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Twenty-three Penobscot, Aroostook and Piscataquis county communities are working to create a new school system, but votes taken Wednesday show that the unit’s manner of government remains undecided.
SAD 67, which represents Chester, Lincoln and Mattawamkeag, voted Wednesday to form a regional school unit, or RSU. Except for the absence of board member Lori Libbey, the vote was unanimous, board vice chairwoman Jackie Thurlow said.
SAD 31, which serves Burlington, Edinburg, Enfield, Howland, Maxfield and Passadumkeag, opted for another option granted by state law – an alternative organizational structure, or AOS. Board members Brent Gordon, Hugh Hussey, Michael Pearson and Bruce Thornton voted against it.
Although all are still committed to creating a single unit, the opposing stances leave a dilemma for the reorganization planning committee charged under state law with creating the new school district, John Neel, chairman of SAD 31’s board of directors and RPC member, said Thursday.
“We have to pull everything together and go one way or the other,” Neel said.
“All I know is we don’t want to get stuck with a penalty,” SAD 67 Superintendent Michael Marcinkus said. “We just have to have a plan submitted by early January to avoid it.”
The RPC meets Sept. 4 at Northern Penobscot Tech Region III at 6 p.m. to discuss forming an RSU or AOS. The committee’s mediator, Robert B. Kautz of Wells, said that according to state law, a consolidation plan must be ready for voters by Jan. 30, 2009.
Four other Penobscot County towns – East Millinocket, Medway, Millinocket and Woodville – are discussing forming their own AOS, but Woodville may have yet to commit. Woodville School Committee chairman Steve Fleming did not return a message Thursday.
The RPC also has to hear from SAD 30, which serves Lee, Springfield, Webster and Winn; Union 110, which serves Carroll, Drew, Lakeville, Macwhahoc and Reed plantations; and Lowell, Bancroft, Seboeis, Glenwood Plantation and Medford.
Kautz could not be reached Thursday.
In an RSU, communities form one school board with all towns possibly sharing authority through a weighted voting system. The towns may also have their own school boards to advise RSU representatives, said Thurlow, an RPC member.
“An RSU is like a great big SAD,” Neel said.
“We [the SAD 67 board] voted for it because we feel that under the time constraints we are facing, we want the efficiency of one big board,” Thurlow said.
Under the AOS system, towns have their own school boards and meet monthly to address joint issues, much the way school unions do, Thurlow and Neel said.
“I like them both. It’s hard to say which is better,” Neel said. “The thing about an AOS that’s interesting is, if you form an AOS and don’t like it, you can join an RSU. If we form an RSU, close the door. It’s all over. We have to stay with it.”
No decisions are binding until the Maine Department of Education and voters approve them, Neel said.
“The towns’ residents will have the final say in the whole thing. It’s going to come down to finances,” he said. “People sit back and go, ‘Wait a minute. How are we saving money here?’ It all depends on how the financial picture shapes up.”
The committee was expected to meet Thursday night to discuss financial projections.
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