MACHIAS, Maine — In an effort to save money, the head of education for the Unorganized Territory in Washington County has directed between 25 and 30 children to attend school in Edmunds next year.
These children currently are attending other schools in the region with the Unorganized Territory paying tuition rates ranging from $6,000 to $12,000 per student per year, Shelley B. Lane, director of education in the Unorganized Territory, said Thursday. She estimated that the cost to educate students at Edmunds is about $7,000 per student per year and that the Unorganized Territory could save as much as $200,000 per year if all targeted students are switched.
In a letter dated April 14, Lane informed affected parents that their children would be attending Edmunds Consolidated School in the fall.
“There’s a lot of angst among the parents. … People are pretty upset about it,” said Scott Porter, superintendent of the Machias Bay Area Schools, where the students currently are tuitioned. He said eight to 10 students from the Unorganized Territory presently go to Whiting Village School, 11 attend Elm Street Elementary School in East Machias and six are at Rose Gaffney Elementary School in Machias.
“The intent is to have those students go to the Edmunds school, though many of those students are closer to [Machias Bay Area Schools],” Porter said.
Lane said the decision was precipitated by the realization that she had two 48-passenger buses taking students from Trescott to Lubec and Whiting schools. She said she didn’t know why two buses were on the same route or how it got that way.
One bus route — along with the cost of the driver’s salary and benefits — has been eliminated and the children who rode the two buses now will go on one bus to the Edmunds school, she said.
Other adjustments were made to streamline bus routes, resulting in the directive that children in other parts of the Unorganized Territory go to the Edmunds school, she said.
The decision was made in an effort to be financially responsible and was not precipitated by a drop in enrollment at Edmunds, where the number of students has held steady at 55 students for the past several years, she said.
Lane said she did not expect all of the affected children to switch schools and pointed out that in her letter, she invited parents to call her directly to discuss any concerns they had.
Don and Sarah Lord of Marion Township are among the parents who soon after getting the letter expressed their concerns about pulling their three children out of the Rose Gaffney Elementary School and sending them to Edmunds.
“The [Rose Gaffney] school is 13 miles from our house,” said Sarah Lord. “Edmunds is 34 miles. They are nuts.”
Lane said she was not unsympathetic.
“I fully understand that life is not the same for everybody, and I want to be responsive to that,” she said. “That’s why it’s important to talk about this case by case.”
Lane said officials already were discussing some of the placements and that the case of the Lord children had been resolved by April 20.
Don and Sarah Lord did acknowledge that after making their case, they were told their children, Luna, 11, in fifth grade; Lucy, 7, in second grade; and Enzo, 6, in kindergarten, could remain at the Gaffney school, but they must write a letter each year requesting the continued placement.
“I said, ‘That’s not happening,’” Don Lord said. “We will not beg. We will send a letter that states where our children are going, and we will do it once.”
Lane said she was concerned about some of the misconceptions held by parents.
“Parents in the Unorganized Territory are sometimes under the impression they have school choice, and actually it’s never been school choice,” Lane said.
A total of 52 percent of Maine geographically is in the Unorganized Territory, she said. Tax dollars from Unorganized Territory residents fund the Edmunds school and two other Unorganized Territory schools in the state — Connor Consolidated School in Connor Township in Aroostook County and Kingman Elementary School in Kingman in Penobscot County. These schools are funded entirely by the taxpayers within the Unorganized Territory and do not get state aid, Lane said.
Don Lord said he is happy things seem to be working out for his family, but he is concerned for others.
“This is more than just my family that’s going to be affected,” he said.
Don Lord wants other families affected to call him at 255-4337 if they need assistance in keeping their children in their current schools, he said.
“We’ll fight this,” he said. “This will be changed. They will be stopped.”
Porter said he has never seen a mandate like this in the 16 years he has been a superintendent.
“If this was going to happen, we should have known about it in January,” he said, referring to before his school system’s budget was determined. Porter said the school budget included $72,000 in tuition revenue for the Whiting school, $65,000 in tuition for Elm Street and $24,000 in tuition revenue for Rose Gaffney, for a total of $161,000.
Lane said the timeline for her decision was based on what was right for the Unorganized Territory.
“My concerns are different than his concerns are,” she said.
Lane said she looks at enrollment and busing issues all the time and, last year, made major busing changes in Aroostook County.
“It happens all the time,” she said. “We have to continually review this.”