The most recent move by Regional School Unit 21 with regard to Thornton Academy Middle School has elevated the ongoing issues between the entities to a new level of ridiculousness.
How many times will RSU 21 have to be told “no” for an answer? The district has a binding contract with TAMS for all Arundel middle school students to attend that school through 2016. The school board approved breaching the contract to allow a few Arundel youths to attend Middle School of the Kennebunks this year, and their decision was challenged by TAMS. The district lost that battle, plain and simple, as the arbitrator in the dispute found that the contract guarantees Thornton all of Arundel’s public middle school students.
After going through all this, now the district is once again asking for students to attend MSK instead. Perhaps a lawyer should be sent in to explain to the board the meaning of a contract.
Arundel voters joined the RSU with the understanding that the contract, which they had chosen as a town only a few years before consolidating with SAD 71, would stay in place. Many Arundel parents have spoken at countless meetings about how they feel TAMS is the best place for their children and how it maintains the small-town, community school atmosphere that they so cherished back at Mildred L. Day School in Arundel.
On top of that, district voters rejected a $1.18 million buyout of the contract with TAMS in voting earlier this year, even though it would have saved the district money in the long run.
Yes, there are a few parents in town who would rather see their children attend MSK, but aren’t there a few parents in Saco or Biddeford who would rather their child attend MSK, too? They cannot do so because their municipalities are already paying for a middle school. The situation is the same, and perhaps even more formal, for Arundel. A contract has been signed, after all.
By continuing to force this issue, the school board is disrespecting the will of the voters and the will of the majority of Arundel parents, all while ignoring a legally binding contract. RSU 21 board members seem to be clinging to the idea that they know what’s best and are attempting to force it upon all district taxpayers. What is perhaps the most disheartening is that the Arundel representatives, of which there are only three on a 12-member board, are not representing the will of the majority of their own townspeople by standing up for the TAMS contract.
The legal wrangling over the district’s repeated attempts to soothe the few pro-MSK parents by breaching the contract with TAMS has cost the district money that could have been used elsewhere. This is one consolidation battle that has turned ugly as Thornton has been placed in a position of fighting with RSU 21 for the high school students who will eventually follow from the middle schools.
Arundel signed a contract with TAMS and neither they nor Kennebunk and Kennebunkport want out of it. The board should accept that and start planning for what to do after 2016.
Today’s editorial was written by Managing Editor Kristen Schulze Muszynski, on behalf of the Journal Tribune Editorial Board. Questions? Comments? Contact Kristen by calling 282-1535, Ext. 322, or via e-mail at kristenm@journaltribune.com.
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