The Westport Island RSU 12 Withdrawal Committee is working on drafting letters for a number of purposes, including requesting a second deadline extension and inquiring about a potential vote to stop the withdrawal process.
Meeting Dec. 4, the committee decided to draft a letter to Deputy Commissioner of Education Jim Rier asking his opinion on the feasibility of a clause in their draft withdrawal agreement that would allow them to easily rejoin the RSU, and if his opinion had changed on whether a town vote could allow the withdrawal process to stop.
According to the minutes of an Aug. 15 committee meeting, Rier told the committee that once the withdrawal process was started, the committee must complete all the related steps up to and including a vote by the town, according to that meeting’s minutes.
Though a suggestion to take the issue of a town vote to stop the process to the Attorney General had come out of the committee’s meeting with RSU officials Nov. 27, the decision was made to re-open the subject with Rier.
“I don’t want to go over Rier’s head,” said committee member Morton Mendes, with member Dennis Dunbar agreeing.
The committee is also drafting a letter to send to Malinda Caron, the chair of the Sheepscot Valley RSU 12 ad hoc Withdrawal Committee to request a meeting with her committee on Dec. 17 in order to begin negotiating the withdrawal agreement.
At the Nov. 27 meeting, Caron had asked the Westport Island committee to consider waiting for Wiscasset’s withdrawal process to complete since the potential transfer of Wiscasset High School back to the town of Wiscasset could affect the RSU’s ability to provide secondary education to Westport Island students.
As a part of Westport Island’s draft withdrawal agreement, the RSU would need to agree to accept the town’s students for a period of up to 10 years.
Based on an estimated time line created by the RSU’s lawyers, Wiscasset’s withdrawal process may not be complete until November 2013.
By waiting to negotiate the withdrawal, the committee could prevent potential savings to the taxpayers of up to $300,000, Dunbar said. The potential savings could come from not having to pay the amount required in the RSU’s new cost sharing formula if the town withdraws by June, he said.
The formula’s safety net provision limits the reduction, or increase, of Westport Island’s share of the RSU’s operating costs in the coming school year to 25 percent of the difference between its share as calculated by the new cost sharing formula and the historic formula.
“If we suspend our action until Wiscasset makes up their mind” then Westport Island would have to delay withdrawal until fiscal year 2015, Dunbar said.
“I believe we should continue negotiating whether [the RSU wants] to or not” and go on record that the committee wants to negotiate the parts of the contract that don’t relate to partnering with the RSU, said committee Chair Gerald Bodmer.
Because the RSU needs to approve Westport Island’s withdrawal agreement, “you’ll never get an approval until they finalize Wiscasset,” Mendes said.
The committee is drafting an informational letter to be sent to the residents of Westport Island in January, but will wait to include information from their inquiries to Rier.
The committee will be sending a request for a second deadline extension to the Department of Education. The committee is currently working under a deadline of Dec. 19 to complete the withdrawal process.