Though their descendents still live in the area, Wilbur Bearce, Robert Woodward, and Frank Wells are probably best recalled, if at all, as names on a plaque on the wall at the South Bristol Town Hall.
Together, those three gentlemen had the honor of serving as South Bristol’s first board of selectmen following the town’s separation from Bristol in 1915. While the task has only become more complicated in the hundred years since, that board broke the ground trod by every South Bristol selectman since.
More recently, we don’t know if they thought much about it, when they stepped forward for office, but the fine folks currently serving on the Wiscasset School Board also have the honor, or the burden, of making history at almost every meeting they have.
To a degree, this is true for anybody that makes decisions for a municipality but, tasked with launching an entirely new school district on the fly, the current Wiscasset School Board is setting the course of the town’s education system for years to come. With every decision, the board sets a precedent for every Wiscasset school board member who follows them.
This specific kind of a challenge is a rare and special opportunity.
It remains to be seen if a citizens’ petition rises to challenge the board’s decision to close the Wiscasset Primary School Sept. 15. If the decision is allowed to stand, now or later, it will be a momentous event in the town’s history.
If, down the road, the population swells and a new school facility is needed, the town will undoubtedly retrace the steps that led to three school buildings to begin with; the meetings, public hearings, the bond issues and bid process, and so forth.
At that time, future Lincoln County News reporters will cite 2015 as the watershed date in the town’s history. The nuances of the hows and whys of the closure, much like South Bristol’s divorce from Bristol, will be obscured by the intervening years.
Although it was a decision long in the making, Monday night’s decision was a really big deal.
Leadership requires courage and conviction, especially when it comes to making difficult choices. This was a big decision for the town and we commend this board for stepping up and making it.
