Recently drafted withdrawal plans from Wiscasset and Westport Island have not been easy to obtain, despite this newspaper's research determining that the plans are public information. However, due to the diligence of Wiscasset Town Manager Laurie Smith, this newspaper has received a copy of each withdrawal plan. The plan is supposed to detail how that school will separate itself from the RSU.

The release of the Westport Island withdrawal plan was not accepted well by the town’s withdrawal committee member and RSU Board Member Richard DeVries. He requested the newspaper not print the plan until after November 27.

When he was told it was public information and the readers have the right to the information, he said, “The lawyers are wrong; it was all done in a workshop and is not public information.”

It is unclear why DeVries did not want the plan printed since it is on the town’s website for all to read.

When asked why the information was being withheld from the public, Smith said she was unable to give an answer, but said she would find out

Smith sent an email to Maine Municipal Association Assistant Director of Legal Services Richard Flewelling indicating the press had asked for a copy of the draft withdrawal agreement and questioned if the withdrawal committee was exempt from freedom of access requests relative to draft negotiation documents.

Flewelling said, “There is nothing in the FOAA (Freedom of Access Act) or in the RSU laws to suggest that an RSU withdrawal committee is exempt in any way from the requirements of the FOAA. “Its meetings are subject to the same requirements, including for executive sessions, as for any other municipal of school board. Likewise its records are subject to the same requirements.

“I am not aware of any public records exempt that would protect a draft of an RSU withdrawal agreement, or any other related working papers from public disclosure upon request," Flewelling said.

Wiscasset’s withdrawal committee has not provided the taxpayers information as to how they came up with the plan and what it will cost the town to become an independent school unit.

There are some cost factors that will need to be negotiated with the RSU. However, residents have indicated they want to know what the cost of running the schools independently will be also, and to date that information has not been provided.

The draft withdrawal plan, sent to the RSU for approval, is clearly proposing the Wiscasset School System goes back to the way it was before joining the Sheepscot Valley Regional School Unit.

The Wiscasset Withdrawal Committee hired two consultants, paid for with taxpayers’ money, to date nearly $4,000; most of the committee’s meetings with the consultants were held in executive sessions, thus not allowing public access to what was being reported or recommended by the consultants.

Wiscasset’s withdrawal plan

Wiscasset's withdrawal committee’s draft withdrawal plan addresses 16 points; a copy of the plan is available at the town office. It proposes that Wiscasset become 2 School Administrative Unit (2 SAU) and become a completely stand alone school system.

The draft withdrawal plan will need the approval of the RSU and the Commissioner of Education before it will go before the voters of Wiscasset.

The plan is proposing the town provide educational services for grades K-12, including those with special education needs, in the same manner that educational services were provided prior to Wiscasset joining RSU 12.

The plan addresses RSU 12's special education students being tuitioned to Wiscasset with additional tuition payments and other charges that would be applicable.

The cost would include: special education transportation costs; costs for the facilities; and modification required to accommodate the student, or students.

It would appear that transportation, and the transfer of bus titles will be major negotiating item between Wiscasset and the RSU. The title of three buses were transferred to the RSU when Wiscasset became a member of the RSU in 2008. Wiscasset is asking that three buses be returned to the town.

According to the withdrawal plan, Wiscasset 2 SAU will need to either buy new buses or reach an agreement with the RSU to transfer titles of some of the new buses purchased since 2010, even though it would mean Wiscasset would have to pick up the remaining payment balance. Three new buses were purchased in February 2010, leaving the remaining balance of $84,736.36. The second purchase November 11, 2011, the RSU purchased two new buses, which will have a remaining balance of $130,960 as of June 30, 2013. The third bus purchase of two new buses, September 2012, will have a remaining balance of $167.885 as of June 30, 2013.

According to the consolidation law, when a municipality withdraws from an RSU, that municipality still remains with the RSU for the purpose of retiring the indebtedness. Wiscasset could be responsible for 35.08 percent of those debts.

The withdrawal committee and the RSU will also negotiate the return of all property that was transferred to the RSU, as well as all personal property that was in or on Wiscasset School property at the time the town became a member of the RSU.

The withdrawal plan was drafted October 22, 2012, according to Selectman Jefferson Slack, a member of the withdrawal committee. As of Monday, Nov. 19, the committee had received no word from the RSU as to when they will begin negotiations.

Westport Island’s plan

Westport Island's draft Withdrawal Agreement, dated August 30, 2012, was provided to the RSU 12 negotiating committee on September 9. To date, no negotiations have been held due to the RSU's legal review process.

Negotiations may begin next week, with a tentative date of November 27 set. It is likely that a second 90-day extension will need to be requested for completion of the plan due to delays in starting negotiations.

According to Hilary Holmes, Chairman of the RSU Committee, the regional school committee met with their attorney on Monday evening to review Westport Island’s withdrawal plan.

The plan developed by Westport Island's Withdrawal Committee was designed to address each of the 11 requirements established by the Department of Education for Withdrawal Agreements and required under 20-A MRS §1466(4)(A).

It was modeled on the DOE approved withdrawal agreement between the town of Starks and RSU 59. That plan provided DOE approved sample language for each of the 11 requirements that could then be tailored to Westport Island and RSU 12's circumstances.

Other plans reviewed by the committee were ones from the towns of Portage Lake, Vizier and Glenburn. All had similar language as incorporated in the Westport Island Withdrawal Agreement.

Westport Island’s proposed plan would revert to a municipal School Administrative Unit (SAU), as it was prior to joining RSU #12 in 2009 and tuition its students to schools chosen by the students and their parents.

The majority of Westport's students have chosen Wiscasset schools in the past, could continue to do so in the new plan. The agreement draft includes two proposed contracts between Westport Island and RSU 12.

One is for administrative services (superintendent's office, tuitioning administration, special education services and other administrative services) and the other is for transportation services to RSU 12 schools.

Students and parents would see no changes in schools, school administration services or transportation under this agreement. In addition to having a somewhat more limited role in the RSU 12 School Board of Directors, the Westport Island School District would establish its own school board to oversee the relationship with RSU 12 according to the draft agreement.

Should Westport Island choose, at a later date, to join another school district, a separate Reorganization Plan would need to be developed and approved. That would allow Westport Island to join with another nearby school unit such as AOS 98 (Boothbay area), AOS 93 (Damariscotta area) or even Wiscasset should they withdraw from RSU 12.

Any decision on joining another unit would require a vote of the town and would be two or more years down the road, according to Westport Island Withdrawal Committee member Dennis Dunbar.

After negotiations are completed with RSU 12, and approved by the Commissioner of Education, the final Withdrawal Agreement would be presented to the Westport island votes for approval.

The newly approved cost sharing formula being adopted by RSU 12 starting in FY 2013 goes a long way towards correcting the cost inequity seen by Westport Island over the last several years in the RSU, according to Dunbar.

A final vote on the withdrawal agreement would be no earlier than June of 2013 according to the Withdrawal Committee's working schedule, in support of the start of the FY 2013-14 school year.

Sheepscot Valley Regional School Unit 12 is a school district that includes Alna, Westport Island, Wiscasset, Palermo, Somerville, Windsor, Chelsea and Whitefield.

Charlotte Boynton can be reached at 207-844-4632 or cboynton@wiscassetnewspaper.com.