Medway parents oppose tuition, want options

MEDWAY – Next month, members of the East Millinocket and Medway school boards will be back at the table to hammer out a new high school tuition contract.

Breaking a 40-year tradition, Medway residents last week opposed a new five-year high school tuition agreement with the neighboring town of East Millinocket by a vote of 17-14.

The current contract expires June 30.

The Medway School Board in a unanimous vote Tuesday decided that no Medway high school students will be allowed to leave Schenck High School without giving a one-year written notice.

Parents must give a written notice to Superintendent Sandra MacArthur before July 1 in order for a high school student to transfer to another school in the fall of 2003. Medway will provide transportation only for students attending Schenck.

“This gives the school system time to react to changes that need to take place and make adjustments in the budgets accordingly,” said Steven Federico, chairman of the Medway board. “That is the reason for the year advance notice.”

Debbie Cassidy, one of the parents who opposed the tuition contract during last week’s town meeting, told board members she had nothing against Schenck and said the school was doing a good job, but said she believes parents should have the choice of having their children educated at another school. “That is all I was looking for is school choice,” she said.

Cassidy said that 97 other school districts in the state had “open” tuition contracts.

The high school tuition agreements between Medway and East Millinocket are “closed” contracts, which means all Medway high school students must attend Schenck High School in East Millinocket. Medway has no high school.

“I hope you don’t make a lot of roadblocks so we can’t do that if we choose to,” said Cassidy. ” I don’t see why you need so much notice.”

Medway resident Barry Davis asked what residents could do to get the notice requirement changed. Federico told Davis he could approach the school board to see if it would put the issue back on the table. “But, as you saw, it was a 5-0 vote,” he said.

He said parents still have school choice through the option of a superintendent’s swap, where parents can seek permission from the superintendent to transfer their children to another school.

Federico said the 40-plus years of service from East Millinocket deserved some good-faith service back.

“There was a tremendous amount of effort put into planning and putting together budgets and any number of students leaving that school system directly affects the rest of the students,” said Federico. “We felt we had to take steps to protect the students that go to Schenck High School next year so we have an opportunity to negotiate a contract that is acceptable to the town of Medway.”

The chairman said both towns’ school budgets were tight. He said officials were taking steps to make sure the operations of both schools did not suffer and that students and taxpayers did not end up taking a back seat.

Later, Federico explained that East Millinocket relied on the tuition revenues from Medway to help fund its high school programs. He said a reduction in that revenue could affect the programs offered at Schenck, which in turn would affect the education of Medway students.

Federico said that without a tuition contract with another school, Medway would have to pay the going tuition rate instead of the state’s average rate plus a percentage.

For example, if a parent chooses to send a child to a school where the rate is $15,000, he said the town would be forced to pay it. “It could have major cost ramifications on the town of Medway,” said Federico.

Tentatively, Medway and East Millinocket school boards are scheduled to meet at 4 p.m. Tuesday, July 9.