Voters OK AOS merger

By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
    HODGDON — The school merger between SAD 70 and SAD 14 has become a reality.
    Voters narrowly approved the school consolidation that will create one central office for the two districts following a Monday referendum vote of 252-77. Results for Haynesville and Bancroft could not be obtained by presstime.
    SAD 70 Superintendent Bob McDaniel said he did not think there would be enough votes in Haynesville and Bancroft to defeat the measure. Danforth had the closest vote, as the measure passed 30-22. Had Danforth voted against forming an AOS (Alternative Organizational Structure), the plan would have been scrapped.
    A breakdown of the individual town votes is as follows: Hodgdon, 63 yes, 10 no; New Limerick, 17 yes, nine no; Amity, 20 yes, one no; Linneus, 55 yes, four no; Ludlow, 21 yes, five no; Cary, one yes, eight no; Weston, 22 yes, 17 no; and Orient, 23 yes, one no.
    McDaniel said he was surprised and pleased that the measure passed in Danforth, considering there was a movement in that area against the merger.
    “We will now move forward by forming an AOS board to get a budget put together for the central office,” he said.
    The two districts will keep their separate school boards and retain control over all aspects of their schools, including curriculums, teacher negotiations, contracts and school calendar.
    Both the SAD 14 and SAD 70 school boards will have to select individuals to serve on a newly-formed, 11-member AOS board. It is anticipated that both school districts will select AOS board members at their regular meetings in February.
    SAD 70 will have seven board members on the AOS board, while SAD 14 will have two. Orient and Bancroft, who tuition their students, will each have one board member. A weighted-vote method would be used with a total of 997 possible votes. SAD 70 members would each have 112 votes, while SAD 14 representatives would have 85; Orient 30 and Bancroft 12. The weighted vote of each member of the AOS board would be adjusted annually to reflect the current population figures.
    The AOS board will be created for the sole purpose of governing the combined central offices and creating the budget for that office. One superintendent will be hired by the AOS board to govern the two districts. That superintendent would likely be paid more than what either McDaniel and Cote are currently making, since their job responsibilities would increase. Cote, who was hired in July, is working on a part-time basis for SAD 14, while McDaniel is a full-time superintendent in SAD 70.
    Cote has said he was not interested in being the full-time AOS superintendent.
    “There is quite a bit of work that has to be done before July 1,” McDaniel said. “I’m just glad that we will no longer have those penalties looming over us.”
    SAD 70 was penalized $93,000 last year and that figure was anticipated to be nearly $100,000 this year. SAD 14 was penalized nearly $23,000 last year for not consolidating.