Benedicta school to close in 2005

BENEDICTA TOWNSHIP – When pupils slam the doors shut on Benedicta Elementary School next summer, they will be the last bunch to leave.

John A. Doe, superintendent of SAD 25 in Sherman, confirmed Wednesday that the pre-kindergarten through fifth-grade school is slated to close permanently next June.

The 18 pupils enrolled this year are expected to be absorbed into the district, which is approximately 10 miles from the township.

“We’ve heard rumors that this would happen, but nothing was official until we got a letter from [state Education] Commissioner Susan Gendron,” Doe said Wednesday. “We are in the very beginning stages of planning what to do at this point.”

Gendron visited Benedicta last fall on a tour that brought her to a number of schools in the state’s unorganized territories. Accompanied by Richard Moreau, director of state schools for the unorganized territories, the two sought comment from area residents about the future of the school.

Gendron and Moreau could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Christine Cunningham, who was recently hired as principal at Katahdin Elementary School, is working with Benedicta Principal Shelly Lane to ensure a smooth transition, according to Doe. The superintendent said that discussion will include the futures of the handful of full- and part-time staff members employed at the school.

Lane could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Whispers of a possible closing have been going on for years in the tiny community, which deorganized in 1987 to allow the state to take over the school.

At a meeting in 2001, residents voiced concern over both the declining enrollment and the increasing cost of sustaining the school. By that time, enrollment was half of what it had been 15 years earlier.

Schools in unorganized territories are forced to shoulder education costs primarily through local taxes. For the 1999-2000 school year, it cost $293,000 to operate the elementary school for 33 pupils.

Children in sixth through 12th grades from Benedicta normally attend schools in SAD 25 on a tuition basis. Doe said Wednesday that the same arrangement would be made for the elementary pupils.

“We have more to do,” Doe said Wednesday, “but we’re going to work to make this move as easy on everyone as possible.”