Concern expressed regarding Limestone students attending Caribou schools
By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer
LIMESTONE — A letter sent in early August affording Limestone students the opportunity to attend Hilltop Elementary, Caribou Middle School and Caribou High School has caused community officials to discuss the possibility of leaving RSU 39 to enter into an Alternative Organizational Structure (AOS), like the one implemented by the Fort Fairfield Schools, as vocalized during the last meeting of the Limestone Selectpeople on Sept. 7.
Some Limestone parents elected to have their children further their education in Caribou this year, while others in town have expressed their displeasure in “losing” Limestone’s students to Caribou.
“It’s not that Caribou is trying to steal Limestone’s students,” explained Limestone Town Manager Donna Bernier, “it’s all mandated under Title 1.”
The heart of the issue deals with federal Title 1 funding, the No Child Left Behind Act, and Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).
The No Child Left Behind Act has been in place for a number of years and one facet of the program is standardized testing every year for students in grade 3-8. Those results are used to ensure that schools are making Adequate Yearly Progress, Assistant Superintendent of RSU 39 Lois Brewer explained on Friday.
“The only schools that are subject to sanction if they don’t make Adequate Yearly Progress are the schools that receive Title 1 federal funds,” Brewer explained, adding that Title 1 funds are used to support Title 1 teachers, who provide learning support and programs like reading recovery.
If a school doesn’t make AYP their first year, it becomes monitored; if the school doesn’t make AYP the second year, it may have to implement changes to curriculum, restructure schedules, etc.
“[A school] keeps trying to achieve improvements for your students and eventually, you might have to offer students a choice of schools, and that’s what happened in the case of the Limestone Community School,” Brewer said.
The Limestone Community School has not made AYP since joining the RSU, and parents of Limestone students were sent letters before school started — Brewer also clarified that Limestone Students do not have to attend Caribou schools.
“I think people made choices [as to which school to attend] for different reasons and we, under the law, had to grant that,” she said. “We’re hopeful that everyone’s made good choices and that the students’ needs will be met regardless whichever school they’re in.”
Bernier told the selectpeople during their last meeting that it’s an issue she knows a lot of people are upset over, but Title 1 money is federal, and the RSU has to abide by the rules “and that’s what they’ve done,” she said.
Selectperson Gary O’Neal brought up the point that this is Limestone’s third year in the RSU and that the community can withdraw from the RSU in the third year.
O’Neal also mentioned that the information the town based their decision to join the RSU on was misleading, as the schools who didn’t join a Regional School Unit didn’t lose their state funding.
“Fort Fairfield has fallen into an AOS, and they basically have been doing what we’ve been doing all along,” O’Neal said.
Discussion shifted to what it would take for Limestone to leave RSU 39.
“You need a petition, and people in town are talking about that right now,” O’Neal said.
“Well if that petition came to me, I’d sign it,” said Selectperson Chair Fred Pelletier, adding that he would support an ASO for Limestone.
The next meeting of the Limestone Selectpeole will take place this evening at the Limestone Municipal Building at 6:30 p.m.
But before the meeting begins, there will be a budget committee meeting at 6 p.m. and a special town meeting at 6:15 to see if Limestone residents approve the proposed purchase of a dump truck for snow hauling. At the annual town meeting, voters allocated $30,000 from the public works reserve account to purchase a new hot box trailer. As Public Works director Mike Cote expressed during the last selectpeople meeting, he doesn’t anticipate needing the entire allocated amount to purchase the equipment based on recent prices; the public works department does, however need a “new” dump truck for hauling snow this winter — that is, a dump truck that’s new for the town, not a brand-new truck.
