Debt, staff contracts, emergency repairs and ensuring access to education were core topics of discussion among withdrawal committee members during a meeting in Wiscasset on April 18.

The town and school district committees have been drafting a plan for Wiscasset's withdrawal from Sheepscot Valley Regional School Unit 12 since residents launched the withdrawal process at a town vote last June.

Committee members have nearly completed the 19-page document and hope to have it ready in time for a town vote this November.

The two attorneys involved, consultants and members of the RSU board and committees addressed their concerns as they poured through the draft line by line. By evening's end, all agreed on the most recent changes made to the plan, according to ad-hoc RSU Withdrawal Committee chair Malinda Caron. It is expected all may agree to these changes when they meet again to review the final draft.

However, one change hinges on the passing of some legislation to address emergency repairs. Without the legislation, the school district as a whole is responsible for emergency repairs to any of its buildings, even in the last months of a potential separation between towns and the school district.

The legislation would ensure that a new Wiscasset School Administrative Unit would be responsible for covering these costs to school buildings in town, and not emergency repairs in other RSU 12 towns, between the date of the withdrawal vote and the effective date of withdrawal (July 1, 2014). William Stockmeyer, the RSU 12 attorney who has been working with withdrawal committees, wrote the language for the proposed legislation.

“The chances are that the roof is not going to blow off Wiscasset High School,” Caron said during a follow-up interview, but added the school district and towns have to be prepared for the possibilities. She and others at the meeting compared withdrawal to a divorce. “The withdrawal process is more complicated than I think people realize.”

Another complicated matter is the concern among Wiscasset Withdrawal Committee members on the viability of the high school. Some referenced decline in student populations as a reason for possibly closing the high school in order to save money. But Caron said the RSU needs to guarantee education for all students.

The parties agreed on language in the draft plan that makes sure special education programs are available. However, school district board members want to have a “school of record” that will guarantee a place for all high school students, whether or not they need special education. Next to Wiscasset, the closest high schools in the area are Lincoln Academy, Boothbay Region High School and Morse High School in Bath.

“It's important for the RSU to make a fail-safe plan for students to have a high school,” Stockmeyer said.

Stockmeyer and Wiscasset Withdrawal Committee attorney Geoffrey Hole, will come up with language that will set guidelines in the event of school closure in Wiscasset, Caron said.

Regarding debt owed on school construction projects, the draft plan maintains that Wiscasset would pay its share. This includes about 26 percent of the outstanding local debt owed on the Chelsea and Windsor school projects. It also includes reimbursement to the RSU for repairs to the Wiscasset Middle School roof and ventilation system project, as well as for a revolving renovation fund.

Other portions of the draft plan deal with committed payments to the RSU superintendent's salary and benefits (Wiscasset's share: 26.01 percent) and the continuation of collective bargaining agreements. Meeting participants agreed Wiscasset would honor superintendent costs, though there was some discussion about which entity would be responsible for negotiating contracts as Wiscasset transitions away from RSU 12.

“How do we agree who wants who and who willingly wants to go where?” RSU board chair Hilary Holm said.

According to Stockmeyer, the RSU would have to handle contract negotiations up until the effective date of withdrawal and Wiscasset would handle these negotiations afterward.

There are a number of other elements to the draft plan for Wiscasset's withdrawal from RSU 12. The public will have ample opportunity to review these details after this plan is complete.

The committees will meet again on May 2 to review a final draft of the agreement. They hope to complete it so it can be presented at the RSU Board of Directors meeting on May 9. Caron said they hope to have an agreement ready to submit to the Department of Education Commissioner by May 15.

The commissioner has 60 days to review the plan and additional time may be needed for further changes. Assuming the Commissioner approves the plan, Wiscasset has to have at least 50 percent of the people who voted in the last gubernatorial election turn out for a vote on this issue in order to avoid an automatic “no” vote, according to Caron.