Although representatives for the school departments of Westbrook, Windham and Raymond have not yet tied the knot officially, this week they choose a date for the hypothetical tri-town school district to begin operating.
In an impromptu vote at the end of a meeting Monday, the consolidation committee voted unanimously to approve July 1, 2009, as the day the school district would start working.
While there were talks of selecting a 2008 date for the proposed school district, consolidation committee members said there isn’t enough time to hammer out the details even though they are holding an aggressive meeting schedule.
Westbrook Superintendent of Schools Stan Sawyer said he wants to wait until the current legislative session ends in June before finalizing most of the details.
“New laws will be passed that affect” regional school units, he said. Sawyer said any big plans they make before the legislative session ends would be subject to change because they would have to adhere to new rules.
Mary Jane McCalmon, a consultant who is facilitating the merger talks, said at the close of the meeting the consolidation committee has three issues they need to resolve: How the votes of each committee member will be weighted, whether the three school districts will merge as one unit and when the districts would begin operating as one.
The committee chose to vote on the last issue – establishing the deadline in 2009 – but opted not to vote on making one school unit from the three districts.
In August, the Maine Department of Education approved a letter of intent that would allow the three school districts to consolidate, as well as alternate plans that would allow Windham or Westbrook to bow out.
“We have not had this discussion as a full board,” said Kate Brix of the Windham School Board, while opposing coming to a vote at the end of Monday’s meeting.
Jeff Vermette, of the Windham School Board, disagreed. “We have made a decision to merge with Raymond – and Westbrook if they want to – and we’re not looking back,” he said.
Teresa Sadak, chairwoman of the Raymond School Committee, agreed, saying all the work they have been doing has had the triple merger in mind.
Still to be settled is the weight of the votes each member of the consolidation committee contributes. School officials from Raymond, for example, represent a smaller pool of students and money than Windham and Westbrook. Possibilities include giving each member a single vote, giving each town an equal share of votes divided among its representatives or giving towns a weighted amount of votes divided among its representatives.
The consolidation committee has until Dec. 1 to submit its reorganization plan to the Maine Department of Education. If approved, the committee will have until Jan. 15, 2008, to hold a municipal referendum in the three towns to approve the plan. This referendum would be paid for by the Department of Education.
The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 16, at 5 p.m. at the Windham High School.
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