SADs 53, 59 proceed on consolidation

PITTSFIELD – The SAD 53-SAD 59 group that is working on combining the administration of the two districts recently completed work on three areas of its consolidation plan that did not meet state criteria.

The sections were apportionment of the new school board and the method of voting; indebtedness; and real and personal property.

The three sections were part of a partial plan submitted to the Maine Department of Education by the Dec. 1 deadline. Both districts expect to vote on a new school unit in June 2008.

The regional planning committee met last week and revised those sections, according to SAD 53 Superintendent Michael Gallagher. The new regional school unit would have 15 voting board members, with Madison and Pittsfield having three members each. Starks, Athens, Detroit and Burnham would have two members each, and Brighton Plantation would have a single representative.

The committee agreed to have all voting conducted by a show of hands or voice vote, with secret ballots allowed for election of officers and a vote for superintendent.

The committee also agreed that nearly $18 million worth of property in SAD 59, including six schools and more than 12 acres for future development or sale, along with $8 million worth of SAD 53 property will become the property of the new RSU once consolidation is complete.

The RSU also will assume all local debt, which for SAD 59 is about $432,000 and for SAD 53 is just more than $1.2 million.

The committee also began to create a plan to provide information to the public for the June referendum. “The ideas will be developed and plugged into a calendar designating when the events and distributions will occur,” Gallagher said.

SAD 59 Superintendent Sandra MacArthur announced last week that she has accepted the deputy director’s position at Maine School Management Association in Augusta and will leave SAD 59 on March 1. She was in her fifth year as superintendent and said that her leaving was not prompted by the school consolidation projects.

The planning committee has made no decision at this time about filling the RSU superintendent position.

Gallagher said he has enjoyed working side by

side with MacArthur and regrets they will not take the process through together.

Both MacArthur and Gallagher have stressed that the two districts are combining administrative systems only. No schools will be closed or school systems disrupted. State-man-dated savings are expected to be accomplished by hiring one superintendent for the unit, combining other administrative positions and possibly revamping the transportation system.

The next RPC meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 14, at the Athens School. The snow date is Jan. 16.

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