached a variety of staff and students regarding this involvement, it had been suggested to him that he was wasting his time in pursuing this idea, because the RSU board did not want student involvement regarding school policies.
Members of the RSU discussed the issue with McElwain who commented that he had checked with the Maine School Management documents, finding no policy as such, which called for student representation on the board.
Overall, the board members agreed that if and when the need for student involvement should arise, pertaining to school policies then it would be up to the individual schools’ student governments to appoint a representative.
Board member Strainge, commented, “Frankly, I am in favor of students taking control of their own fate, but at a later date.
RSU board member Forbes stated, “We have a lot on our plate right now, I don’t think now is the time.”
Anderson added, “I am interested in student opinion regarding an ad-hoc committee or task force but right now we have a lot of work to do as a board. I think student input is a positive thing but I don’t think having a student on the board is a good idea.”
Portera’s concern appeared to stem from the possible differences within the student policy manuals used by LCS and Caribou schools. Superintendent McElwain noted that any differences found within the two student policy manuals were more variations rather than actual differences.
