BIDDEFORD — Last week, Superintendent of Schools Jeremy Ray became a Biddeford taxpayer.
On Sept. 13, he signed the final contract to purchase a condominium in Biddeford.
Ray said he hopes this will finally put to rest the controversy that followed him when attempts to change the city charter requiring the school superintendent to reside in Biddeford failed.
Ray declined to comment on the price of the residence or its location, although he did say it was near his office at Biddeford High School.
The superintendent started working for the Biddeford School Department in July 2012. When hired, Ray said, he knew there was a charter requirement that the school superintendent must live in Biddeford, but was told there would be a vote to remove the residency requirement from the charter.
Ray said he knew a number of people didn’t apply for the job because of that requirement. He said he might have thought twice about accepting the job if he had known the residency requirement was going to remain.
“I didn’t think people would think it was such a big deal” that he lived one mile away in Saco, he said.
“People don’t realize how difficult this has been on my family,” said Ray.
Selling his home in Saco in the current economic climate would have taken a big economic toll, said Ray; he stills owns his Saco residence.
In addition, he said, there were other issues at stake besides financial. Ray said his wife must travel north for her job, and his young son is very attached to their neighbors.
“He thinks of them as his grandparents,” said Ray.
When the vote to remove the charter requirement failed in the November 2012 election, many called for Ray to move across the river from Saco to Biddeford, or resign.
When Mayor and State Rep. Alan Casavant tried to get legislation passed that would have invalidated the residency requirement in Biddeford and other Maine communities with similar requirements, a number of people voiced opposition. The legislation failed, so the school committee extended the deadline for Ray to move from December 2012 to December of this year.
Having met the deadline, Ray said he’s looking forward to continuing at his job without his residency being an issue.
“This has been nothing but a distraction to what’s going on here” at the school department, he said.
“I love working here,” said Ray. “There are really amazing things here. I have an amazing staff, I work great with the school committee and I have great support.”
Casavant said he’s very pleased Ray will remain.
“He is a huge asset for the school department and the city as a whole,” said the mayor. “He’s saved the city hundreds of thousands of dollars. He’s very creative and thinks outside the box.”
Casavant said that’s important because communities can’t rely on state subsidies, which are very erratic.
But even though Ray has fulfilled the requirements of the city charter that doesn’t mean the issue is over, said Casavant.
Superintendent “candidates don’t want to uproot their families,” he said, and in order to get the best qualified candidates in the future, the city must deal with the residency requirement.
— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.
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