Recently charged to do so by the Wiscasset Board of Selectmen, the Wiscasset Educational Research Panel (WERP) met Nov. 18 at the Wiscasset Municipal Building to begin investigating options for withdrawal from Regional School Unit 12.
After discussion, the WERP Board of Directors agreed to consider five potential courses of action: remaining in the RSU with the new cost allocation formula, joining an AOS or other RSU, “going it alone” as an independent school system, and closing all schools and tuitioning out every student, similar to Westport Island and Alna.
WERP Chairman Doug Smith said some options would be cut and dry, while others would require extensive discussions and talks with the Maine Dept. of Education.
“Our mandate is to come up with different options,” Smith said. “We’re going to look at everything from the status quo to tuitioning all our students and everything in between.”
Selectman Judith Colby, who attended the meeting with fellow selectmen Ed Polewarczyk, urged the group to consider all possible outcomes.
“As a group you need to give them (Wiscasset residents) every option feasible,” Colby said. “Voters wanted not necessarily to withdraw, but to see all the options that they have.”
Chet Grover, the only member of the Wiscasset public present at the meeting, echoed Colby’s concerns. Saying he believed the selectmen’s endorsement of the group to be “premature,” Grover wondered what exactly the board was endorsing when they threw their support behind the group.
Grover said he felt that many people in the community associated WERP with being the “anti-RSU 12” group.
WERP member Sharon Nichols disputed the assertion. “We’ve been accused of these things that we haven’t really done,” she said.
Both Nichols and Smith said WERP had spent hundreds of hours researching possible options for the Wiscasset school system.
Smith stressed that the group would fairly consider all possible choices, some of which will be controversial to certain segments of the population.
“I want to stay neutral throughout the process,” he said. “I believe voters are looking for different options. There’s a lot for us to consider.”
Smith added that the group would listen to parents, teachers, and students.
“We don’t have an axe to grind,” he said.
Nichols said the selectmen’s endorsement would help get information from the Dept. of Education and other relevant organizations, something they would have difficulty with as a regular citizens’ group.
“The endorsement helps us get through doors,” Nichols said.
WERP’s meeting Nov. 18 was its first open to the public. Smith said that though their meetings have been held in private in the past, all their findings were made public knowledge. The meetings were held in private so that the members could have candid discussions.
“We’ve made the commitment that this will be held in the open,” he said.
The WERP board agreed to meet twice a month on either Monday or Thursday evening until their work is done. A date for the next meeting has yet to be determined. The group is aiming to complete its work well before the annual town meeting in June.
WERP’s next meeting will focus on the pros and cons of staying with RSU 12. The benefits and drawbacks of joining an AOS may also be discussed.
