Westbrook, Windham and Raymond school officials met Wednesday in Augusta with Susan Gendron, the commissioner of education, seeking answers to the questions that have dogged consolidation meetings among the three school systems.
The major questions that representatives want answered if the school districts are to consolidate are: Who will pay for debt that schools bring in to the unit? What will be done about differences in education? For example, Raymond and Westbrook have all-day kindergarten and Windham does not. And what does it mean to give property to the regional school unit?
Windham Superintendent Sandy Prince said after the meeting Wednesday that some questions were answered, but that Gendron wanted time to calculate some of their number-specific questions.
He also said that he and Westbrook Superintendent Stan Sawyer and Raymond Superintendent Sandra Caldwell will be meeting again soon to talk further about the session with Gendron.
The meeting with Gendron was requested because consolidation committee members are feeling frustrated in their efforts to move forward with merger planning due to unanswered questions from the state.
“I’m really tired of this,” said Raymond Selectman Joe Bruno at Monday’s consolidation committee meeting. “We’re getting nowhere, we’re spinning our tires.”
“I feel like the governor has given us a handful of dog manure and asked us to make chocolate chip brownies,” said Windham School Committee member Jeff Vermette.
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