EAST MILLINOCKET – Members of four area school boards will meet next month to determine whether there is interest for studying some form of school consolidation or sharing services.

The special joint meeting of the East Millinocket, Medway, Millinocket and Woodville school boards will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 4, at Schenck High School.

Brent Colbry, the Millinocket superintendent, and Sandra MacArthur, the School Union 113 superintendent, said the special meeting would give the boards an opportunity to sort out their feelings and to see if there is interest in some form of school consolidation, or in sharing services.

The issue of area school consolidation came up a month ago when officials of the towns met jointly to talk about ways they could work together to provide more cost-effective services in light of their declining populations. Later, officials in each of the towns met with their respective school boards.

The Sept. 4 special joint meeting of the four school boards was set after school and town officials from the towns discussed the issue of school consolidation in a joint meeting this week. About 40 area residents attended along with area lawmakers.

The discussion was friendly and everyone was receptive to the idea of working together to improve educational opportunities for all area students, but there were mixed views on whether that could be best achieved by consolidating area schools or by sharing programs and services.

Some town officials believe the issue of school consolidation needs to be studied now before student enrollments decline further and while the towns still have tax bases to support a change. But others aren’t so sure combining schools will result in improved educational opportunities for kids without costing taxpayers more money, especially if current teacher-pupil ratios are maintained.

“I’m not convinced that a full- blown consolidation [of schools] will help better our education or reduce our costs,” said Steve Federico, chairman of the Medway School Board. “What I am convinced of is shared services probably is the way to go.”

Matt Polstein, a Millinocket councilor, said he believed there was a tremendous opportunity for the schools to hold the line on costs and at the same time increase the quality of education.

Polstein said the time was right to at least study possible consolidation or a cooperative school system without posing a threat to the existing teacher work force. He said the school departments have many veteran teachers who are moving toward retirement, and job cuts could be achieved by attrition.

“We have to identify the questions that are concerns for people and find the answers that are acceptable for all communities,” said Polstein. “This isn’t about Millinocket taking over the school systems. It’s about all of us putting our differences aside and coming together to find the best possible scenario. If we don’t do the research, we won’t know what the implications are.”

Polstein and other officials expressed concern about declining school enrollments.

Pointing to the 2000 census reports, John Rouleau, chairman of the East Millinocket Board of Selectmen, said the area had one group of people who are practically nonexistent. He was referring to children under the age of 5 in the towns.

According to the 2000 census, there are 81 children under the age of 5 in East Millinocket, 72 in Medway and 177 in Millinocket.

Both school superintendents admit declining school enrollments continue to be an issue.

When school closed this spring, the total enrollment was 944 at the Millinocket School Department. It was 698 for School Union 113 (East Millinocket, Medway and Woodville). The total high school enrollments were 355 at Stearns and 227 at Schenck.

To date, 33 kindergarten pupils are enrolled for the upcoming school year in Millinocket and 46 are enrolled in the school union.

“Long term, the number of pre-school kids out there is pretty small,” said Colbry.

He said the critical issue was the cost of educating secondary students. “The only way we can maintain the level of comprehensive programming at the high school with shrinking enrollments is to increase per pupil costs,” said Colbry. “We are going to reach a place where we can’t do that, so there needs to be some discussion about the high schools.” Colbry said the issue needs to be studied.

MacArthur agrees that school officials need to keep the line of communications open for the best interest of all students. She said there are lots of concepts that need to be researched. She believes technology such as interactive television could play a major role in offering student programs.