Edgecomb voters were a no-show at a public hearing on the formation of the Rocky Channels School System (RCSS) at the Edgecomb Eddy School May 11.
The lack of controversy didn’t disturb Stephen Ward, Chair of the Edgecomb School Committee. According to Ward, the consolidation plan, which will dissolve Union 49 and replace it with an Alternative Organizational Structure (AOS), offers “a very nice financial incentive” with “no downside.”
Because the plan will place Union 49 schools – Edgecomb, Boothbay, Boothbay Harbor and Southport – in compliance with LD 570, the same consolidation law upheld by voters in last year’s referendum, the state will increase subsidies to each participating school by a sizable chunk.
Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor stand to gain about $170,000, while Southport will accept a modest $30,000. Edgecomb itself will enjoy a boost of $53,602.
Edgecomb voters could hardly time the influx of cash any better, as the 2010-’11 academic school year will see a dramatic decrease in overall state contributions.
According to a letter signed by the Edgecomb School Committee, the Dean of Students and Union 49 Superintendent of Schools Eileen King, “the existing towns in School Union 49 intend to have the AOS operating on July 1, 2010.” Neighboring Georgetown, a small island community across the Sagadahoc county line, will join the AOS a year later.
Several steps remain in the process, however. The next step, on May 27, will call on the public to approve formation of RCSS at the polls. At Tuesday’s meeting, King sought to instill a sense of urgency in voters and town officials alike. “This series of dates is a house of cards,” she said.
The town began work on the current plan shortly after Union 49 voters rejected a plan to consolidate with School Union 74 and Jefferson in January 2009. An alliance was struck with Georgetown, a school Ward said is “philosophically similar” with those in Union 49.
In early March of this year, the proposed AOS found its first serious obstacle when the State denied their application. The AOS schools listed their enrollment at 1012, but “the State’s tabulation said we had only 998 students,” according to the letter, just two students short of the 1000 required for consolidation.
“Needless to say, we were extremely frustrated,” the letter says.
Shortly thereafter, however, the state passed legislation that waives the 1000 student requirement. Hopes for the AOS were reignited and a flurry of activity followed.
In addition to distributing about a quarter of a million dollars in subsidies throughout the community, the new AOS is steeped in local history. According to the letter from school officials, “The Sheepscot River is the unifying element for the five towns that will make up the AOS, and we chose the name Rocky Channels since the Abenaki name for Sheepscot, ‘Pahseapskok,’ means ‘a place where the river is split up into many rocky channels.’ This precisely describes the tortuous byways of the Sheepscot River and Bay.”
Polls will be open between 1-7 p.m. May 27 at the Edgecomb and Southport Town Halls and for voters in Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor at the Boothbay Region Elementary School.