Committee members studying the consolidation of the Westbrook, Windham and Raymond school districts voted Monday night to continue planning for the merger.
The potential three-town district will need to file a merger plan with the state Department of Education for a Dec. 1 deadline. However, that plan will not need to be complete and may simply be a progress report. Nor will that plan necessarily be binding. Merger plans can be changed any time before next spring, when residents of the three towns will vote in a referendum whether to accept a merger.
Members of the consolidation committee, who met at Windham High School, were greeted by about 10 sign-carrying demonstrators.
Joan Harmon, an educational technician at Westbrook’s Congin School for Grades 3-5, spoke outside the high school on behalf of the educational support personnel at Westbrook, who have not had contracts with the town since July. She said her group, which includes bus drivers and school secretaries, want to be treated the same as teachers, who have contracts that last until 2010.
“We don’t seem to be anywhere near agreement at this time” with administration, said Harmon, the acting president of the Westbrook Education Association, the union for school support staff.
Westbrook School Superintendent Stan Sawyer said Monday the contracts are still in negotiation and they are awaiting Harmon’s group to “come back to the table” to wrap things up.
School committees from Westbrook, Windham and Raymond will meet with the regional planning committee at a workshop on Wednesday, Nov. 14, at 6:30 p.m. This meeting will be open to the public and held at the Windham High School.
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