MILLINOCKET – A retired University of Maine professor is at work preparing an area school consolidation study.

Members of a committee studying area school consolidation last week agreed to hire Dr. Walter McIntire of Hampden, an education consultant and the former director of Research and Evaluation for the College of Education at UMaine, to prepare the study. It will be prepared in phases.

McIntire is expected to present his first report to members of the committee by mid-March. The study will cost between $3,000 and $5,000.

“At this point in time, I’m trying to put data together rather than to begin to suggest solutions,” McIntire said during an interview Monday.

“It is important to get this descriptive information together so that each player understands not only what they have but also what the other guy has,” he said. “My first goal is to make sure everybody has accurate information about themselves and the other guy as this process evolves.”

Currently, McIntire is reviewing the following information about School Union 113 (East Millinocket, Medway and Woodville) and the Millinocket School Department:

. Enrollment at each school by grade level.

. Staffing levels at each school including the teachers’ years of experience and the subject areas of their certification along with all other staff.

. Curriculum offerings at each school and class sizes for each subject along with the extracurricular offerings at each school and the number of participants in each program, and future enrollment projections.

McIntire said a study of school consolidation didn’t mean that area schools would be restructuring education on July 1, 2003. “It may mean that we can transition at certain points in time … that they can make transitional changes and evolve,” he said. “What we have got to do is have a plan that allows them to evolve as the environment changes.”

At last week’s meeting, McIntire presented enrollment trends for School Union 113 and Millinocket. During 1995 through 2000, the total enrollments in all four towns went from 1,950 to 1,602, a decline of 348 students. If the same trend continues, McIntire said, the total enrollment in the four towns would drop to 1,316 by 2006.

During the 2000-2001 fiscal year, the four towns collectively spent $9.6 million to educate children.

The consultant said there are several school districts and school systems with similar budgets and similar student enrollments that could provide valuable information to the committee as it examines alternative types of school structures.

In other business, Bill Hamlin, a member representing East Millinocket, outlined some of the items his board would like to see included in the study: 10-year enrollment projections along with 10-year budget projections for each school; the financial savings for the various forms of school consolidation; new or improved course offerings; which schools are meeting and incorporating the Learning Results into their curriculums; and whether there would be added transportation or unemployment costs.

Hamlin said board members wanted to know what type of grading and class scheduling systems would be used if schools are consolidated; what consolidation models would look like without Medway and Woodville, and what services or personnel could be shared among schools.

Officials agreed the questions were good and said they would be addressed as they work through the study process.

Millinocket school board members agreed the scope of the study should include items outlined earlier. They included:

. Reviewing different types of schools units such as school districts, community school districts and school unions.

. Gathering information about enrollments, program and extracurricular offerings, staffing and staff development, building use, labor agreements, liabilities, budget and revenue information and information about school subsidy and municipal values, retirees’ insurance costs, transportation and debt.

. Five-year enrollment projects and a five-year forecast of costs to maintain current programs and services in each school system and its effect on local tax rates.

. Developing an alternative model of educating all students from the four towns based on the different types of school structures such as an SAD, CSD or union and compare the cost of each model with the five-year forecast of costs to maintain current programs and services.

. Developing a cost-sharing comparison for each of the school models, and summarizing the advantages and disadvantages of each operational structure.