The Wiscasset RSU 12 Withdrawal Committee decided to pursue their own central office as a part of their withdrawal process.
The motion at the Sept. 27 meeting followed the presentation of a first rough draft of a withdrawal agreement by Raymond Poulin and Norm Higgins, who are consulting with the committee.
“It’s really important what you decide you want to do with system wide administration,” said Poulin. Until that is decided, “there’s only so far you can go on the financial side.”
Committee member Jeff Slack said the decision was made as a starting point for the financial calculations, and that it isn’t a final decision on what will be in the withdrawal agreement.
Mary Myers, the chair of the committee, wrote in an email that committee member Jason Downing had “gone beyond the mark” by discussing options for services with AOS 93, AOS 98, RSU 1, and RSU 2.
Contingent on a successful vote to withdraw, the difference in cost between maintaining local central office services and contracting with another school district is small enough to be outweighed by Wiscasset residents’ desire for local control, Myers wrote.
At the Sept. 27 meeting the committee also approved filing a request for an extension from the Department of Education.
Myers said the committee will not be filing a withdrawal agreement to the DOE before the Oct. 17 deadline. The committee still needs to look into the proper procedure for filing the extension, Myers said.
Myers said the committee had been told that RSU12’s ad hoc withdrawal committee will meet with Wiscasset’s committee only after a full first draft of a withdrawal agreement has been drawn up.
“We would love to have a little bit more conversation with the ad hoc committee if they so chose,” said Myers.
The Wiscasset RSU 12 Withdrawal Committee’s next meeting will be on Oct. 11 at 5 p.m. at the Wiscasset Municipal Building.
