LIMESTONE, Maine — With Limestone voters agreeing at the polls earlier this month to leave RSU 39, members of the withdrawal committee and town officials set a date on Nov. 20 for a special election to pick a local school board.
During Tuesday’s meeting, the withdrawal panel members and town officials discussed the need to form a school board and the timeline for doing so, according to interim Town Manager Paul Beaulieu. Select Board members then agreed to hold a special election on Jan. 15.
Limestone Withdrawal Committee Chair Kathie Beaulieu had suggested at an earlier meeting that a seven member board would be optimal. She said that she came up with the recommended number after a study of surrounding communities and determined that seven is a reasonable number for a town of Limestone’s size.
RSU 39 currently consists of Caribou, Limestone, and Stockholm. Limestone residents began considering withdrawal following the majority vote of RSU board members to send Limestone High School students to Caribou last year. While this decision helped RSU 39 significantly close a $1.4 million funding gap, it also caused many in Limestone to wonder about their representation on the board and to worry that the board majority might later also vote to close the Limestone Community School as well.
During their Nov. 20 meeting, Select Board members also voted to appoint Rea Caldwell as chairperson of the town’s recreation capital campaign committee, which is primarily tasked with allocating funding for a new playground project in Limestone.
