READFIELD — Regional School Unit 38 school board members are seeing the consequences of a vote not to restructure the district’s schools as they decide how to staff and fund elementary schools next year.
A committee had recommended restructuring RSU 38’s four elementary schools to save money and equalize class sizes, but the board voted it down 10-3 in January after encountering overwhelming public opposition.
During discussion of the plan, some parents said they would prefer the district save money by creating larger classes rather than sending their children to schools in other towns.
In a 7-5 vote Wednesday, the school board approved a staffing plan that caps elementary-level classes at 25 students and places an education technician in each class with more than 18 students in kindergarten through second grade.
According to enrollment projections, fourth grade at Manchester Elementary will have 25 students next year, with no education technician. Manchester board member Charlie Hicks said that is too many.
“We noticed when we tried to do the consolidation idea that people are very committed to the elementary schools,” Hicks said. “I just don’t see how that’s going to help attract new families to the district or keep the families that we have.”
Hicks and fellow Manchester representatives Melissa O’Neal and David Guillemette voted against the proposal, as did Mount Vernon representative John Harker and Wayne representative Bill Shardlow.
It will eliminate three teachers and add 4.15 education technicians, for a savings of $17,200.
Hicks and Shardlow said the projected savings of the proposal are trivial.
O’Neal said Manchester families were upset about a large first-grade class this year, and several families took their children out of school because of it. She wants administrators and the school board to look for cuts elsewhere.
“I’m sitting here just shaking my head, saying we’re cutting three teachers out of our budget when we’re not looking at cutting any middle school sports,” O’Neal said.
Other large classes next year would include 23 in second grade in Manchester, 21 in second grade in Mount Vernon, 25 in second grade in Readfield and 22 in kindergarten in Readfield. All of those classes would have an education technicial.
Mount Vernon representative Russ Evans said he has concerns about large classes and inequity between towns, but this is the alternative to restructuring, which he voted against.
“It is horribly unfair to have 25 kids in a class in Manchester when in Mount Vernon there’s only 16 kids in that class,” Evans said. “That’s why we were going to restructure. The parents came to us and said, flat out, no question, we’d rather have big classes.”
The restructuring committee had proposed consolidating all students in grades three through five at Readfield Elementary and putting the younger students in the elementary schools in Manchester, Mount Vernon and Wayne.
The plan’s proponents said it would allow the district to reduce staffing and deal more easily with uneven class sizes and fluctuations in enrollment. Most parents, however, said said they wanted to keep their community schools.
Also on Wednesday, the school board voted to eliminate one teacher from Maranacook Community Middle School and add an educationn technician, which would save $18,000.
A change to the system of teacher leadership at Maranacook Community High School also was approved, to save $6,815.
No major cuts have been made so far.
To keep spending at status quo, RSU 38 would have to raise an additional $312,977 from its four towns because of reductions in state and federal support. That’s an increase of 3.4 percent.
District administrators have proposed $662,681 in new spending, including personnel, computers and software, and several maintenance projects.
On Wednesday, the board rejected requests for $25,000 for a curriculum coordinator and $50,000 for a teacher to help elementary students who struggle in mathematics. They have yet to vote on most of the other proposals.
Board members requested information about possible savings in extracurricular activities.
“We need to cut programs we want to have to fund the programs we need to have,” Evans said.
Susan McMillan — 621-5645
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