As the chorus of complaints subsides concerning a consultant’s study of Southern Penobscot Vocational High School in Bangor, educators in the communities served by SPVHS might consider the facility’s potential to help cost-conscious school systems address common budget problems.

Based on the assessments of many superintendents, school-board members and taxpayers in the region, the school simply hasn’t lived up to expectations. It meets the needs of some communities — Central High School in East Corinth sends more students than it is allotted — while the major city, Bangor (also the prime contributor to the budget), never meets its quota.

The consultant’s report on Region 4, which has satisfied no one, generously spreads around the blame for an overall dismal performance. He claims the “biggest obstacles to improvement appear to be: the unwillingness to put past administrative `turf’ wars to rest; a lack of cooperation and access to all students by the sending schools; a philosophical difference that treats voc-ed as `second-class’ education in the minds of many and a lack of independence and commitment by the Co-op Board.”

In subsequent paragraphs, the consultant nails the school administration for being “protective of past accomplishments” (selling the Region 4 bond issue to voters a dozen years ago?), issues a call for “new openness and vision” and cites a lack of routine contact between the school and guidance counselors as one of the reasons for their lack of knowledge about the school and what it offers.

There is plenty in the report that is negative, but with:

Every school budget in the region being undermined by the state revenue shortfall

A search under way to find a new SPVHS director

Awareness growing among area educators that more must be done to address the needs of general and vocational students

A clear opening having been created to systematically produce a curriculum that has the support of at least a majority of member communities…

This is an ideal opportunity for the Region 4 board to seriously consider consolidating high-school vocational programs in the area and locating them at SPVHS, which has a customized facility and a quality teaching staff.