ROCKLAND, Maine — Rockland voters will get to say in November whether they want to begin the process of withdrawing from the regional school district.
And the board chairman of the school district sharply criticized the effort.
Petitioners turned in sufficient signatures to force the Nov. 3 ballot question, Rockland City Clerk Stuart Sylvester said Tuesday. The clerk said the city council will vote on Sept. 14 to schedule a public hearing which is a formality before the November vote.
Rockland is the largest community within Regional School Unit 13 which was created by a November 2008 referendum in the communities that made up School Administrative District 5 (Rockland, Owls Head and South Thomaston) and SAD 50 (Thomaston, St. George and Cushing).
St. George withdrew from RSU 13 last month following a multi-year effort and a November 2014 vote in that town.
The Rockland group submitted petitions that far exceeded the 272 signatures needed to force the November ballot question. Sylvester said he stopped counting at 272.
Rockland school board member Esther “Tess” Kilgour, who was one of the organizers of the petition drive, said the filing of the petition is only the first of 22 steps required by state law to have a community withdraw from a regional school unit. Kilgour, who is also seeking re-election to the RSU 13 Board, said that the vote will allow the community to study the benefits and disadvantages of breaking away and being its own school system. She said the vote does not guarantee a withdrawal.
The petition effort began last year but was largely dormant until May when signature gathering was renewed. Kilgour, a former chairwoman of the RSU 13 Board, has said in prior statements that residents feel the benefits of consolidation have not been realized.
RSU 13 Board Chairman Steve Roberts, who succeeded Kilgour in the post, said the effort was an act of sabotage.
“It’s unfortunate for our community that we have some of our current board members supporting a withdrawal effort that basically serves to sabotage the future improvements to education and efficiencies of service,” Roberts said about the proposed ‘Schools of Our Future’ initiative. “Instead, they suggest an action that quite possibly will cost Rockland property owners millions of dollars more each year in property taxes because of the reduced efficiency of a smaller district.”
That initiative could include the possible consolidation of schools within the district.
While not mentioning Kilgour by name, Roberts said some of the most turbulent times in educational leadership in the region occurred under the leadership of one of the members pressing now to withdraw.
“These are the ones at the front of this petition. Are these the ones who Rockland feels will lead a new school unit?” Roberts asked.
“RSU 13 has to this point turned a corner and is making progress in creating a school system that puts education first, not the dollar, while at the same time increasing efficiency and returning some resources to the community. I hope the citizens of Rockland will see this attempt at sabotage for what it is and reject it,” he said.
Rockland pays about half the costs of the district. Rockland has an estimated 725 students out of a total district enrollment of 1,730.
According to the Maine Department of Education website, if the majority of Rockland residents approve the referendum, the state would direct the city to create a withdrawal committee.
The withdrawal committee would consist of one city councilor, one member of the organizing committee, a citizen at large, and one school board representative from Rockland. That committee would then negotiate with the school district on terms of withdrawal.
If a plan is developed and approved by the education commissioner, a second vote would be held in the city to determine whether to withdraw.