I recently attended a SAD 46 budget meeting and was appalled at the lack of understanding by school board members of the laws which govern them. Seems you’d need a law degree to be an effective school board member.

I’m a newcomer to the area in which I live compared to the few families who have planted roots in the community and have taken a stronghold. I don’t know much about my school board members. They have power, they control the pulse of the community. I’m wondering about the effectiveness of democracy, I certainly didn’t elect these people. Should we have term limits for school board members? …

I’m learning that many people employed by these small towns, by the school administrative district, are related to one another. Is this in the best interest of our communities? Many people in place within the system have been here for generations. They see superintendents and principals come and go. Empty teaching positions are filled by a family member. This puts the district in the peculiar position of having a principal and superintendent dependent on secretaries and bookkeepers for information and direction. I’m not comfortable with this method of doing business. …

SAD 46 is in dire straits, not only financially, but educationally and ethicallly. …

My SAD has decided cuts in the accelerated English class to cut the book budget. I question the logic behind what areas they feel necessary to cut. …

We need to rethink this process by which we find our schools.

My question to the next governor: what are you going to do about our small towns, our schools? Where are you going to get your labor force? How are you going to educate the voting public, or is it of benefit not to have them educated?

They denied the slaves books, the privilege of going to school, to an education, for many years they denied this to women. Now the system seems to be denying these things to our children.

Anti-nepotism laws, in our towns, in our schools — do we need them? Unions? Will we have the ability to discharge individuals who manipulate the system to their own personal advantage at the expense and best interest of our children?

This predicament and these questions I pose to our next governor. Cleo Malo Exeter