Seventh-, eighth-grade classes to remain at elementary school
WASHBURN, Maine — The SAD 45 board of directors voted last Tuesday night not to move the seventh- and eighth-grade students from the elementary school to the high school.
The issue has been debated for weeks, and during the public comment portion of the meeting, numerous community members again voiced their concerns about the proposed plan.
“Look at all the people here,” said Trina Farley of Washburn, acknowledging the more than 40 people in the audience. “We don’t want this move. We don’t want our school to close. We do want solutions, and I hope this is respectfully telling you we really don’t want this move. I don’t know how else we can tell you; look at the support that’s been here every meeting.”
“I can’t help but have the feeling that you’re pushing the seventh and eighth grade out of this building,” said Dave Heald of Perham. “It sounds like you don’t want to deal with them, and I think that’s the wrong reason.”
Dave Craw of Washburn said moving the two grades would help with the “crowding issue” at the elementary school.
“People are hollering about having six years worth of kids in the high school (grades 7-12), but we’ve got 10 years worth of kids (grades pre-K to 8) down here [at the elementary school]. They range from 4-14. You want to talk about a range, and people are hollering about adding two more years to the high school, well that’s taking it down to eight years here and putting six years up there,” he said. “To me that makes all the sense in the world because you’ve got a good-sized facility in the high school. The crowding issue isn’t going to be getting any better, and the ‘undercrowd’ there is going to keep getting worse because the class sizes are going down.
“The state’s pinching budgets left and right. How long is it going to be before we don’t have a high school? If you don’t do it now or soon, it’s going to be a matter of when are you going to close it or when does the state tell you you don’t have a choice,” said Craw, who has a grandson in first grade. “We can figure out how to work our kids together up there in Washburn, or a few years from now we can figure out how to put our seventh- and eighth-graders in Caribou or Presque Isle. Those are the options as I see it.”
Phyllis Hunter, who represents the teachers association, said, “Our students need to be in focus in every decision we make — not money, and not our egos. Our students and their education.”
In addressing class size, Jennifer Langille, a fifth-grade teacher at the elementary school, said fewer is better.
“With 27 or 28 children in a classroom, you cannot focus on everything that they need to learn. They’re not all learning at the same level,” she said. “When you put 26 children in a classroom, you’re going to lose some kids. I don’t know high school level or middle school level; I just know that at the elementary level, 26 children is too many to ask for us to teach.”
“I want you to look at how many kids you’re putting into a classroom and weigh what the benefits are,” said Langille. “I realize you have a budget issue, but we’re here to educate the kids in the community.”
Laura Turner of Washburn said change is inevitable.
“I’ve heard a lot of what we don’t want, and I know a lot of changes are going to be things that someone’s not going to want, but the reality is we cannot do things like we’ve been doing things,” she said. “We have to make a change. We cannot take out a loan, we cannot overextend, so we’re going to have to do something differently. I’m not saying it should be moving grades 7 and 8, but we need to be creative. I think we all have to come with an open mind and be generous toward each other as we try to make these changes.”
Prior to the vote, board members were equally vocal about the proposed move.
“As a board member, I’ve been quite conflicted on what is the best to do,” said Lynn Dube. “I’ve looked at it as a parent of a child who this would directly impact. Personally I don’t think that this will impact my child. I think she has the maturity level that she could handle the change.
“I look at it financially. There is a possibility, although slight, where we could see a potential savings that would help budget-wise, and thirdly I’ve been looking at it as I’m a representative of the town of Perham. I am their voice and I have to honor the wishes of what the majority of the people in my town want. That’s where I’m coming from with my decision,” she said.
Director Janet Grieco agreed.
“My next responsibility, after the students, is to the people who elected me,” she said. “What I was hearing was that this is not the right time and the right approach. I’m truly hoping that we can come with some solutions because these schools are something to be proud of, and we all need to work collaboratively to assure their continuance.”
New board member Kellie Miller said she would recommend that a strategic action planning committee be created to “discuss the mission going forward, the vision, goals and objectives.”
“The strategic action planning committee would include administrators, teachers, parents, guardians, grandparents, students of the school, community members … it would be a very diverse community of people, not just the school board members,” she said, “and we would talk about the direction of our school in moving forward.”
Karl Saucier said he felt like many people weren’t giving the students enough credit to handle the relocation.
“I don’t have any kids in school here; so all the kids are my kids,” he said, “but we have to do something or else we’ll be looking at how we close the high school. I think we’re not giving our kids enough credit. I think this move would work, and we’re cutting our kids short by not giving them that credit. I think there have been a lot of naysayers, and when that happens, stuff doesn’t happen. The status quo is not going to continue to work for us. We’re going to have to look at some changes.”
Following additional discussion, directors voted 8-2 not to move the two grades.
Also at last Tuesday night’s meeting, directors:
• Elected Tammi Easler as board chair, and Ryan Rackliffe as board vice chair.
• Renewed Melanie Cote as the principal of the David J. Lyon Washburn District Elementary School.
“How she has presented herself here has been very inspirational and very impressive,” said board member Cherri Fitzpatrick.
• Accepted the pending retirement of Beverly Knowles, special education teacher at the high school, who will retire at the end of the school year.
In an unrelated matter, at a special board meeting held April 13, the board appointed Dr. Elizabeth Ervin, who currently serves as director of educational services at the Athol-Royalston Regional School District in Athol, Mass., as the new SAD 45 superintendent. She will replace Ed Buckley who will retire June 30.
The next regular SAD 45 board meeting will be held Tuesday, May 12 at 7 p.m. in the elementary school cafeteria.