I am writing in response to recent columns in the Bangor Daily News by Sean Wasson, a resident of Orono and a teacher at Old Town High School, followed a week later by Geoffrey Wingard from Orono, the current chair of RSU 26. Both authors obviously are interested in having children in our combined communities receive the best education possible.
Their approach to the problem is from decidedly different vantage points. Mr. Wasson was writing with a viewpoint that both Old Town and Orono high schools are suffering from old facilities and dropping enrollment. He feels that a combined high school would become a medium-sized school that could assure programs would better serve our students.
He also feels that a combined location near the University of Maine could enjoy advantages the proximity of the university could offer. That would help the university in its teaching classes and give students at the combined high school the advantage of the relationship.
This certainly makes sense, but as Mr. Wingard pointed out in his column, the state’s current financial status makes its ability to adequately support new school construction at this time out of the question. Therefore, both Old Town and Orono need to make some repairs to their respective physical plants immediately to maintain minimum standards of accreditation. Both RSUs’ school boards are pursuing aggressively a program to meet at least minimum standards at each high school.
Mr. Wingard extols the merits of RSU 26 seeking out foreign students to bring their student body up to a minimum size so they could afford some of the programs they could not meet otherwise. Long-term dependence on the possible importation of foreign students would be risky for RSU 26, even though in the short term it might serve a financial need.
Old Town is likewise seeking ways of stabilizing and increasing the student body size, including seeking foreign students. It becomes rather obvious that combining the two schools would eliminate this need and certainly be a long-term solution. Obviously, neither the state nor the local communities have any obligation to finance facilities in the long term for foreign students.
Fortunately, both Old Town and Orono are wisely taking advantage of a recent stimulus program of zero-interest loans to fund a limited program to meet current accreditation issues. A study by a joint RSU 34 committee to look into the feasibility of a long-term solution to their high school problem would give each RSU a more informed perspective on the possible formation of a district high school versus the current situation of making do with two separate high schools.
Veazie and Glenburn in the RSU with Orono and Bradley and Alton in the RSU with Old Town should have no objection to this study. Each would retain their local option status, being able to either join the district high school concept or not, if such a district high school became a reality.
Permission would have to be obtained from the state to allow the two RSUs to exist without a high school. And preliminary indications are that this probably would be granted. As it stands now, even though the towns other than Old Town and Orono are sending most of their high school students to schools outside their RSUs, they are still obligated to participate in upgrading a high school that they are only partially using. The formation of a separate high school district would eliminate this duplication.
I am currently serving on an economic development committee in Old Town. As we have deliberated on what makes a community an attractive place for a business, invariably the question of the quality of the schools in the area comes up. Not only is it important for a community to have outstanding schools to benefit the education of their youth, it also is an important factor in economic development in the community.
We hope that both RSUs will seriously consider forming a combined district high school feasibility study committee soon.
Ralph Leonard is a retired businessman and former City Council and school board member from Old Town.