Bill Maloney and Judith Colby do not know if Wiscasset would save or lose money tuitioning out its high school students. No one knows, they said in phone interviews Wednesday. And if it happened, both said they would want the town to go into it knowing the numbers. So the two are asking selectmen to ask voters next June for a committee to do the math.

“What’s the impact on money from the federal and state government; transportation costs of sending children, are they going to be accepted at say Bath or Lincoln Academy? There’s a lot of loose ends,” said Maloney, who serves on the budget committee and served on the downtown project’s public advisory committee. “So, if you get this stuff out of the way before, then if someone wants to eliminate the high school, you’ve got some intelligence to go on.”

His and Colby’s one-page request is in lieu of a petition due to the pandemic, Maloney said. The request is on selectmen’s Tuesday, Jan. 5 agenda, released Wednesday. The proposal lists a preference for a town vote, as part of the annual one in June. The proposed article seeks a committee of five “to evaluate the financial impact to the town of abolishing the high school grades ... and to tuition out the effected students.”

As proposed, if the article passes, the select board and school committee would each appoint one of its members to the committee; the town manager would appoint the other three members. The committee would report its progress to selectmen and the school committee every six months and complete its evaluation within 18 months of its first meeting.

If selectmen decide not to put the article on the town meeting warrant, the board could instead work with the school committee to appoint the panel, the request adds.

Colby, a past, multiple-term selectman, and Maloney said they are not trying to stop holding high school classes; the two said townspeople have been talking about it since Wiscasset left Sheepscot Valley Regional School Unit and agreed, for 10 years, to keep taking the district’s high school students.

Maloney is aware of no organized effort to stop holding high school classes. “I’m aware that many, many people would like to do that, and that a lot of people voted for getting out of the RSU with that in mind – that when the 10 years are up ... they would like to close (the high school).” He said he and Colby figured, “Why go through it and then maybe make a big mistake and pass it and find out we’re in financial trouble?”

Wiscasset’s financial challenges led it to research other possible changes in recent years, including to the police and ambulance departments, Colby noted. “And I think we need to do our due diligence (with this) before someone comes in and says ‘OK, let’s put a petition in to close the high school.’ We need to know the consequences of this,” she said. “And I think it could put a lot of the questions to rest. Let’s answer the questions that the people have.”

It would be a financial study, she reiterated.

Town Manager Dennis Simmons said in a phone interview Wednesday, he had no opinion on the request. “They asked me to put this before selectmen, and that’s what I’m doing. I haven’t encouraged it (or) discouraged it. I really haven’t asked any questions about it.”

Simmons said he spoke with Superintendent of Schools Terry Wood, “but we didn’t discuss it beyond, ‘This is what’s happening.’ As of this moment, I’m just taking kind of a back seat on this and waiting to get some direction from the board and as to what their thoughts are and where they want to go with this.”

The board meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday via Zoom, at 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83625653734?pwd=M1k5K1lwNnhlakhvR0tHQlJHQVArQT09. To join by phone, dial 1 646 558 8656. The meeting ID is 836 2565 3734; passcode, 911529

Wiscasset Newspaper has sought comment from Wood, SVRSU Superintendent of Schools Howard Tuttle, Wiscasset School Committee Chairman Michael Dunn and Wiscasset Middle High School Principal Charles Lomonte.