Thumbs up to City of Sanford and its councilors for getting the word out on Waste Zero’s new proposal to help increase recycling in the city. The council has discussed the More-In-Return program, which would see households reimbursed for trash bags purchased based on recycling rates, and is hosting several forums to answer questions and provide information to residents before moving forward with the proposal. It’s important to educate residents, and hopefully, they will see the importance of incentivizing recycling. Unfortunately, residents just don’t recycle at the rates they could unless there is incentive to do so, and paying for trash bags will be that incentive. But this time around, residents will be rewarded or penalized as a group depending on how much they recycle. Under the plan, an avid recycler who uses few trash bags would make money, the average recycler would break even, and someone who is a poor recycler and uses a lot of trash bags wouldn’t receive as much back as they paid for bags. We hope Sanford residents get behind this proposal and get their recycling rates up.
Thumbs up to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for finally dedicating funding to the dredge of Wells Harbor. The harbor is in dire need of a dredge, and the town’s beaches will benefit with some of that sand being used to replenish what’s there. The Corps announced last week that $3.5 million in federal funding has been committed to complete the dredge in the upcoming season. The dredge will help free up moorings that have been unusable due to shoaling in the harbor, thereby increasing revenues for the harbor and traffic to the area. With all its permits in place, the town and Corps should be able to get the dredge complete within the dredging window, from this September to March of next year.
Thumbs down to the news that Biddeford High School Principal Britton Wolfe has resigned. Although we’re glad to hear he is staying on through the end of the school year, the district will lose a solid principal who has overseen a lot of changes at the school, including a major, multi-million dollar expansion and renovation. The renovation helped get BHS off of the New England Association of Schools and College’s warning list. During Wolfe’s tenure, the graduation rate has increased and the drop-out rate has decreased at BHS, and procedures have been put in place to make the school more safe, including new policies against bullying. We’re sad to see Wolfe go, but wish him luck in his future endeavors.
Thumbs up to Sanford High School students Shae Horrigan, Jennifer Calnan and Victoria Clendaniel, who are serving as student representatives on the school committee. The three girls spoke with enthusiasm in a recent interview about the opportunity, and said although they don’t get a vote, they wanted their voices to be heard and the voices of their peers. Several area school boards invite student representatives to join them and give a student perspective on issues that arise, and it gives the board members good insight into the culture of the high school. Serving on such a board also teaches these students valuable lessons about budgets and financing a school district, as well as policy making and personal responsibility.
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Thumbnails is a Monday feature of the Journal Tribune’s opinion pages. If you would like to respond, please write the Reader’s Forum via email at jtcommunity@journaltribune.com or by dropping your letter off at our Biddeford office.
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