By Charlotte Boynton
Wiscasset resident Andrea Main checks the signatures on a citizen’s petition regarding the closing of the Wiscasset Primary School. (Charlotte Boynton photo) |
After voting on the first Tuesday in November, Wiscasset voters could find themselves going back to the polls on the first Tuesday in December if a citizen’s petition opposing the Wiscasset School Board’s decision to close the Wiscasset Primary School receives enough support.
At the school board’s Sept. 24 meeting, Chairman Steve Smith said he has heard positive comments about the board’s decision to keep the Wiscasset Middle School open, but indicated a petition will likely be presented to force a referendum on the question.
Wiscasset parent Andrea Main is circulating a citizen’s petition asking for a referendum vote. The proposed ballot question would ask: “Shall the school committee of the town of Wiscasset be authorized to close Wiscasset Primary School? The additional cost of keeping the school open has been estimated by the school committee to be $785,254.”
The petition needs to be presented within 30 days of the board’s vote to close the school, which makes Wednesday, Oct. 15 the latest the petition can be filed. Maine law requires at least 45 days from the date the petition is filed before a townwide vote could be held.
Once the petition is given to Wiscasset Town Clerk Christine Wolfe and she has certified that at least 167 signatures are those of registered Wiscasset voters, the petition needs to be presented first to the school board, and then to the board of selectmen, which would sign a warrant for a referendum vote.
According to Wolfe, the earliest potential date for a townwide vote would be Saturday, Dec. 6. For continuity’s sake, Wolfe said she would recommend holding the vote Tuesday, Dec. 9.
During a brief interview Monday, Main said there are currently 125 signatures on the petition. Main, a substitute teacher in the Wiscasset school system and the mother of a primary school student and a middle school student, said the reason she is circulating a petition is because “We deserve the right to have a say in something that directly concerns our children.”
She also said she believes the town must close a school, but at this point is uncertain which school it should be. More information on the cost savings of closing either school should be provided, she said.
If the referendum is approved, the school board will be authorized to move forward closing the primary school. If the referendum is rejected, the school board would then likely vote to close the Wiscasset Middle School, according to comments by Smith at the Sept. 24 board meeting.
During a brief telephone interview Tuesday, Sept. 30, Smith said he had no problem with a referendum vote because he also feels the taxpayers of Wiscasset should have a say in closing a school.
“They can either vote to support the school board, and allow us to move forward in closing the primary school, or they can vote no, which would be a vote to close the middle school,” he said.
Smith also expressed concern that a “no” vote to close the primary school and another referendum vote on closing the middle school would not allow the school board enough time to close either school, which could cost the taxpayers a million dollars in next year’s school budget.
Smith said he had received overwhelming support from the town’s people to keep the middle school open and that is why he voted to close the primary school.
The petition is available at the Wiscasset town office, Wiscasset Primary School, Wiscasset Middle School, and at The Morris Farm.
