PITTSFIELD – SAD 53 notified SADs 38 and 48 on Friday that the district will no longer be pursuing consolidation with either of them. Instead, the Pittsfield area district will concentrate on working with SAD 59, the Madison, Starks and Athens district.

The SAD 53 board chairman was quick to point out that it was not a difference in personalities that prompted the decision, but rather priorities in school philosophy and a desire to maintain a relationship with Maine Central Institute.

SAD 48 officials, however, were surprised by the move.

“Frankly, I was shocked,” SAD 48 board chairman Dan Costain said Sunday. “I thought everything was going well.”

Costain said SAD 48 had been meeting with SAD 53 and he felt discussions were productive. “I am disappointed because I thought we had a good thing going. In our meetings, we were very clear that we had no issues with students going to MCI.”

Although SAD 59 does not physically border SAD 53, Superintendent Michael Gallagher has maintained from the start of the process that the two districts mesh well in curriculum, philosophy and priorities. In addition, the consolidation was approved by the Maine Department of Education last week.

Over the past several weeks, SAD 53 had been talking with SADs 38 and 48, even holding regional meetings, but last week it was notified that its letter of intent to consolidate with the two districts had been rejected by the DOE because neither SAD 38 nor SAD 48 filed a reciprocating letter.

Basically, SAD 53 notified the state it was willing to work with SADs 38 and 48, while SADs 38 and 48 indicated in their letters of intent they were willing to work only with each other. SAD 48 Superintendent William Braun said last week, however, that if SAD 53 wanted to continue talks, it would be listed on the formal plan that SAD 48 would submit Dec. 1.

From the start of the consolidation process, SAD 53 members directed Gallagher to look at a variety of options, and SAD 59 was one of three he investigated.

Last Thursday, members of the SAD 53 regional planning committee met with SAD 59 representatives at Madison High School. Of particular interest to the committee was that by working with SAD 59, a strong relationship with Maine Central Institute could be retained.

SAD 53 Chairman Robert Downs wrote to SAD 48 on Friday, stating, “The decision was made following that meeting to focus our energies for the limited time we have on those plans that we believe will have the best results moving forward.”

Downs also stated that SAD 53 “had some concerns” after SADs 38 and 48 did not file a letter of intent naming SAD 53.

“We also concluded that our priorities and goals were closely aligned with SAD 59, particularly as it relates to our high school program,” Downs wrote.

SAD 53 contracts with MCI for secondary education and currently has a contract viable until 2013. SAD 48 Superintendent William Braun said last week that the contract with MCI should not be part of the regionalization discussions.

Saturday, Downs was more specific in the regional planning committee’s reasoning. He said that the SAD 53 committee used several key guiding principles in making the decision to go with SAD 59.

These included: comply with the DOE mandate; make every effort to meet the timeline outlined by the DOE; join with other schools that could help consolidate and lower administrative structure and cost and thus respond to the reduction in funding that will occur.

“We want to establish an RSU that will try to continue to meet the educational needs of our community children while minimizing property tax increases,” Downs said Saturday. “We think it is important to continue a relationship with MCI and support its viability at a reasonable cost to SAD 53 communities.”

Because of the short timeline – a regionalization plan must be submitted to the DOE by Dec. 1 – Downs said the committee opted to focus on SAD 59.

After the highly productive meeting last week with SAD 59, Downs said, “it appeared that our goals and approaches had many similarities such as reducing administration costs, maintaining two high schools for the foreseeable future, a sensitivity for balancing educational programming while minimizing the impact on property taxes.”

SAD 48’s business manager, Kelley Carter, notified SAD 38 and 48 regional planning committee members last Friday that a regional meeting planned for Pittsfield this week had been moved to Sebasticook Valley Middle School in Newport. That meeting will now be between only SAD 38 and SAD 48.