ELLSWORTH, Maine — Tensions are rising at the negotiation table between Regional School Unit 24 and Ellsworth, which hopes to withdraw from the school district and run its own educational affairs by the start of the 2013-2014 school year.
On Tuesday, the two camps came together for the first time since both sides crafted initial proposals for what the divorce between the RSU and its largest municipality would look like.
Stress levels were high going into the meeting, with Ellsworth’s withdrawal committee upset that it had not received the district’s proposal until about 4:30 in the afternoon, just two hours before it was to start negotiating. The committee gave the RSU its first draft several weeks ago, according to committee Chairman Mark Rosborough.
Rosborough has accused the RSU of “stonewalling” the city, which is trying to follow a tight timetable to get the withdrawal bid on the November ballot. He was frustrated at the end of Wednesday’s meeting because no board member had spoken to any of the questions or concerns he had with the board’s proposal.
“We’ve had a back and forth with the administration, and no board members have participated,” he said at the end of Tuesday’s meeting. “I’m wondering: At what point will people be willing to sit down and negotiate?”
The withdrawal committee’s proposal includes provisions for the new Ellsworth school administrative unit, or SAU, to take over the reins of education for Ellsworth students on July 1, 2013. The city would take back ownership of Ellsworth Elementary-Middle School, Ellsworth High School and Hancock County Technical Center, and would honor the contracts of RSU 24 employees.
It also calls for the new Ellsworth SAU to accept nonresident students within the capacity of its buildings. The city would take over transportation of Ellsworth students without changing any bus schedules or stop locations, and would continue to pay into RSU 24 Superintendent Suzanne Lukas’ salary and benefits package until her contract expires.
The school board has asked the proposed RSU to refund the district for capital purchases and investments in technology and equipment that have benefited Ellsworth’s schools, and that the new Ellsworth SAU will accept any K-8 students from Mariaville and any high school students from Eastbrook, Mariaville and Waltham so as to avoid any need for new construction at Sumner Memorial High School in Sullivan.
Rosborough said the city would be willing to reimburse the district for money it spent on Ellsworth, so long as the district reimbursed Ellsworth for the money it spent that benefited other towns in the RSU.
But Lukas said it’s not that simple, and that it wouldn’t be fair to the other 11 communities to take a loss because Ellsworth decided to withdraw. Essentially, Ellsworth is choosing to forgo the benefits of RSU membership, she said.
“The folks of Ellsworth did contribute to capital improvements in other towns,” she said. “However, they are choosing to leave, and not have the access to those improvements anymore, by the process of withdrawal.”
The RSU also proposed to maintain control over transportation, IT services, food service and special education administration in the new Ellsworth SAU for five years, which Rosborough and the withdrawal committee adamantly oppose. They say the whole point of secession is to take control, not to own buildings while outsourcing services to the RSU.
Lukas said the new Ellsworth SAU will have large hurdles to clear in a short time after it elects a school board and prepares to go it alone for the first time in three years. The effort to keep control over some services is an attempt to ease Ellsworth’s burden, she said.
“If there are pieces of our operation that are working really well, it might behoove you to take on our position for five years,” while focusing on other aspects of school district management, she said Tuesday night.
No decisions were made at Tuesday’s meeting, a fact that left Rosborough and at least one board member flustered.
“I’m tired of just listening to rhetoric,” said Harold White, an RSU 24 board member from Ellsworth. “Can’t we come up with a plan and vote, yes or no?”
David Bridgham, the RSU 24 business manager, told the withdrawal committee that while it may be in a hurry, the RSU can only move so fast.
“A month is not that long to do everything we’re trying to do and we’re dealing with identical requests from Hancock and Lamoine [which are also trying to withdraw from the RSU],” he said. “And with all due respect, people have lives and jobs.”
Follow Mario Moretto on Twitter at @riocarmine.
You heard it here first Ellsworth…this RSU isn’t going to die easily.
Seems like Supt. Lukas (who Ellsworth didn’t hire, the RSU did) is really looking for a divorce as she apparently wants alimony, child support, and for the city of Ellsworth to pay for the “RSU’s accustomed lifestyle.”
So the RSU gets $$$ for everything it did for Ellsworth and Ellsworth gets nothing for all it did for the RSU? Yeah right…make this as acrimonious as possible Lukas…Of course you will because you know Ellsworth will ride you out of town on a rail as soon as it can…and you want a gig for a couple of years until you retire so you’ll kiss the butts of the other towns in the RSU.
Oh, and you want control over IT, transportation, food, and special ed for five years??? The RSU didn’t even last for five years. This is the “accustomed lifestyle” demand. This isn’t about control, this is about wanting Ellsworth to pick up the tab for all these services for half a decade.
Here’s a thought Lukas…This RSU is over. Done. Send all those other towns back from whence they came just like before. An even split, and when it comes to personnel let the towns bid for them. Those who want to pay will get their choices, those who don’t, won’t.
Oh and David…a month would be plenty of time…if the RSU would be willing to meet more than once a month.
Lose your school. Lose your community. School administrative districts were no more than a scam and a few people have finally figured out that it would be nice to keep the control and the tax dollars in town. Oh, it would also be nice to keep the kids in town. But getting the control and the money back is the main thing. You will not get your schools back in town without a fight. There’s too much money at stake. And it’s fun to spend other people’s money.
I can just imagine what the RSU will charge Ellsworth for their special services. If the RSU will not bargain in good faith, it just proves they know what will happen once Ellsworth, Hancock and Lamoine leaves, they will slowly come apart. Bye Bye RSU!
The RSU wants us to pay for their upgrades but wont reimburse Ellsworth for what we paid in upgrades at other schools? BS
It became obvious during my 12 year teaching tenure at Sumner High School that with the onset of membership into RSU 24 the ambience, community strength, and validity of our DownEast community and school were compromised and dilluted. Instead of focusing on strengths within the system, the desire to “fix us” became paramount. Faculty, administration, and most important, students were denegrated and maligned. I’m sure that the independence and ability to strengthen from within were similiarly challenged within other members’ districts from this power base. Perhaps the greatest strength of Maine’s character is the independence of its towns and institutions. The intrusive infringements implemented by the RSU have been damaging. Waving the flag of nebulous monetary shifts do not justify the elimination of soverignty. Ellsworth, and others within this ill-conceived and strong armed arrangement would be advised to withdraw and seek their own paths. Ken
Really, the validity of your DownEast community was compromised? How does that happen? Did someone pull your DownEast license, yell at you or call you a bumpkin for living in a small town? So sorry the validity was tarnished. Will Ellsworth’s pulling out reaffirm the validity for you? Good luck with the paths you choose, the schools generally are under performing. So ,now make a positive suggestion on how to improve them.
Dear Clamcove1,
Thanks for your response. Rest assured that while in my position I and others with valid reform suggestions to share did so systematically and emphatically. What many not directly involved in everyday school politics fail to appreciate is that educational ideas,if not in agreement with the status quo, will not be considered or respected. At the same time I, and others were making the suggestions to “improve them” Sumner High School became one of the 10 Worst Performing Schools in The State and was mandated by the Board of Education to relieve the principal of his duties in order to receive a financial grant for remediation. Positive suggestions can only be of assistance if presented in a climate of mutual respect and within an arena of true reform. The same tired, worn out cliches are still being recycled, and the schools are still suffering. Hope that this provides some insight to your concerns. Thanks again for taking the time. Ken
The state really needs to step in. The solution: Cooperative School Unions, where the interests of all towns involved are considered, and an overarching RSU bureaucracy isn’t created. Most states in the country have COUNTY-level school districts, and here in Maine, we’re stuck with every “minor civil division” wanting a district. This is what led to Maine having 200-some superintendents with their supersalaries, supergolf weekends at the Samoset (a/k/a MPA meetings), and a total focus on athletics rather than academics. What a mess we have. We need to reinvent the wheel, apparently, over and over.
When the RSU closed Harpswell Elementary the seeds were sown for either succession or something else.
That ‘something else’ is a charter school in the original school building now empty, and its role as the ‘glue’ which held together the community once again a possibility.