THE PEN IS MIGHTIER - OR SO IT SEEMS

Went to the Eddington Board of Selectmen's meeting tonight. There was so much on the agenda worth noting, I shall try to post daily for the rest of the week to cover all of the subjects.

This first posting will cover the School Board report delivered by Karen Clark, School Board member. Her report covered two primary topics - the proposed School Budget for 2010-2011 and related School Board meetings; and the latest on the topic of Consolidation.

1. The proposed school budget:

March 26 is the next School Board meeting - to be held at the Eddington Elementary School. Senator Richard Rosen sent a letter indicating he MAY be in attendance.

The proposed 2010-2011 budget is 7.28% Higher than the 2009-2010 budget. While this includes the $180,000 tax penalty for not consolidating, the increase will still be approximately 4% higher without the tax penalty. NOTE: It was reported that Bangor School District's increase will only be about 1%. Looking at the national average, SAD 63 appears to be significantly higher when one considers the following:

2 teacher positions will be cut;
3 Special Educ. Tech positions will be cut
1 hour (?) of janitorial services will be cut from Central Services

The teachers have reportedly agreed to a contract which includes NO increase in salaries/wages. (This information was not part of the School Board Report. It has been reported to this writer by an independent source.)

With the possible exception of Central Services personnel (guess which positions this includes), there are no planned increases for any personnel, HOWEVER, there is a reported increase for System Administration totaling 13.15%. System Administration includes Central Services - the Business manager and Part-time Bookkeeper. It can't be the Interim Superintendent who will receive only $15,000 instead of the $45,000 received by Ray Hart. So not only is that section taking NO CUTS, it is INCREASING its costs. Anyone have a problem with that???

SAD 63 will be decreasing its payment to UTC by 25%

The current proposed budget will cause a 10.54% increase to Eddington Taxpayers over the amount assigned for the 2009-2010 fiscal year; an increase of 9.83% to Clifton; and 4.82% increase to Holden.

THE PUBLIC HEARING FOR THIS PROPOSED BUDGET WILL BE WED., MAY 12 - at the Eddington Elementary School. The time scheduled to begin the meeting is 5:30pm. !!

Question: Since most parents, working taxpayers, and others who will be interested in this meeting work, usually outside Eddington, and don't get off work before 5pm - scheduling the PUBLIC HEARING to begin at 5:30pm sends a strong message that the School Board doesn't want any more PUBLIC INPUT than they can legally avoid. Just think about it - how much time does it take the typical person working in Bangor or Ellsworth or Old Town get out of their parking lots and drive home (30 minutes maybe)? And then there is the issue of getting dinner on the table for the family BEFORE being able to go to a Public Hearing that can be expected to take a couple of hours. Remember there is total presentation of the proposed budget, Q&A time and then voting by those in attendance.

Pack up the kiddies, folks, along with dinner - and haul everyone to the meeting.

2. The meeting re: Consolidation that was conducted last week (maybe earlier this week) in Holden

Karen Clark reported that John Butts, Holden Town Manager, hosted a meeting to discuss Consolidation issues. He invited representatives from SAD 63, Orrington, Dedham and CSD 8 who apparently attended. (No Otis? What is the problem, people?)

Per Karen, the major sticking point re: Orrington and Dedham wanting to join SAD 63 is: A. The Eddington Blog (!) and B. An email this writer sent to the Chairs and Superintendents of Orrington and Dedham several months ago. According to Karen, while Orrington and Dedham expect to receive approval from the Commissioner to form their own RSU, they really are reluctant to join SAD 63 because of what has been written in this Blog regarding the SAD 63 Board (and related issues), and the specified email.

NOTE: Since there was no discussion, questions or response allowed following Karen's report until the Public Access at the conclusion of the meeting's agenda, this writer made it a point at that time to provide the following information:

1. The email was written following the November 17 meeting at which the Chairmen of the various school districts and the three superintendents in attendance agreed (without School Board prior approval per Karen Clark at the time) to eliminate the Citizen Representative on the Regional Planning Committee (RPC). The consolidation law designates to be a part of the consolidation planning process. At the time I wrote the email to the Chairs and superintendents outside the SAD 63 communities, this writer was the appointed Citizen Rep from Eddington. Clifton has already appointed their Citizen Rep and the Holden Citizen Rep was being recruited.

The email, which I reviewed with Karen before sending, simply communicated to those districts outside SAD 63 that the town leaders of Eddington, Clifton and Holden could be expected to raise an objection if their Citizen Reps were not allowed to participate in the consolidation planning process. It should also be noted that (a)the email addresses to which I sent that email were provided by an Eddington School Board rep. and (b) the Citizen Reps were formally reaffirmed to the SAD 63 RPCs once the new School Board Chair, Therese Anderson, took office.

2. The postings on this Blog only report the observations made by this writer while attending School Board meetings - or - information reported to this writer by others who have SAD 63 information to share. NOTE: There have been several times when people have shared information with me with the request, or on condition, that I NOT post it on the blog. They have just wanted to share their frustrations or ask if I can find out more about something. I have not ever posted anything I was asked not to post. And there has been a lot of "confidential" information received.

At tonight's Selectmen's meeting I was clear this Blog will continue as long as there is a School Board (and members) that does not address issues which are counter-responsible to the people who vote them into office or which is not accountable to the taxpayers who pay for the school district. If Orrington or Dedham residents have a problem with that, they can always respond in the "Comments" sections provided. I would remind them of the First Amendment of the U.S. Bill of Rights. Be aware the Commissioner verified any consolidation School Board allocates 4 seats to Orrington, which is more than any other community committed to that consolidation. One has to wonder what Orrington or Dedham has in mind they don't want posted. Maybe they just don't like the idea there would be someone in attendance at the School Board meetings who would be taking notes and posting.....