Wiscasset's school committee July 8 asked Superintendent of Schools Dr. Kim Andersson for information to help it address any recommendation or other message it might get from selectmen in connection with the future of the schools committee's pending report. That committee has anticipated its July 21 meeting as possibly its last. The report then goes to the selectboard, which empaneled the committee after a town vote on 2021.

Selectmen's Chair Sarah Whitfield is the board's liaison to that committee. Speaking to it last month, she said the selectboard "will probably make some sort of opinion about, we either want to make a recommendation to the school board which they can take or not, or we want to make some other statement about it, or whatever ..."

School Committee Chair Tracey Whitney and member Doug Merrill have both served on the future of the schools committee. They described to fellow school committee members July 8 the work the future of the schools committee has done, with subcommittees looking at status quo (keeping all the grades and seeking more students); tuitioning out the high school grades; and consolidation, which Whitney said "would be working with another school that is also having less and less students and trying to do some kind of combination with them."

Whitney told the school committee, if the selectboard recommends tuitioning out the high school grades, "we'll have to make some decisions." As for the consolidation option, Whitney said, it "seemed to be, I'm not going to say the most viable, (the) more viable ... So I would like some background information before we get hit with that. So what I would like to do ... is that we ask Kim to look into what that consolidation thing looks like, just fact-finding. We're not entering any agreements. We're not, but I want to be reflective of what's happened in the past and ... have her look into some of those options and what is out there. I know there are some state options as well and I'd like to get some facts and figures from her, talking to other superintendents and the like."

"All three options can be problematic in their own way," Merrill said. "And maybe by starting this process here we'll be prepared when the selectmen finally issue ... their directive, from their perspective, we're prepared to answer that, no matter which way they go. And then maybe once we answer that, we can as a board can take a stance as to which way we'd like to go ... ultimately, what's best for the students ... "

"So I would like more information at this time," Whitney said. "I'm not looking for any set direction ... It just seemed to me as we (the future of the schools committee) were looking at things, that some of those things (such as) where do we place kids" or, regarding consolidation, "I would like information around that so that when (selectmen) make some kind of (communication), we have information and feedback to then be able to move forward in some way."

School committee member Christopher Hart asked if selectmen will "state their preference."

"They may not," Merrill said. "They may kick everything up to us and say, 'What do you think?' (Or) they may not ask anything other than, 'Would you take a look at this and come back as a school board, what do you think our best option is?'"

And selectmen "don't have any authority" in the matter, Andersson, a past selectman, added.

"Yes, ultimately, it's our decision. But we also have to keep into account that (selectmen) are speaking for the taxpayer ... The taxpayer ultimately is our boss."

Merrill and Whitney were on the future of the schools subcommittee that looked at tuitioning out the high school grades. Both said that when the school committee is discussing the options, they would like to hear from someone from each of the other two subcommittees.

Whitney got nods from other school committee members when she asked if everyone was comfortable asking Andersson to "look at what (the) processes are so that we are ready" for something from the selectboard.

"I think it's smart," Andersson said.