Board for new school system sets lively tone

Following some squabbling and procedural debates, the new Sunrise County School System was brought forth into the world without too much kicking and screaming at the first meeting of the board for alternative organizational structure (AOS) 77. After the three-and-a-half-hour, not-too-painful delivery of the bouncing new school system, board member Russell Wright of Lubec was able to comment, after a motion he made passed unanimously, "Did we all agree? Well, we're getting there!"
The new AOS had been approved by all of the 11 member towns, which cover an area from Calais to Lubec, by an overall margin of more than 2 to 1, in votes on June 15 for all of the towns except Calais, which had voted on June 8. The 16 board members representing the towns then met on June 22 at the Robbinston Grade School to take the required steps to form the new AOS. Although divisions were sometimes evident, with members representing Calais and the towns that traditionally send their students to Calais High School often sticking together, while Eastport and Lubec and Union 104 towns worked mostly together in counterbalance, the board agreed to hire Union 106 superintendent James Underwood of Calais as the AOS 77 superintendent; to have the AOS central office in Calais; to adopt an $804,868 budget for the AOS; and to elect Shannon Emery of Eastport as chair and William Cody of Calais as vice chair of the board.
The meeting had started with some uncertainty. After a split vote to elect Emery as chair over Stephen Knowles of Alexander, and a decision to name Cody as vice chair, motions to hire a superintendent resulted in the board agreeing that proper procedure had not been followed. That prompted board member Herbert Clark of Charlotte to admonish his fellow board members to "read Robert's Rules" so that the actions taken would be legal. After again selecting the chair and vice chair, the board eventually, after motions were made and withdrawn, made it into executive session to discuss candidates for superintendent. Both Underwood and SAD 19 Superintendent Brian Carpenter met separately with the board during the executive session. All of the board members, except for the two Lubec members, then voted to hire Underwood.
The board then tackled the question of the location of the central office. In response to questions, James Rier of the Department of Education had informed Underwood that while an AOS central office has to be in one location, it could be on a single campus but not all under one roof. Consideration had been given to having Eastport as the central office location, using the existing superintendent's office and several unused classrooms in the elementary school that is next to the office. No money is owed on the Eastport office building, while about $12,000 is still owed on the Calais central office building. However, the municipality of Calais will be responsible for that amount in its upcoming budget. Turning the Calais building's basement into an office space might cost $18,000 and would take several months during the school year, but the Eastport office is smaller and older. The Lubec superintendent's office also was considered as a location. A committee made up of reorganization planning committee chair Stephen Knowles, vice chair Herbert Clark and Union 104 board chair Eileen Curry had recommended the Calais location, although that was with an earlier understanding that the office had to be under one roof. A majority of the board, by weighted vote, then approved the Calais location.
Concerning the budget, Underwood explained that all of the positions of Union 104 and Union 106 central office staff will be carried over, since all existing contracts have to be honored, but there will need to be some reassignment of positions. The five required positions that the AOS office must cover are superintendent, special education director, transportation supervisor, curriculum coordinator and business manager. Two SAD 19 superintendent's office staff will be losing their jobs, but the budget that was approved does include a pay out of nearly $28,000 for accumulated sick and vacation days for the two personnel. The new AOS did not have to cover that cost, since it was a responsibility of SAD 19.
Lubec board member Barbara Sellitto asked numerous budget clarification questions of Underwood, including ones about equipment rental, health insurance, which was refigured for a $7,112 savings, copier leasing costs and speech therapy. The $65,000 speech therapy cost is for the salary of the Union 104 speech therapist, whose contract the new AOS has to honor. However, it was noted that cost for the speech services will be a bargain for the AOS. Underwood pointed out that the total central office costs for Union 106, 104 and SAD 19 would have been $929,784, so the new AOS budget will be saving about $125,000. The budget then passed, with only Stephen Knowles and Robert Olsson of Baring opposed.
The board then voted to set the AOS budget public meeting for Wednesday, June 30, at 6:30 p.m. at the Pembroke Elementary School. Residents of all of the towns will vote then on the line items of the budget. The AOS board will be present, so that if the budget is not passed, they can make amendments to get it approved. If the budget is not approved before July 1, the state will impose penalties on the 11 towns for not meeting the school consolidation requirements. Once the AOS budget is passed, the local budgets in each town can be acted on.
The board agreed to meet again on Tuesday, July 20, at 6 p.m. at the Charlotte Elementary School.
Votes by towns
In their votes on June 8 and 15, residents in the 11 municipalities had approved the formation of the new AOS. All of the towns voted in favor of joining the AOS, with a total of 835 votes in favor and 384 opposed, for a margin of 68.5% to 31.5%. The new district will serve about 1,200 students.
The results from each town are: Alexander, 19 yes, 5 no; Baring, 16 yes, 0 no; Calais, 364 yes, 171 no; Charlotte, 45 yes, 1 no; Crawford, 10 yes, 0 no; Dennysville, 16 yes, 5 no; Eastport, 71 yes, 39 no; Lubec, 205 yes, 126 no; Pembroke, 28 yes, 17 no; Perry, 37 yes, 15 no; Robbinston, 24 yes, 5 no.
In addition, on June 8 SAD 30 (Lee), East Range CSD, the Union 107 communities of Baileyville, Cooper, Grand Lake Stream, Meddybemps, Princeton and the Union 110 communities of Lakeville, Carroll, Drew, Macwahoc and Reed voted 819 to 378 to form another AOS that will serve around 900 students. Talmadge and Waite voted against the plan.