Citing her inability to support the proposed $9.6 million budget and the Wiscasset School Board’s refusal to consider a two-school option, Sharon Nichols resigned from the board two years before her elected term was to end.
Nichols submitted her resignation to fellow board members during a budget workshop on April 3. It will become effective June. 10.
Nichols said she ran for office knowing the new school board faced many challenges, including creating a budget which would be acceptable to the taxpayers and still provide a quality education for students.
“During the budget process, it has become clear to me that the majority of the board did not support my vision for the future of the Wiscasset school system,” Nichols wrote in her letter to Wiscasset School Board Chairman Glen Craig.
“I cannot support the proposed three building budget that wastes valuable tax dollars and resources to support a school system that is now 2/3 smaller than the design standards for our building,” Nichols wrote in her letter.
Nichols has maintained that, in light of Wiscasset’s declining enrollment, a two-facility system would provide considerable savings to the taxpayers. She has suggested closing the Wiscasset Middle School and dividing the students between the primary and high school facilities.
Besides the cost savings, Nichols, a former educator, maintains students would benefit from the consolidation process. She asserts adding two grades at the Wiscasset Primary School and two grades at Wiscasset High School would allow students to benefit from peer mentoring.
Students would also have opportunity to take advantage of higher course offerings as well getting additional help where needed, Nichols said.
Nichols has maintained the school board is equally responsible to the taxpayers as it is to provide a quality education for students.
Nichols and Wiscasset School Board member Eugene Stover have made attempts to get the board to agree to present a comparison budget, which reflected the closure of one school.
Chairman Glen Craig, and board members Steve Smith and Colleen Bennett have publicly supported keeping all three schools open, and all three opposed the preparation of a budget reflecting the elimination of one school.
Nichols said she will continue to work through the budget process and fill out her board responsibilities until the June 10 referendum. Nichols said her June 10 effective date will allow time for interested residents to seek the vacancy.
“I would like to thank the citizens that voted for me and am sorry that Wiscasset appears to be headed down the continuing path of higher taxes and declining enrollment,” Nichols wrote.
The Lincoln County News will follow with a complete story here and in our April 10 print edition.
