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Robbinston to vote August 19 on school’s fate

Robbinston residents will take to the polls on Wednesday, August 19, from 1 to 7 p.m. for a referendum vote on whether to close the town's school system and tuition out all students.

Robbinston residents will take to the polls on Wednesday, August 19, from 1 to 7 p.m. for a referendum vote on whether to close the town's school system and tuition out all students. In addition, a public meeting for residents to go over budget numbers and express concerns has been set for Wednesday, August 5, at 7 p.m. at the school, notes Town Clerk Cathy Footer. The signatures needed to have the referendum were collected directly after a Robbinston School Committee meeting held on July 1 where passions were in full force and tempers frayed. Over 50 were in attendance questioning conflict‑of‑interest, leadership, confusing budget numbers and a lack of transparency.
Before the public discussion could get under way, school committee Chair Joe Footer announced that he was going to limit it to about 10 minutes, given that the committee and public had heard the same pro and con reasons for closing the school for the past five or more years. He referred to the recent non‑binding town vote of 110 to 80 that voters with a mind to visit the polls wanted the school closed and students tuitioned to the Calais School System. Footer explained in an introduction to the public discussion and subsequent committee 2B1 vote to proceed with closure that given increasing costs, decreasing state funds, a decrease in student population and the straw‑poll results, "all urged for some action." Despite the intention to keep the discussion brief, it ended up lasting for almost two hours. In the end, board members Footer and Julie Murray voted to proceed with closure with James Trainor opposed.
Immediately after the votes were cast, Footer told the audience present that a petition was being passed around to gather the mandatory minimum of 28 signatures of registered town voters to hold a referendum vote on the closure. The 28 needed is based on a percentage of voters who participated in the last gubernatorial election. The Department of Education requires that if a school board votes to close a school, a petition to take the issue to a town referendum vote may be submitted within 30 days.
A number of residents questioned board member Murray's status as a committee member while also being employed by the Calais School System. "There's a strong argument that she should abstain" from voting, said resident Sarah Strickland, no stranger to board governance. "Where she has a foot in both territories, that's where conflict‑of‑interest could arise." After the vote took place, interim Calais Superintendent Ray Freve explained that he will discuss the vote with the school attorney and the commissioner of education to make sure that it is legal. Murray also noted at the beginning of the meeting that her position with both entities had been looked into and determined to be "okay."
Another point of contention was the letter sent out to residents by Selectman Tom Moholland discussing the school budget, potential impact on the mill rate and encouragement of voter participation in the straw‑poll vote with a yes for closure and tuitioning students to Calais. Audience members questioned why such a letter was written by the selectman rather than the school committee. A member of the public said, "It was a letter meant to explain and persuade," with another adding, "The numbers were meant to persuade." Footer said, "The letter that went out was written by me and by Tom." He explained that it was a compilation put together by the two men, but he did not explain why his signature was not included.
While it had no legal standing, one resident made the motion for the school committee "to take a year to keep the school open and get the numbers together." Freve counted 48 in favor and two opposed. With only 35 elementary children signed up to attend school in the fall, the school committee did not give weight to the informal demonstration of the public's will.
Residents expressed deep frustration with a lack of creative thinking when it came to the school and the budget. One member of the public asked, "How can people vote on a budget with changing numbers?" Strickland said, "If we don't have numbers in front of us that really help us see what the consequences are, we can't make good decisions, you [the school committee and selectmen] can't make good decisions." While Footer said that the last budget numbers weren't accurate because "Calais is still sifting through the numbers we just got from the AOS," Murray said that the budgets hadn't constantly changed but rather reflected an "arithmetic error" or specific changes to staffing. Others suggested that different school scenarios should have been discussed and researched before coming to the conclusion that closure and tuitioning out to Calais needed to go to the straw poll.
In addition, a number of parents expressed their dismay with the prospect of having no choice of where to send their children, with many questioning whether there might be room at other elementary schools in the region. Finally one parent asked Footer to state for the record that he was in favor of school choice, despite the wording of the straw‑poll referendum that specifically said that students would be tuitioned out to Calais. Footer replied that he was in favor. Calais Elementary School Principal Sue Carter was on hand to answer questions about her school and jumped in to explain, "If you say you're going to contract with Calais, you can send your kid anywhere, but that contractor has to take the kids, has to provide an education." Freve added, "We must have a place to provide education" as a part of the closure plan submitted to the Department of Education.