School Consolodation - Yarmouth Affected??? (Eastport, Washington: neighborhoods, school district, salary)

[maja]

I have been reading about the upcoming school consolidation in Maine - is is a certainty? And I thought I read somewhere that Yarmouth Schools would be exempt because they were so high performing? Does anyone know anything about this? And if they are not exempt, what would be the effects on the schools in Yarmouth? We are looking to move from out of state and are looking at Yarmouth, not only because we like the location and "feel" of the town, itself; but because we have visited the schools and felt they were wonderful. Besides being rated very good academically, we really liked the small size of the schools and close proximity to neighborhoods. Don't want to move there and then find my kids have to be bussed somewhere else or that the school doubles or triples in size. Appreciate any and all information. TIA

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Disclaimer: I have not seen Yarmouth's plan. That said, They are probably big enough to stand alone. If not, they will probably swallow up some hapless town and suck the life blood out of that school. That's the way the new order is supposed to work.

[maja]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

Disclaimer: I have not seen Yarmouth's plan. That said, They are probably big enough to stand alone. If not, they will probably swallow up some hapless town and suck the life blood out of that school. That's the way the new order is supposed to work.

That's sad isn't it? But is it indeed a fact yet that the consolidation will happen?

[7th generation]

This is the most current information I can find. If you dig a little deeper, you may find the outcome.
Yarmouth School District - School Consolidation

[AustinB]

Originally Posted by maja

That's sad isn't it? But is it indeed a fact yet that the consolidation will happen?

Consolidation will happen/is happening. It doesn't mean that schools will close. It means that the administration is to be consolidated, and the wages(primary concern for small schools) will be affected.

Maine Writer can explain a lot better as she may still be on a school board.

[reloop]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

Disclaimer: I have not seen Yarmouth's plan. That said, They are probably big enough to stand alone. If not, they will probably swallow up some hapless town and suck the life blood out of that school. That's the way the new order is supposed to work.

Wow. You got that right

[reloop]

Originally Posted by maja

That's sad isn't it? But is it indeed a fact yet that the consolidation will happen?

In some form or another - yes.

[Maine Writer]

Originally Posted by AustinB

Consolidation will happen/is happening. It doesn't mean that schools will close. It means that the administration is to be consolidated, and the wages(primary concern for small schools) will be affected.

Maine Writer can explain a lot better as she may still be on a school board.

For new folks, I volunteer on the governance committee and my husband volunteers on the finance committee. This unit runs from Vanceboro in northern Washington County to Eastport, approximately 90 miles away. There are 20 towns in our unit.

I am still chairman but seriously considering not running for a second three-year term. My term is up later this year. The first part of the plan was complete until it was voted down last week. I wish I could ask people for the exact reason(s) they said no. "I don't want to consolidate," isn't good enough. There's still a lot of work to do. We'll see what happens in the next six months.

We haven't started to talk about what schools yet. We're still trying to put together a plan for our unit that people will approve. It could be the best plan possible and people are going to vote it down because they don't want consolidation. Thinking that this isn't going to happen because you don't approve is denial in its purest form. If we keep dragging this out the people who haven't been paying attention aren't going to know what hit them if the state tells them what's going to happen to them.

I was an AFSCME member and union negotiator when I worked for Penobscot County. I don't want any part of the salary portion of consolidating.

It's too soon to say schools will or won't close for certain. We haven't officially discussed that yet. As a school board member I'd like to see consolidation stop at the admin work. If we close schools and start busing kids further away we have to work out those costs. Do we offer an extra curricular bus run or do we tell the kids who live 50 miles away they can't be in the band, play sports, join Year Book, Envirothon, Academic Decathlon or any other activity if their parents can't drive 600 miles a week to make it work. Six hundred miles is not an exaggeration for some of the families in my unit. My daughter has been on two varsity teams this year. We drive at least 240 miles a week. We're grateful when other parents can carpool. If we don't close schools we have to figure out how to find the money to keep them open. The state is supposed to fund 55% but that hasn't yet happened here.

I wish everyone with the right to vote on consolidation were required to fully understand the big picture.

[Maineah]

7th Generation's information is correct Yarmouth opted to stand alone. That's not top say some unknown mandate handed down from the State won't force their hand but as NMLM states Yarmouth as a town has enough tax base to pretty much do as they please.

[RANGER.101ST]

this is what im geting from all the school consolodation..the towns ppl dont want to the state says you have to or we will fine you the fed gov says if you dont we will take funding. fine you?
fed funding? isnt that extortion.your not alowed a vote with out being fined.if you vote yes we wont fine you and we will give you money from the fed gov but if you vote no we will take the fed funding and make you pay a big fine. can some one say MOB