By Abigail W. Adams
Les Fossel (right) explains the mission and intent of the Sheepscot Bay Charter School to the Wiscasset School Committe at its meeting Thursday, July 30. From left: Superintendent Heather Wilmot and committee members Glen Craig and Michael Dunn listen as Fossel explains organizers’ desire to work in cooperation with the school district to establish the charter school. (Abigail Adams photo) |
Due to legislation enacted in 2011, Maine became the 41st state to allow public charter schools, which can be formed either through a state application process or through the
permission of a school district.
For the Sheepscot Bay Charter School, a new organization in Wiscasset that hopes to become established by the fall of 2016, forming through the permission of the
Wiscasset School Department is the ideal. The proposed charter school submitted a letter of intent June 25 to be considered for one of the three available slots left for charter
schools in the state.
The charter school must now submit an approximately 600-page application, which is due in September, to win the designation, Sarah Ricker, Wiscasset High School’s
former assistant principal and athletic director and one of the charter school organizers, said.
“We’re here tonight to say we want to do this with you,” Les Fossel, co-president of Morris Farm and charter school organizer, said to the Wiscasset School Committee
at its Thursday, July 30 meeting.
Fossel, Ricker, and other charter school organizers turned out to explain the mission and intent of the charter school, which hopes to provide a new pathway to
learning for students who do not function well in a traditional school environment.
While some school committee members supported the concept behind the project, its feasibility due to a number of issues was called into question. With dwindling
student enrollment numbers, school committee members expressed concern the charter school would mean a reduction in their state subsidy.
Committee members also expressed concern about the academic and professional standards for the charter school’s curriculum and staff, which the Wiscasset School
Department and taxpayer would have no control over.
The Sheepscot Bay Charter School is an initiative that grew out of the Morris Farm in Wiscasset. Last winter, community members involved with Morris Farm began to
meet to discuss the idea, Ricker said. By June, organizers had hammered out a mission and focus for the school and threw their hat in with the state before it was too late.
The Sheepscot Bay Charter School’s curriculum would be based on experiential learning focused on Maine’s major industries, such as agriculture, forestry, and
fisheries.
The core values of the endeavor are connecting students to community resources, challenging students in their learning through real-world projects that are inspiring
and create applicable skills, uniting a diverse student body through collaborative experiences that support multiculturalism, and empowering students to take control of their
future, according to their letter of intent.
The charter school’s intent is to only serve a small number of students, Fossel said. Initially interested in housing the charter school in the former Wiscasset
Primary School, organizers realized they would not have been able to populate the building and have taken the option off the table.
Desiree Bailey, of Possibilities Salon in Wiscasset, was also in attendance at the school committee meeting and also had researched opening a charter school as part
of her proposed project to transform the former primary school into a salon, spa, and wellness center with an educational component.
The ideas for a charter school at the location of the primary school were developed separately, both said. “We’re connected to the community,” Ricker said. “When
you’re connected to the community you recognize its needs.”
Other possible alternatives mentioned for the location of the Sheepscot Bay Charter School were the Morris Farm’s education room or sharing space in a Wiscasset
School Department building. “This is small and experimental,” Fossel said. “We want to do something that will bring students back to Wiscasset.”
School committee members expressed concern the charter school would only draw away students from the department and the department would face a reduction in subsidy.
The school department’s fixed costs are not reduced when the student count is, Chair Steve Smith said.
The department would run the risk of not being able to afford its fixed costs and, due to its size, the department’s budget would suffer with even the loss of five
students, Smith said.
The intent of the charter school is to make Wiscasset a more attractive place educationally and bring back into the district students that are opting to attend
school elsewhere, Fossel said.
The school committee was the first public forum the charter school was brought to, because the charter school wants to work in partnership with them, Fossel said.
“We want this to meet everyone’s needs,” Fossel said.
Committee member Eugene Stover expressed concern that the school department and taxpayers would have no control over the curriculum or staff at the school, and
questioned the standards they would be required to follow. According to Fossel, there are extensive guidelines and standards developed for charter schools by the Maine Charter
School Association.
Committee members did express support for the concept behind the charter school and for providing students with different pathways for learning but were skeptical
about the feasibility of the proposal.
“There are no guarantees,” Fossel said. “If we keep talking to each other we can find a way to make it work,” he said.
