Changing moods on consolidation
11/7/08 | 20 comments
Contributor

Changing moods on consolidation


By Skip Greenlaw

On Oct. 29, the Bangor Daily News published an article titled “Study: Consolidation partners report reluctance, pessimism.” The article was based on information accumulated by the Center for Research and Evaluation in the College of Education at the University of Maine. The center interviewed members of five proposed regional school units earlier this year.

Rich Hewitt began the article by writing that “communities are doing what they have to do in order to comply with the state's consolidation law, but are doing so reluctantly under compulsion and with little optimism about the final outcome.” I believe the statement by Hewitt is accurate and depicts what has transpired in most regional planning committees.

In the same article, Hewitt reports on a conversation he had with David Connerty-Marin, director of communications for the Department of Education. Connerty-Marin is quoted as saying that, “We've seen a mood shift in recent weeks. The plans are coming in, and the people are excited about the educational opportunities it's creating.”

I believe that the only “mood shift” taking place is the “wait and see” attitude that Maine people have had for a year about school consolidation to an attitude of opposition to school consolidation, now that public hearings have been held on the plans. The discussion about consolidation by Maine people does not deal with “educational opportunities,” as Connerty-Marin suggests, increased costs at the local level as well the penalties that will be imposed if communities do not vote for consolidation. There are no net savings to consolidation, and local taxes will increase if consolidation takes place.

The Department of Education has painted a rosy picture about school consolidation and the cost savings it will bring about to the state and local taxpayers for more than one year despite the fact the most people now acknowledge that there will be no cost savings to school consolidation. I can accept the Department of Education being the cheerleader for school consolidation, but I think that the disinformation about school consolidation, which Maine people have heard for over a year, is disgraceful. It reminds me of a military intelligence disinformation campaign that is meant to give the enemy false information or distortion of reality. Maine people are not the enemy, and we deserve the truth from our state officials. The kind word for disinformation in our culture is “spin.” The Department of Education has become the master of spin with regard to school consolidation.

I hope that the Department of Education will cease and desist when it comes to “spinning” information about school consolidation.

Skip Greenlaw is chair of the Maine Coalition to Save Our Schools, which has filed a petition with 61,124 signatures to repeal the school consolidation law. He lives in Stonington and is a member of the Deer Isle-Stonington School Committee.

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Comments
20 comments on this item
On 11/7/08 at 5:38 AM, Mainecommenter wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

What a small man in a small world. He and his agitating Superintendents need to start explaining exactly how well the status quo is working and why its worth keeping. Because that is the only alternative they offer.

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On 11/7/08 at 5:01 PM, Saltoria wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

What you makes you say it isn't working? Maine has been one of the leading states in reading and math scores. Why do people always feel they have to change things. I would agree there is a lot of waste and some positions could be cut, but why take such drastic measures. I think some folks just want a change for the sake of change, and don't think it all through!

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On 11/7/08 at 5:08 PM, Saltoria wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Education is important. You get what you pay for. If education were run like a business, instead of being run by unions and government officials, we would all be better served. Unions had a place in industry years ago, but now unions serve to protect those who should have retired years ago. They are expensive and contribute nothing to the quality of anything.

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On 11/7/08 at 7:09 PM, Mainecommenter wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Saltoria...it seemed you answered your own question from comment # 2. Pretty schizophrenic though...after all, I just want to consolidate school districts. You, on the other hand, seem to want full privitization. Whoa, there...one step at a time!

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On 11/7/08 at 8:02 PM, anne_of_mdi wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

It is interesting that Saltoria stopped posting at 5:08 pm.

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On 11/7/08 at 8:42 PM, Saltoria wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Hmmmm..Very interesting! Maybe Saltoria had a coupon to Bugaboo Creek and went to dinner with her husband. Hmmmm... maybe she came home, gave her husband a massage and they communicated about the day. Maybe she 'relaxed' him to the point of sleep.... Hmmmm...interesting, maybe Saltoria has a life beyond BDN comments, maybe she just comments once in awhile like others. Maybe , if she has some spare time while doing other things, she entertains herself by reading and musing over some pretty "interesting" comments. Then, maybe she moves onto more important things she needs to do.....Hmmmmm..interesting!!!!! Maybe she is a troll, or maybe she is working for the "company." Hmmmmm....Interesting.

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On 11/7/08 at 8:54 PM, Saltoria wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

mainecommenter: I work in the school system. I see what goes on first hand. I KNOW where money can be saved and where it is wasted. When schools are consolidated, don't be fooled into thinking that the administration will be cut and money will be saved. It won't happen! The first thing to go will be teachers (translate that into bigger class sizes). The last thing to go will be secretaries for the administrators and the number of other personnel not directly involved with student education. That isn't to suggest that those folks don't play an important role in running the school , but I would rather go without non essential educational positions (to quote the state.ed. dept.) than put 25 kids in a class these days!! I welcome anyone to come into a classroom for a day, and imagine how education will improve by making those classes BIGGER!!!! YIKES!

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On 11/7/08 at 8:56 PM, Saltoria wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

It is interesting that Anne_OF _MDI stopped posting at 8:02 pm.

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On 11/7/08 at 8:59 PM, anne_of_mdi wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

What the he&&? What is going on here? I can't take it anymore! Aaaaargggh!!

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On 11/7/08 at 9:31 PM, Saltoria wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

anne...what is wrong? What is it you can't take friend/

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On 11/8/08 at 11:23 AM, Saltoria wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Oh anne, I know you probably won't be visiting here again, but if you do, I wanted to let you know that I will be going out for awhile later this afternoon and probably won't be back until after dinner time, that is as long as I have a safe landing. I need to adjust the lasers on my spaceship.

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On 11/8/08 at 11:45 AM, anne_of_mdi wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Saltoria, I apologize. I was way off base. I realize you can't possibly be a troll if you dine at Bugaboo Creek. It won't happen again. Sorry!

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On 11/8/08 at 12:28 PM, Rogue_Wave wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Anne has finally started the self-destruction stage of her rantings. I just hope the island can contain her.

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On 11/8/08 at 12:45 PM, anne_of_mdi wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Rogue_Wave I haven't self-destructed, and my apology was sincere.

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On 11/8/08 at 2:01 PM, Saltoria wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Thanks Anne..apology most gratefully accepted.

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On 11/8/08 at 2:21 PM, markko wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

"I realize you can't possibly be a troll if you dine at Bugaboo Creek." -anne_of_mdi

This has to be one of the Top 10 quotes on here, ever.

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On 11/8/08 at 2:40 PM, Saltoria wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

If that is on the top ten, I'd like to see the other nine!

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On 11/8/08 at 6:06 PM, anne_of_mdi wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Thanks Markko. I have my moments. Not too proud of that one, however. Oh well. Onward!

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On 11/8/08 at 6:51 PM, Saltoria wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

hmmmm..okay. so now I am really confused. Markko makes fun of Anne after she she offers a sincere apology and now she is taking it back? Sorry anne, you need to help me out here, because I might not get it and I don't want to think badly about someone...

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On 11/8/08 at 6:55 PM, anne_of_mdi wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Saltoria, I wasn't taking the apology back. I was saying that I wasn't proud of the comment leading up to the apology.

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