Union 90 meets with Albanese Greenbush considering withdrawing from school consolidation

MILFORD – Members of School Union 90 recently met with the commissioner of education in Augusta to discuss tensions in the four-town union. The union consists of Milford, Alton, Greenbush, and Bradley.

Despite being told that the trend is to consolidate school districts statewide, Greenbush is keeping alive the idea of withdrawing from the union. The Greenbush school committee discussed the matter at a meeting the day after the Augusta session, though Superintendent Keith Ober said such a move was “possible but improbable.”

J. Duke Albanese, commissioner of education, agreed at a Feb. 4 meeting to send a representative to Union 90 in the near future to gather information. A decision also was made to start the search for a new superintendent since Ober has submitted his resignation. Attending the meeting were Ober and five school committee members. Also attending was Dale Douglass of the Maine School Management Association.

In addition, some Union 90 members are looking into contacting a conflict resolution specialist to see if more positive communication can be developed between the four towns.

Yet some board members feel conflict resolution will not be effective in a district that has been riddled with tension almost from the time it was formed.

The Feb. 4 meeting in Augusta included a discussion of problems in the school union that include everything from differences of opinion on how science should be taught to how to fund the superintendent’s office. Other key issues appear to be differences of opinion on teacher’s pay and the voting method used in the union, where school committee members from more populated towns get more votes.

Yellow Light Breen, spokesman at the commissioner’s office, said Friday he did not attend the meeting and could not comment. Breen said he would to talk to Albanese about a reporter’s questions but no further telephone calls were received from the commissioner’s office on Friday.

According to Ober, Albanese told the group it is the education commissioner’s decision, and not the decision of a local vote, on whether Greenbush could leave the school union. He also reportedly said the trend is to consolidate school districts statewide, making them bigger, not smaller.

Greenbush school committee member Sue Eaton attended the meeting. Eaton said tensions are affecting schoolchildren in Greenbush where three teachers have left their jobs in the middle of the current academic year.

School Union 90 towns each have five-member school committees. The committees meet monthly then come together for joint board meetings every few weeks.

Eaton and others expressed concern that the union had become difficult to lead because of conflicting philosophical opinions on education.

Union 90 has four different schools with four different mission statements, Eaton observed.

Eaton said she was “sorry” to see Ober go. “I thought he did a good job,” she said. A member of the Greenbush school committee for three years, Eaton said there needs to be more of a consensus in the town before withdrawal from the union is pursued vigorously. She also said the strife on the joint board is sometimes “painful” to watch.

“We need some solutions,” Eaton said. “At this point, I don’t think it matters who we have in there if you’re not going to get along, you’re not going to get along.”