MADAWASKA, Maine — Teaching positions, academic and athletic programs and extracurricular activities are all on the chopping block as the Madawaska School Committee looks for ways to cut more than $525,000 from the current budget.
“Everything is on the table at this point,” Superintendent Terry Wood said Wednesday afternoon.
Residents will get their first look at proposed budget cuts Thursday afternoon when the Madawaska School Committee holds an emergency meeting to drastically reduce spending for the current fiscal year, which started July 1.
Some preseason basketball games for this weekend already have been canceled and members of the teachers’ association learned Wednesday about a plan to eliminate 10 teaching positions this year.
Bonny Plourde-Tingley, a fifth-grade teacher and co-president of the teachers’ association negotiating team, said she learned about the possible teacher cuts on Wednesday afternoon from Yves Dube, chairman of the school committee.
When reached at home Wednesday evening, Dube would not discuss details of any budget proposals or cuts.
“I am reluctant to say anything about that right now,” Dube said. “What we have now are official documents between the school committee and the [teachers] association and I don’t think I can make them public.”
From coffee shops to the grocery store to the halls of Madawaska High School, talk on Wednesday was of how the needed cuts would be made and the potential impact on education.
“The people of this town need to decide where the priorities are,” Gisele Faucher, a teacher and member of the teacher negotiating team, said Wednesday afternoon. “Do they want a school with more than just the basics or do they want to be able to offer more?”
Cutting 10 teachers, Faucher said, would bring the total number of teachers in the system to 33 among the elementary, middle and high schools.
“We already have middle school kids being taught by high school teachers,” Jenny Bechard, negotiating team co-president, said.
More than 300 residents soundly defeated the previously proposed budget and sent it back to the school committee during a special town meeting on Nov. 19. That budget proposal included a $271,000 increase over the previous year despite prior calls by town officials for a $250,000 decrease, Town Manager Christine Therrien said Wednesday morning.
At the same meeting residents approved the municipal budget, which did include $250,000 in reductions from the previous year, Therrien said.
The need for the budget cutbacks was prompted by property tax abatements granted to Twin Rivers Paper Co., reducing its valuation from $170 million to $85 million over a four-year period beginning in fiscal year 2010.
If the municipal and school budgets each had made the $250,000 in cuts, Therrien said, Madawaska’s mill rate would rise from $15.90 per $1,000 in property value to $17.90. Without the school committee cuts, she said, the rate will rise an additional $2 per thousand.
According to language written into the recently ratified teachers contract, the teachers association agreed to reopen its collective bargaining unit “if the revaluation of the Twin Rivers Mill results in a tax abatement and an unprecedented change in the mill rate” and if all other options for meeting the budget have been considered.
The situation, Faucher and her fellow negotiating team members said Wednesday, is nowhere near that point yet.
Budget problems were being felt this week with Tuesday’s announced cancellations of boys and girls preseason basketball games, according to a message posted by athletic director Benjamin Sirois on the Madawaska Parent/Athlete information blog.
The preseason tournament game this weekend for the Owls high school boys at Central Aroostook in Mars Hill has been canceled, along with hoops action for the high school girls on Dec. 3 and 4 at Washburn, according to Sirois’ blog post. No decision has been announced on whether play will resume for the regular season.
Madawaska middle school A- and B-team games scheduled with Fort Kent for Nov. 28 and 29 also have been canceled until further notice, according to Sirois’ posts.
Calls to Sirois were not returned Wednesday.
At least one high school student is not pleased with the direction the cuts could take.
“I’m upset and I don’t think they should cut our athletic programs,” the sophomore, who did not want to be identified, said Wednesday. “High school is where you learn good habits and those continue on in life [and] they are taking away opportunities from us.”
Superintendent Wood said it will be up to the school committee at Thursday’s meeting to act on the suggested cuts and, one way or another, a decision must be made by Dec. 3 to allow enough time for a special town meeting to vote on the new budget to be posted. That special town meeting is slated for Dec. 10, she said.
Regardless of what happens, Wood said, she is well aware there will be consequences within the community.
“I don’t understand how people can feel with the cuts that must be made it will not impact students,” she said. “These cuts should have been done a long time ago.”
The public will be allowed 15 minutes to comment at the start of Thursday’s emergency school committee meeting and if turnout is heavy, the location may be changed to accommodate the public, committee Chairman Dube said. That decision will be made before the meeting is called to order.
This is not good news. I feel bad for these kids who just want to play basketball. I wonder how much more of this we are going to endure before we decide to do something to get America back to work and paying taxes, federal, state, and local.
How about the state going back and fixing the ridiculous school funding law and new formula that was created about 5 years ago. Rural districts were hit the worst, and it’s not getting any better.
How about our taxes go towards getting a good education, not playing sports!
Kids are fatter than ever. We have an obesity problem in this country …..Cancelling sports will only make this epidemic worse. My daughter went to Catholic school. Many of the parents transported the kids to games. I assume these adults have cars…..
The obesity problem has nothing to do with high school sports. The obesity problem starts at home. In fact, there are a great many studies which show that poverty at home leads to obesity. Sports is not a cure for poverty, a good education is. Put the money where it is intended to be, providing a great education not teaching 5% of your students how to catch a football.
You didn’t play sports did you? Sports teaches leadership, team work and courage as well. Is that valuable.
True, but when it comes to choosing which is more important, academics come first.
What percentage of our young people that attend West Point, and the other Service academies do you suppose participated in a team sport in high school? Somewhere leaders have to be created in our society…sports is part of that.
Again, True! But how many high school graduates attend West Point or enlist in the military? Yes, participating in sports teaches leadership *if* you’re a team captain. And yes, I have played on a sports team (lacrosse) and served 4 years active duty in the U.S. Army.
Years of education and other varied experiences go into creating our county’s leaders. Yes, it’s a smaller group of people, but we need them. Let’s eliminate the Boy Scouts, the YMCA and other places where young men and women rise to the top.
And we agree once more! But I think kids in school can participate in sports without having to travel from one end of the state to the other. Keep the sporting events local (or at least within the county) and it won’t cost so much to transport them. Plus this would save many folks on gas on the away games.
You know what teaches teamwork and the value of an education. It’s called A SUMMER JOB! There is absolutely nothing like getting paid badly and treated worse by some half-wit ignorant power hungry egomaniac boss to motivate a person to get an education so that they can do better. If the student still hasn’t learned the value of this lesson, or needs to learn about leadership, then join the military for 2 years after graduating from high school. That will teach them all then need to know about leadership, teamwork, and the value of a good education. No it isn’t too late then, college awaits.
We do have cars…but if the school isn’t supporting it the MPA won’t recognize the or let them play.
One would think that the MPA would find a way to let the parents transport their own kids. Good luck!
Sports among many other extra curricular activities have been proven time and again to not only keep kids IN school, but keep kids doing well in class as well as behaving in and out of school. These “extra” curricular activities are just as important as math class.
Percentage wise only a very small number of children participate in extracurricular sports. So no, these activities are not as important as math. Good grief! Sports will not get you a job nor will it put bread in the pantry. Math can and will.
Not true. At most schools in Maine, percentages of students in participate in extra curricular activities (not just sports) are very high. And, sports can and do get people jobs every day. And I’m not talking about becoming a pro athlete. Obviously those odds are very long, however, when you consider all the associated jobs with sports from the high school athletic director to college level jobs to professional jobs. It could be in broadcasting, sports medicine, the list goes on. Open up that closed mind a little and you just might be surprised at what you discover!!
“The true purpose of an education is to build minds, not careers.” – Chris Hedges
I’d rather see a sport cancelled than have a teacher laid off. It appears Madawaska has their priorities straight.
I agree! I’ve always said that way too much is spent on sports (uniforms, equipment, travel, etc.). But then again, I was (still am?) a nerd!
We had both sports, AND a low teacher/student ratio in my youth…. ….art, music, theatre — even free Driver Education in our small, rural Maine school! We also had family wages for our parents…… We owe our children at least as much.
Did you also have a viable paper business footing the tax bill?
Funny how “business” was plenty “viable” during periods of high taxes and union membership, of sound public wealth… Do you think that just happened? …..that “free markets”gave us what we had? Previous generations fought hard, like real, self- governing people! We, on the other hand, have been far too passive in accepting the dictates of capital holders to starve our public infrastructure, especially schools. …..to believe that we bear no responsibility to see that OUR children have what our parents DEMANDED for us; that we owe them nothing….. We absolutely owe the next generation at least the investment we enjoyed.
Sad that the generation of people who have been running the world since I was born; (baby boomers) having enjoyed the highest level of societal investment, high wages and good pensions… turn around and hand the next generation “Atlas Shrieked”…..
I agree with you to a point. In good economic times, I would like sports to be a part of the school offerings, but these are very tough times and cuts must be made somewhere or taxes will rise even more and harm already strapped families (some with children) who are just able to scrape by.
During the good times, we can offer more. During the hard times, like now, which haven’t been this bad since The Great Depression, we must sacrifice even though we don’t want to.
Cutting schools during hard times doesn’t make the families you describe more financially secure at all.
Our children should not be asked to sacrifice any more. We were raised with family wages; today it’s more working poverty and latchkey children though Americans work more paid hours than anyone on Earth.
Stop fighting over crumbs left over from war, corporate welfare and tax havens, and demand our wealth back!
I can’t even begin to count the number of ways in which this is a bad idea. Small town with limited opportunities for bored kids, a major obesity problem, long cold winters that leave kids otherwise stuck inside….It’s just bad policy to kill off extra-curricular activities. They should find a way to come up with the small amount of money that the team would require. A well rounded eduction is going to be essential for the people of that town – that mill isn’t going to be around forever.
Do you live in Madawaska?
I understand where you’re coming from. I really do. These people from Bangor, or ‘away’ or whatever you want to call them can’t possibly understand the unique issues of Madawaska. And on some level you are right – I don’t get French Fries doused in Gravy, especially given the obesity problem. But anybody can see the problems associated with a town that is reliant on a single industry. I bet that people who aren’t drowning with the industry can see it even more clearly than those who are trapped in it. Madawaska needs intramural sports. Probably more than school districts closer to population centers. The kids in Madawaska need options. Limiting their options is a very bad idea.
I agree the kids need options to fill their time and keep them out of trouble. The only problem is all those options cost money, which taxpayers don’t have after the closing of the air base. I hear many homes are being abandoned and numerous others are being taken by the bank for non-payment. I would imagine some homes are being lost due to non-payment of property taxes. Homeowners are very strapped and don’t have more to give during these hard times.
Maybe the kids, parents, the town and the school can come up with a way to make money to keep these sports programs. We’re Mainers and can be very clever when it comes to ways to make something work.
Pretty sad that our youth is being affected in many ways thru sports and ciriculum because of the overpaid teaching staff. They would rather make boat loads of money then actually do what there supposed to and be the for our youth
It is nice to be able to comment on articles such as these. But when we do we should be positive rather than negative. By this i mean if you have a suggestion to correct the inefficiencies why don’t you state them here rather than put down the very people that are trying to educate our children. Although the cost of personnel is the biggest driver of employment we need these people. Cutting programs are difficult in any endeavor and it is far reaching. Look at the federal deficit and the burden it is putting on our future generations. What i do see with education is a continual rise in the cost and no one seems to be holding them accountable. for those that should go out and participate in the budget process that is one way to get a handle on your complaints.
ya, teachers make BOATLOADS of money….cite your source for the teacher salaries in Madawaska…
http://Www.mainegov.org madawaska teachers are paid 3rd highest in state
find a credible source. Madawaska DOES NOT have the 3rd highest teacher salary in the state. https://www.medms.maine.gov/medms_public/ReportPortal/ShowReport.aspx
I’ve always wanted to ask someone attacking teacher compensation, “What, in your view, constitutes a fair salary… retirement plan for teachers.” I mean a number: at what dollar amount would you stop pushing to lower it? ….not a loaded question; just curious.
Funny, I asked that and the answer I got was more then what teachers I know make.
The last I knew, it was state mandated that first year teachers make $30,000. That’s not a bad starting salary for someone who works 9 months a year. In fact, that’s not a bad salary for someone starting out in ANY job for 12 months a year. Now granted, the high end is not great, especially in rural Maine, but I know teachers making $50k+ in rural Maine and I know teachers making substantially more in Southern Maine.
If you think education is expensive, you should try ignorance.
Maine teachers overpaid? Maine state teacher’s pay is the lowest in the Northeast and 33rd in the country overall ; (http://www.teacherportal.com/salary/Maine-teacher-salary)
Maybe you need to address the salaries of Superintendent’s and other administrators before you refer to Maine teachers making “boatloads of money” because I sure didn’t as a teacher. And remember sir, the primary purpose of school is academics, not sports.
http://Www.mainegov.org madawaskatachers paidb3rd highest in state
Better find a better source. I found many schools that have higher average teacher salaries than Madawaska. This is a credible site:https://www.medms.maine.gov/medms_public/ReportPortal/ShowReport.aspx
That is totally untrue, better find an accurate source.
What an idiotic post.
Only a dimwit or a liar continues to try to spread that lie.
Teachers in Maine are not paid well by national standards, nor by private sector standards for someone with a degree and experience in their profession.
On top of that, most Maine teachers reach into their own pockets for some of the supplies that their students use.
$30,000 to start for an education running about 100k for tuition room, board, books and incidentals. Is that great investment? Get a clue….
If you’re spending $100k on a college education to teach in Maine, the joke is on you!!! There are FAR cheaper options that are great options.
UMO is 23k for in state tuition , room and board. Perhaps the other campuses are a little less. Any way you cut it-it’s 100k plus interest on some loans for lots of kids.Do the research.
I have done the research. A 4 year degree at UMM is about $60,000 with room and board. That’s a far cry from $100,000. And realistically, how many get zero financial aid??? Very few. And how many live at home and commute? More than half at many of the smaller universities.
You know, there ARE people out there who want to teach in Maine so they can help provide a good education for its kids. All colleges will add up to roughly that amount in four years if you don’t have scholarships. You may think that the joke is on them, but at least they dedicating their lives to helping Maine’s children.
That’s very noble of them. If they truly want to help the children of Maine, they will do everything they can to ensure a well rounded education, not just in academics. A well rounded education includes extra curricular activities (not just sports).
If YOU feel so strongly that students should get extra-curricular activities, perhaps you should consider donating your time rather than dumping on teachers. Many teachers do facilitate these activities, but not all are able to, and they shouldn’t be forced.
I am NOT dumping on teachers. I’m saying we should NOT be getting rid of extra curricular activities under the FALSE pretense that they are not important.
And I DO donate my time. I spend hundreds of hours every year donating my time for area youth activities.
Insinuating that teachers don’t care unless they can run extra-curricular activities and saying that 100k is too much for a teacher to spend pursuing a career in education sounds like dumping to me.
Nice job twisting my words. I’m saying it’s not necessary for a teacher to spend $100k pursuing a career in education. Spend as much as you want, but don’t complain that you can’t pay your student loans back because teachers “don’t get paid enough” in Maine. We all know what teachers get paid. It’s not a secret. A wannabe teacher should know this before spending $100k on a college degree.
Regardless, this has nothing to do with the article.
Such an incredibly misleading headline. Having read the Madawaska sports blog myself and checking their online calendar, NOWHERE does it say that regular season games are canceled, but instead ONLY preseason games. Great job BDN in creating a headline that automatically leads people to assume that the entire BB season has been wiped out because of budget issues.
Glad to see that the story has been updated to better reflect what’s actually happening.
Basketball is not even a sport.
really? what do you consider a sport? nascar?
Nah, probably Lingerie Football.
I was thinking word search puzzles.
Bounce,bounce,bounce,toss a ball in a hoop. Bounce,bounce,bounce,toss a ball in a hoop. Bounce ,bounce, bounce —-boring! No skills involved, be tall, thats it.
I am short and was a point guard. No skills? Obviously you have never played or attempted to play. Go try to dribble a basketball and walk. Then try to shoot. I bet you will be just like a professional since there is no skill involved. Oh, and the ball has to go in the hoop in order to count. Ever think about the mental part of the game? Do you do anything productive or just spout off at the mouth like you have a clue?
I can’t stand basketball. I might even say that I hate it, well I guess I just did. but it’s still a sport.
They can not even afford sports . Haha Bangor Just needs that $7 million dollar football field .
Yeah, Yarmouth is spending $4.5 Million on a sports field too. It’s nice to see the state taking care of ALL communities. What a joke.
Let’s hope they still allow the marching band to come to Bangor for the Festival of Light parade. Otherwise, there probably won’t be a high school band in the parade.
Sad thing is that they have cut a lot of band as well. The Marching band is barely half of what it was last year. Due to the reduced credits the administration has attached to band studies my son can’t participate anymore if he want to graduate with enough credits.
It’s unfortunate they lost their amazing band teacher awhile back. Madawaska had one of the best bands in the state.
The absolute best thing the town of Madawaska can do for itself is get rid of Christine Therrien.
How many pre-season games do they have and how much can that possibly save?
The basketball teams, chearleaders and football etc. due to budget cuts. Everyday tax payers should NOT have to pay taxes for a limited few to play sports.
The size of sports teams hasn’t changed. Our parents paid for that “limited few” for our generation…..
If a school system has “a limited few” participating in sports and other extra activities that’s an even bigger problem. Lot’s of high quality Maine High Schools have a very large portion of the student body involved in everything to math team to baseball. Walk into John Bapst, MDI,Hampden Academy or Orono-just to name a few -and ask what percentage of the students participate?
I have worked in the Madawaska systems for years and sports is needed to give the kids things to do instead of walking around town looking for trouble, Why not ask the parents who have kids that want to play sports, pay so much for their child to play the sport. It would help, I’m sure
This is just one of the tactics schools use when their budgets are threatened…cancel or threaten to cancel sports. It’s right out of their playbook, just as towns and cities threaten to reduce fire/police protection when budgets are questioned.
“The need for the budget cutbacks was prompted by property tax abatements granted to Twin Rivers Paper Co., reducing its valuation from $170 million to $85 million over a four-year period beginning in fiscal year 2010.”
Maybe we shouldn’t be doing things like this?
Unfortunately, because of the laws, Twin Rivers is able to ask for tax breaks, and they’ll likely keep asking for tax breaks. If there were more industries in town, to bring in revenue, the impact wouldn’t be so great. Who are the real losers in this equation? The students…
You know, I find this very sickening and unfortunate that Madawaska’s school system is holding this town hostage. As a lifelong resident, I find it so sad that this school system does NOT want to bend backwards to keep this town afloat. As a resident, I can no longer keep paying high wages to town employees who feel that they are owed that money. A few years ago, the major taxpayers in Madawaska, namely employees of Twin Rivers Paper took an 8.5% cut in pay. The fear was ingrained in the mill workers that if the mill did not get their concessions, they could shut it down making once prosperous Madawaska, nothing more than a ghost town. Well, now we’re asking simply that the school system look at cutting back on some of the highest paid wage earners in this town and valley. Equality would be fair, mill employees lost 8.5%, mill employees also lost their traditional pension fund to the government, and mill employees are pay high insurance rates. I understand that teachers are qualified to teach, same as some mill workers being qualified to work in high voltage areas of the mill. Difference here is the mill folks lost, the educators did not, and my opinion is that they should reopen their contract and work together to resolve this issue. One cannot continue to bleed the tax system. There must be a balance and cutting sports is just a way to pit neighbor against neighbor. This is very unprofessional.
Do you know who the real losers are in this situation? The students. With these cuts, the Madawaska school system is now below what the state recommends for essentials services and programs. The teachers in this town are not appreciated, and education in this town is not valued. I have never seen a town so opposed to education. The students know how important a good education is, too bad their parents don’t know the same. Madawaska has one of the lowest mil rates in the state–just a little known fact. Raising the mil rate 1.5 more would bring in the extra revenue needed to close that $500,000 hole. If you think education is expensive, you should try ignorance.
Wage concessions, and slashing schools never really solve anything for long. They can never be “enough”. Communities need decent wages and a sound reasonable tax base.
You make some excellent points. However when a school system becomes noncompetitive in teacher wages and benefits the BEST staff members can leave an go to another system. The bad teachers stay.
Typical lets cut school activities so that we can give a big paper mill tax breaks.. And then we can cut school activities.. In a place where 1 in 3 kids are doing drugs and drinking, A place where there is absolutely nothing for kids to do.. Lets cut more programs from them hey lets take away all school activities.. And maybe we can give even more tax breaks to the paper mill.. Lets face it after all with the internet and most companies like t-mobile, Verizon, at and t, time Warner etc to name a few how about the electric companies and even your credit union.. They all want you to pay your bills online they are trying to go paperless.. With the paper industry slowly dying lets invest and buy useless stock too while were at it.. Sorry but this is not only sitting badly with me it is really pissing me off with all these tax breaks.. Hey Governor i couldn’t pay my full rent this month cause i got a 3000 medical bill, I couldn’t even afford my meds for my diabetes this month either, think i can get a break so i don’t have to pay electricity and the rest of my rent? Yeah right more like hey governor i won the power ball think i can get a tax break I bet that i’d get since id be rich..
Cut the teachers and keep the sports. That’s what UMaine has been doing for years now, and it’s paid off. No one misses fired teachers, but so many miss cancelled sports. Sports build character, where ordinary classes build boredom.
Yeah – reading and writing and being able to add and subtract are like, so yesterday.
Under the extraordinary leadership of Robert Kennedy, UMaine cut back on lots of positions in the liberal arts and eliminated the entire four-member Dept. of Public Administration while bolstering athletics in terms of both new or renovated facilities and more personnel. We still await the appt. of the new Senior Assoc. Athletic Director. Gov. Baldacci strongly supported these priorities and pushed for state bond support to fix up the Memorial Gym and other bldgs. Isn’t this ‘THE WAY LIFE SHOULD BE”? FInancally strapped schools should emulate the UMaine model.
There ya go, what a great attitude. Cut academics in favor of sports. Winning!
The teen pregnancy rate is about to skyrocket there; then they’ll have a whole new set of problems. Sad.
Cut back on teachers is a good idea have them double up this has been coming for a long time we don’t need our tax’s going up every year. It has seems like the schools have run the town not the town.
Do you know who the real losers are in this situation? The students.
With these cuts, the Madawaska school system is now below what the state
recommends for essentials services and programs. The teachers in this
town are not appreciated, and education in this town is not valued. I
have never seen a town so opposed to education. The students know how
important a good education is, too bad their parents don’t know the
same. Madawaska has one of the lowest mil rates in the state–just a
little known fact. Raising the mil rate 1.5 more would bring in the
extra revenue needed to close that $500,000 hole. If you think
education is expensive, you should try ignorance.
Read the article before sounding off — it makes you look like a fool. The paper mill got a tax abatement.
buy a few soccer balls and have the kids have at it. In the poorest of the poorest countries in the world you will still see kids kicking something around in the dirt.
“We already have middle school kids being taught by high school teachers,” Jenny Bechard, negotiating team co-president, said.
The Horror….
What Jenny means is that because of past cuts the high school teachers are teaching middle school classes; the teaching staff is already stretched thin. And now with this new round of cuts, students can expect large class sizes, elimination of electives and advanced courses. These cuts put Madawaska below the state recommended minimum services and programs, and the school may lose its accreditation. Who loses in this mess? The students…
What are class sizes now and what will they be after the cuts?
Do you know who the real losers are in this situation? The students.
With these cuts, the Madawaska school system is now below what the state
recommends for essentials services and programs. The teachers in this
town are not appreciated, and education in this town is not valued. I
have never seen a town so opposed to education. The students know how
important a good education is, too bad their parents don’t know the
same. Madawaska has one of the lowest mil rates in the state–just a
little known fact. Raising the mil rate 1.5 more would bring in the
extra revenue needed to close that $500,000 hole. So say good bye to small classes, say goodbye to extra curricular activities, advanced classes and electives. If you think
education is expensive, you should try ignorance.
don’t need it. go back to basics, teach the constitution.
What’s all the complaining about? This should have been done years back, (cutting the school budget). Population doing down. You educate them, they leave town and don’t come back. So what good does that do? If they’d come back and pay taxes we wouldn’t have to be cutting down on everything.. Playing sports won’t pay taxes.
How the John Baldacci school consolidation thingy working out for everyone?. I heard it would cut property taxes. (-: