VEAZIE, Maine — RSU 26 administrators had to make difficult decisions several months ago when deciding what positions and programs to put on the chopping block to close a projected $2 million budget gap. But now that more money is available, the board is faced with tough choices as to what it will save.
Based on changing state allocation projections, the board can put $439,000 back into the budget to save positions, and that number could increase in the next couple of weeks if a contract negotiation gets resolved, according to Superintendent Douglas Smith.
During Wednesday night’s board meeting, representatives from each community brought forward priorities of what they’d like to see saved.
In Glenburn, a librarian, education technician and stipend for a substitute principal topped the list.
In Veazie, Principal Scott Nichols requested reinstating one teaching position to assure class sizes aren’t boosted too much if enrollment figures rise next school year. Next on the list would be to reinstate the physical education teacher to full-time status and allow the guidance counselor to work four days per week rather than three.
Orono representatives, who met Monday, first recommended retaining two separate principal positions, one at Asa C. Adams School and the other at Orono Middle School. The board, with the exception of four of the five Orono members, voted last week to eliminate the principal positions and replace them with one K-8 principal to serve both schools.
Also on Orono’s list is the reinstatement of Asa Adams’ guidance counselor to full time, restoring the physical education teacher and covering supplies.
Among the many concerns for representatives was how cutting or reinstating a teaching position might affect class sizes, a difficult thing to predict with fluctuating enrollment numbers in schools of varied sizes.
“I have a hard time supporting an administrator over keeping a teacher in the classroom,” said Lisa Buck, the lone Orono member who voted in favor of eliminating the principal positions.
It’s a time of uncertainty for the school district, which is made up of Veazie, Glenburn and Orono schools. Veazie and Glenburn residents each voted overwhelmingly Tuesday night to begin the withdrawal process from the district.
The board, district administrators and members of the public all have acknowledged that the cuts are difficult but that not every position or program can be saved.
“If you have to make a decision, you have to make a decision.” Orono representative Leo Kenney said. “There’s not an infinite amount of money.”
During the public comment session, Sally Brooker of Orono questioned why Asa Adams was having its physical education program cut to four days per week while Orono Middle School’s physical education was on the list to be restored to the budget.
“How do you make the determination that one [specialist] is more valuable than another?” Brooker, a teacher at Asa, asked the board. “I haven’t seen any of the Asa Adams recommendations given full attention. The priority should be students and I’m just not seeing that.”
Board Chairwoman Alison Mitchell said tough decisions have to be made and that these cuts have been difficult on everyone.
“What we need right now is to work together and not be divisive,” Mitchell said with a wavering voice as she held back tears. “Don’t shoot the messenger, we’re doing the best we can.”
The children are the ones who will suffer in the long run if administrators are chosen over teachers/technology/textbooks.
We are not choosing an administrator over teachers, were are choosing a LEADER. Mr Lucy is the best principle I have every dealt with, he works harder and tries more things to get results than any principle I have ever seen. The Asa Adams principle was said to be self less for offering to eliminate her job, what you did not see was that she believes that she will get the combined job because she has done this exact thing before and the superintendent actually talked about her experience. The Board wants to get rid of Mr Lucy because he makes more than any other administrator… or so they think. Look at the assistant principle at OHS, is also the facility director and gets additional income from that and is the football coach and gets more there. Do your own research.
I’ve done my research. I CHOSE Orono for the schools. I support the schools. I was at the entire meeting last night. I have experienced both administrators, both have their strengths and weaknesses. Only a fool would think otherwise. Going to the gutter in the name of anonymity really makes Orono look like a bunch of self righteous snobs! I would hope that this is not the impression you want to give of citizens of Orono.
I don’t believe the Asa principle thinks she is a shoe in for the position by any stretch and I don’t believe the board wants to get rid of Lucy just because he makes over 100K per year. The best solution is a shared principle between middle school and high school. Obviously common sense is lacking when that option won’t even be considered.
Taxes raised? Check.
We have more money than we thought?
LET’S SPEND IT!
Figures. And next year’s taxes? We’ll just raise ’em some more!
The RSU has not raised taxes since its inception and has had a flat budget. Any tax raises were state or town driven. Get yer facts straight
Yes, but was the pre-RSU budget portion the town forks over less than the post-RSU budget? Did they raise it in anticipation of future projected numbers?
I didn’t see a great jump in the municipal side of the town budget (enough to justify the increases in taxes and the valuations). Interesting.
As a parent who stayed for the entire meeting I think it is only fair to share the real story not the one that the paper is sharing. The board members last night showed exactly why the RSU has failed, several members refused to reverse a previous vote about the principles but would have voted for the change back to 2 principles if it meant they did not have to rescind their previous vote. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE? Glenburn gets a new 10k sign, but could not agree on finding money for new text books because the process for approving the curriculum was not followed(they do not have one), Also there has been no talk of eliminating the Curriculum Coordinators job who has no contact with students and keeping the principles. Just a few things for people to think about.
What you saw was something that has been playing out since the beginning of the rsu. Some Glenburn and Veazie reps on the board have been undermining the board all along waiting for the three year period to elapse so they can get out of the forced merger. They did not come in with an attitude of trying to make it work. One Orono rep wants the rsu to fail so the regional high school plan with Old Town can be resurrected. In the end, it will fail because of misinformation and no desire by some to truly try to make it work. This will cost us all more money in the end.
Orono and Old Town in a combined school system…. sign me up. This would create a great school that would provide a superior education for students in this area.
The issues would be the same…
In a well working system the CC is an integral part of the education process. While they may have no direct contact with children, the ability to move a system forward impacts upon every student k – every day of the school year.
Glenburn’s initial reductions were 9k higher that what was asked of them in the interest of helping the entire RSU. Glenburn gets a sign…be fair and explain to folks how much of the bond that was passed went to improvements in the Orono schools. Heck of a lot more than the cost of a sign. This bond money can only be used to improve the schools, can not be used to support the education in that system. Glenburn had 11k left out of their share. Why can’t they spend it on an improvement for their school???
RSU was supposed to save money but when you look at the big picture it is going to cost more because we are keeping the high paid administration and cutting teachers i thought the RSU was supposed to trim the admin. and lower the budget, silly me
It did save money. The RSU has not asked for a tax increase and overall costs have been kept in check. If your taxes went up blame your town or state valuations not the rsu.
But the RSU was going to ask for a property tax increase until they “found” extra money to cover administrator’s positions. There is no evidence that the RSU has saved any money or has been more educationally sound for students.
The consolidation law was never intended to be “more educationally sound”, it’s intent was to reduce Central Office expenditures, plain and simple.
It was only designed to cut central admin, not school building admin.
Seriously, what does a school librarian do? Stamp due dates and memorize the Dewey Decimal system? At $50k+? Does that particular position assist students in their education? Wikipedia has replaced the encyclopedia, don’t you know. Does a school need a new sign to ensure a bus driver knows where to drop kids off? There’s only one school? You could call it “the school” and at least save a few bucks on letters…we have more so let’s spend more!
She does what fatcat politicians (most of whom haven’t stepped foot into a school since 1970) tell you that you must provide to educate your children in order to secure federal funds to run your school. The particular librarian in question helped to build it into what it is now, and once upon a time it was a TOWN responsibility not the school’s. Thank you federal government educational mandates that no one seems to know exist.
The sign? Yeah, that’s a little ridiculous in my book.
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/06/26/are-school-librarians-expendable/dont-blame-the-principal
“The issue is not what position administrators and principals want to cut; the issue is which ones they are forced to cut. Given the option, I know few administrators who would say that the librarian position should be at the top of the list. But with virtually all classroom and some support positions protected by state or federal law, administrators have few options.”
What a librarian does:
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-does-a-school-librarian-do.htm
Librarian is a service occupation, a gas station attendant of the mind.
Whatever schools both of you attended should be proud of their graduates. NOT!
Seriously, what does a school librarian do? Stamp due dates and memorize the Dewey Decimal system? At $50k+? Does that particular position assist students in their education? Wikipedia has replaced the encyclopedia, don’t you know.
Does a school need a new sign to ensure a bus driver knows where to
drop kids off? There’s only one school? You could call it “the school”
and at least save a few bucks on letters…we have more so let’s spend
more!
Actually, a librarian does a lot more than that these days….In addition, at Asa, she’s also in charge of a lot of the technology in the computer lab.
Yes, librarians are not merely filing clerks, they are information locating specialists. That is an essential component for education.
No, the librarian at Asa is NOT “in charge of a lot of the technology in the computer lab.” She helps monitor it and teaches digital citizenship in 4th & 5th grades, another teacher also monitors the hardware and teaches digital citizenship in K-3. A third teacher is responsible for the software that runs the attendance/progress report system. RSU #26 has a Director of Technology that is in charge of all of this.
… and this is where you demonstrate your lack of understanding with the current educational process. Children of today are not competing with kids from Old Town or Portland for colleges and jobs, they are competing with kids from Taiwan, Istanbul, and perhaps Moscow. I will also tell you if you accept Wikipedia as your only source of accurate informative information you will be making broad based statements which are not fact based. Said differently, you will have egg on your face.
Where do your kids do their research? Do they go to the school library or to the world wide web? Where to they find reading material? At the school library or on their Kindle/Nook/iPad? The point is, hire teachers so our children can compete with international students. I’d bet, kids from Taiwan, Istanbul and Moscow find their educational information on-line, not in a library.
They use a combination of the library and on line. However both my children are using peer reviewed journals for their research now. You specified Wikipedia, not online. Yes online resources have replaced at times the need to go to a brick and mortar library, however Wikipedia is written by whoever wants to add to the article. It is not considered a reputable source for research.
“Wikipedia as your only source of accurate informative information…”ha ha ha ha ha. Excellent point.
If I had a plug nickel for every single time I’ve researched something my kids pulled off Wikipedia because it doesn’t seem right to me, I’d be able to retire tomorrow.
Unreal attitude.
People need to realize that there were laws put in place by people who probably haven’t stepped into a classroom since 1970.
The library was, once upon a time, part of the town budget (not the school’s). The librarian in question spent her career building into what it now is. But I suppose, since we want the best of everthing that we don’t seem to want to pay for now, she can just go peddle wares at Wal-Mart like the rest of us do now.
Once politicians got involved by saying “Do this, or we won’t send you one thin dime.” as usual, the towns were screwed. An RSU is required BY LAW to have at least one librarian. They chose the one from Orono. I presume tenure was involved.
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/06/26/are-school-librarians-expendable/dont-blame-the-principal
“The issue is not what position administrators and principals want to cut; the issue is which ones they are forced to cut. Given the option, I know few administrators who would say that the librarian position should be at the top of the list. But with virtually all classroom and some support positions protected by state or federal law, administrators have few options.”
They have the option to cut administration and save teaching positions. Only one administrator was willing to do the right thing. She offered sound economic proposals at the risk of losing her own job. I say she is the one that we should keep….
I agree that they have the option to cut administrative positions and that those should go before teaching positions should go.
The gray area for most people it seems is whether the Librarian is federally (or state) considered a teaching position or an administrative position.
Personally, I think she’s getting the shaft regardless of the ability to save a few bucks by replacing her with a part-time tech. She does more than teach them about the Dewey Decimal system.
As evidenced by the comment I responded to originally, the person still believes that’s all they do.
Stamp the due date? hehehe. That was so almost decades ago now.
Be that as it may, before people go yelling about the need for a librarian in a school system at all, they need to understand that someone, somewhere has mandated it.
I find it ironic that two towns want out of the rsu because of loss of local control, but they won’t let Orono decide how to run its schools. Hypocrites much?
How so?
Really, you ask this question. The other towns would do anything to get back at Orono. Glenburn is spending $10k on a sign in front of the school, maybe math books would be a better way to spend it, just throwing that out there.
correction conservativedad…up to the $11,o00 left over from the generator fund.
OHHHH I am truly sorry for my mistake, After all the money has to go to Glenburn even if there is not enough money to finish the handicap accessible entrance to the 2 schools in Orono and the stage and the cafeteria.
I thought that was what the bond money was for…as tax payers, we should insist our tax money be spent on the things we were told were needed, not put here and there where they want to now.
Yes it would be a much better way to spend it considering their math program stinks IMHO. I think they could get away with painting the old one.
In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards. – Mark Twain
“Cute” sayings like that (and people who live to be on power trips) are exactly why most ordinary people (who care more about the actual education of our children) don’t get involved in school boards in the first place.
You can’t please all of the people all of the time, but lately, you can’t please anybody anytime.
Sad.
If you really want to point some blame, let’s start at the beginning of the equation and not blame “cute” quotes. If parents actually took some responsibility for their child’s behavior and took some interest in their child’s school work instead of responding to every problem concerning their child with: ‘my child would never do that’, there might besome real progress in the education of our children. If you are concerned with people on power trips why don’t you try blaming some of these parents?
Why is it never the children’s behavior or lack of motivation that are ever the problem? It’s always the teachers; the unions; the age of the schools; the administrators; the curriculum; the lack of school prayer; classroom size; lack of local control; or the school board.
Why don’t we ask the parents why their children are a problem or why their children have no motivation? Do you really think having more parents that believe their children are perfect attending school board meetings are going to change anything?
Here’s another “cute” quote for you: “Never underestimate the power of stupid
people in large groups.”
Oh yes, the parents. All parents are idiots too. I forgot that being one myself. Duh.
Silly me – what was I thinking? I guess I need to spend even more time checking grades online, emailing and speaking to teachers on the phone, and going in to see what needs to be caught up on if that’s the case. Ditto for removing the offending child’s cell phone, internet, and anything else fun.
I guess I must just be the only one who does that. Hmmmm.
But still, we lump all parents just as we do all unions, administrators, teachers, ministers, blah, blah, blah…into one bucket and label them ‘at fault.’
I guess landing back on the old ‘us against them’ football team mentality argument, and criticizing everyone is easier than working on a solution and compromising.
I don’t think I suggested we place the all the blame on parents. I simply want to know
why when things go wrong in the school system most parents take no responsibility
for
their own children’s behavior or
motivation.
Why am I wrong for asking that question?
Did I say that YOU were a bad parent? NO. I know many great parents who take a great deal of interest in their children’s school work, but all it takes is one or
two bad children in a classroom to bring down the learning experience for all the children. You’re right when you say: ”criticizing everyone is easier
than working on a solution and compromising.” But blaming everyone and
everything else and not taking responsibility is also easier than finding a solution.
“But blaming everyone and
everything else and not taking responsibility is also easier than finding a solution”
That would be my point.
And this has to do with the budget how?
If that is truly the way you feel, why don’t you take out nomination papers and run for a position. The you can be involved in every decisions and have your motives challenged and your reputation denigrated by the people whom you serve.