RAYMOND — A decade after school officials agreed to join Windham School Department to form Regional School Unit 14, voters from decided Aug. 14 to begin the process of withdrawing from the district.
Voters on Tuesday approved, 171-128, starting the withdrawal process and setting aside up to $50,000 to do so, a reversal of a 2015 vote in which the withdrawal petition process was halted.
The withdrawal effort was led by Raymond Selectboard Chairman Teresa Sadak, who helped spearheaded an unsuccessful effort in 2014-2015 when Raymond residents voted 376-136 to halt the withdrawal process.
Sadak said she was “happy” when she heard to results come in Tuesday evening.
“It was a good vote. It was a close vote and we will see what it brings,” she said Wednesday morning.
Sadak has said “needless spending and not adhering to a cost-sharing” agreement are chief among the reasons for starting the most recent withdrawal effort.
The chairman of the RSU 14 Board of Education said she was disappointed in the vote.
“I wonder what the next steps will be as we go down this process again,” Jani Cummings said. “I am also concerned about the time and effort this will take away from our primary focus: the education and safety of all the students of Windham and Raymond. I was a teacher at (Raymond Elementary School) the last time we went through this, and you have no idea the added stress this imposes on all the staff.”
It will be business as usual as school in RSU 14 starts in two weeks, said Superintendent Sanford Prince.
“The School Board has been – and will continue to be – committed to ensure that all students and staff within the regional district are provided equal opportunities for the highest levels of education success during this time the town of Raymond files for a petition to withdraw,” Prince said in a statement Wednesday morning.
Sadak also doesn’t expect the vote, or the forthcoming withdrawal process, to impact RSU 14 students.
“It’s not the kids negotiating. It is not the teachers negotiating. It is the boards who are negotiating, The teachers we have are great. They are awesome and there for the kids, so I don’t see it impacting the kids at all,” she said.
Tuesday’s vote was just the first step in the withdrawal process, a “complex and costly procedure” that Prince said could take eight months to a year to complete.
“We first have to vote whether we want to explore the possibility and they have to approve the monies necessary to do that and the monies are mostly for legal fees and things of that nature so the town can start looking into this,” said Raymond Town Clerk Sue Look.
The 22-step withdrawal process, as outlined in state statute, involves multiple public hearings, the creation of a withdrawal committee and development of a withdrawal agreement, and sign-off from the Maine Department of Education, among other steps.
“It doesn’t commit to a withdrawal from the RSU. It says, yes, we want to look into it,” Look said.
Per state statute, the RSU 14 School Board will select one of its Raymond representatives to serve on the withdrawal committee as will the Raymond Selectboard. The withdrawal committee will also include a representative of the community and a member of the group that initiated the petition.
Since fiscal year 2013, 40 communities have pulled out of 18 regional school units in the state.
Sebago is the most recent community in the area to withdraw from a school district. It pulled out of RSU/MSAD 61 earlier this year after more than 50 years and formed Sebago Public Schools. RSU/MSAD 61 comprises Casco, Bridgton and Naples. Beginning this school year, Sebago will operate Sebago Elementary School and tuition students into Lake Region Middle School and Lake Region High School in Naples.
This summer Mount Chase, Patten, Sherman and Stacyville all officially pulled out of RSU 50 to form RSU 89. Moro Plantation pulled out of RSU 50 to form its own school department and Eagle Lake pulled out of MSAD 27 to do the same.
Michael Kelley can be reached at 781-3661 x 125 or mkelley@keepmecurrent.com or on Twitter @mkelleynews
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