School choice, a frequent topic for selectmen the last year and a half and the subject of a referendum this spring, faces more discussion March 5. First Selectman David Abbott said that’s the tentative date for the public hearing ahead of the March 23 vote at the polls.

Plans call for a 6 p.m. hearing at the fire station. Sheepscot Valley Regional School Unit 12 Superintendent of Schools Howie Tuttle and the district board’s chairman Gerard Nault will be there, Abbott said. He said selectmen discussed the hearing date Jan. 17, their first meeting since Town Clerk Liz Brown verified the signatures on resident Ralph Hilton’s petition. Voters will consider cutting private schools as an option for families’ choice of schools for kindergarten through grade eight.

The change would apply to children who become Alna residents next July 1 or later. Selectmen have voiced support, saying publicly funded private school tuition attracts families who want that subsidy, in turn upping the student count that helps set the town’s education tab. The district charges Alna per student. Hilton, a former SVRSU board member, has said the amendment would need local and then district-wide voter approval because it alters the district’s reorganization plan.

Abbott said selectmen also plan a 6 p.m. Feb. 12 public hearing at the fire station about the town office’s future. He said the board hopes to have cost estimates by then on renovating the cape on Route 218 or building a new town office on the property. The board has discussed having a warrant article at the open town meeting March 24. No article has been drafted, but there would still be time for one after getting residents’ guidance at the hearing, Abbott said.

He said if a project moves forward this year, the board will also consider an idea resident and local business owner Albert Monaco proposed Jan. 17 to include a solar installation for electricity. 

Abbott said his son, engineer Michael Abbott of Crooker Construction, updated the board on the company’s plans at its Whitefield gravel pit. The corner of it that lies in Alna will become used as a quarry, which involves blasting and then putting rocks through a crusher on-site to make gravel, Selectman Abbott said, adding the new activity may be about a year away and will likely face the Alna planning board’s review. The select board may schedule a visit to Topsham to observe the company’s quarry work there, he said.

The board meets next at 6 p.m. Jan. 31 at the town office.