State upholds closure of Charleston school Panel denies request to delay facility shutdown

AUGUSTA – The State Board of Education on Wednesday unanimously voted that Education Commissioner J. Duke Albanese had followed the correct procedure for closing the Charleston Elementary School.

The board also voted to deny Charleston a stay of the school closing until the state determined what projects would be funded in the latest construction and renovation program, according to Rhonda Casey, administrative secretary to the State Board of Education.

Casey said the board heard testimony from Albanese, SAD 68 officials and Charleston residents before the board vote.

SAD 68’s application for new school construction in Charleston was listed as the sixth-neediest of school projects in the state. Because it earlier appeared unlikely the state would provide funds for new construction for a school with such a small enrollment, directors moved to close the school.

That vote set off a chain of events that included appeals and court actions by both Charleston officials and SAD 68 directors.

Charleston officials first filed a two-pronged appeal with the State Board of Education alleging that Albanese did not order the district to provide all pertinent cost information regarding the school to the town and that SAD 68 directors and Albanese failed to follow the state formula for calculating school closing costs. They alleged that the district provided an inflated figure for what the town would pay in addition to the local allocation if residents voted to keep the school open.

To delay the municipal vote on the school closing, Charleston officials filed for an injunction in District Court.

The judge who heard the case declined to delay the vote, but he did grant a temporary restraining order that delayed the actual school closing for 30 days to allow for the town’s appeal to be heard by the state board.

In that later local vote, Charleston residents approved the closing of the school.

That court action prompted SAD 68 directors to appeal the delay to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, alleging that by statute, the court should have allowed Charleston a seven-day delay rather than 30 days. Directors explained that Charleston officials signed the referendum so that it could be held.

The district’s appeal to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court was heard Wednesday morning in Portland. A law clerk said no decision has been made in the appeal.

Until a decision has been rendered, district officials cannot adopt a budget without the full operational costs of the Charleston school included. To do otherwise would be in contempt of court, according to school officials.