MANCHESTER — Parents and residents in Regional School Unit 38 at a forum on Monday criticized proposals to reorganize the district’s four elementary schools.

People at the forum said the school board doesn’t have the research to back up claims that restructuring would improve educational quality and that the board did not listen to negative feedback given last year about the administration’s preferred plan.

The administration and a restructuring committee have recommended putting all students in grades 3 through 5 at Readfield Elementary and making the schools in Manchester, Mount Vernon and Wayne prekindergarten through second grade without regard to students’ town of residence.

The board also is considering an alternative plan, maintaining the schools as prekindergarten through fifth grade without regard to town borders.

More than 90 people attended the forum at Manchester Elementary School, and almost everyone who offered feedback criticized the two proposals.

The Manchester Board of Selectmen voted on a resolution on reorganization at their meeting before the forum, board Chairman Jeremy Pare said.

“We strongly disagree with both recommendations of the RSU,” he said. “If this came to be, we definitely would potentially look to get out of the RSU.”

Former Manchester selectman Terri Watson, who served on the RSU consolidation committee, said she believes the preferred proposal runs counter to the consolidation plan, which says that each town will have a school

committee to advise the RSU “with regard to local elementary school (pre-kindergarten through grade 5) needs.”
She called on the RSU board to put restructuring to a referendum and said the plan would reduce the appeal of Manchester and the other towns for young families. “This plan will have the effect of devaluing property all over the district,” she said. “What you’re doing is saying, ‘We’re going to save you a few tax dollars, but the value of your house is going to go down.’”

The proposal is projected to save $200,000 per year by allowing the district to eliminate four teaching jobs.
As school board Chairwoman Lynette Johnson outlined in a presentation at the beginning of the forum, restructuring is expected to improve education by equalizing class sizes across the elementary schools and allowing better coordination and standardization in grades 3 through 5.

Later on, however, in response to a question from a parent, Johnson said the published research is sometimes inconclusive or contradictory on what configurations of elementary schools produce the best results.

“The fact that you have such conflicting data makes it, in my opinion, a radical plan and something that we should avoid,” Manchester parent Alec Rogers said.

In addition to questions about educational quality, parents raised concerns about the amount of time students may spend on buses, as well as how reorganization would affect parent volunteerism.

Some parents said they would consider sending their children to a private school rather than having them bused to another town. Several people also said that there would be effects on the larger communities.

“I think you guys really failed to consider what the role of an elementary school is in the fabric of rural life,” Manchester Selectman Martha Nielsen said. “Having our elem school in our town really creates a sense of our own identity. Although schools provide education, they also provide a place for people to feel like they belong to their community.”

One parent spoke in favor of restructuring, saying it plans for a future of lower enrollment and would be unlikely to make education worse – and could improve it.

“I kind of like this plan,” Manchester parent Doug Ide told the board. “It takes our district and looks at it as a whole, our four towns together, and tries to find a solution academically and financially from a district perspective. This is the right approach that you’re taking.”

Another forum on the proposals is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Nov. 30 at Mount Vernon Elementary School.

Susan McMillan — 621-5645
smcmillan@mainetoday.com