The Wiscasset Withdrawal Committee has decided the town’s best option is to become a stand alone school unit, but postponed sharing the costs of the proposed school system at the behest of their consultants, Raymond Poulin and Norm Higgins.

The committee was appointed to develop a plan for the town to withdraw from the Sheepscot Valley Regional School Unit 12, which includes schools in Alna, Chelsea, Palermo, Somerville, Westport Island, Windsor, Wiscasset and Whitefield.

Due to a newly approved cost-sharing plan, the committee needed to go back over their figures, Higgins said. He said when the numbers are released he wants to make sure they are the current numbers. “We want to be able to defend the numbers that we present,” Higgins said.

Wiscasset resident and RSU Board of Directors member Gene Stover said the reasoning “is just a smokescreen,” and that “The cost sharing formula has nothing to do with what it will cost the town if (they) go it alone.”

Wiscasset submitted its withdrawal plan to the RSU in late October, and to date, negotiations have not begun.

Stoverasked the committee how they could recommend a stand-alone school system without knowing the cost or taking a voter survey. He suggested the committee go back and look at an AOS.

“The people want to know what you are doing. They want it explained to them in plain language,” Stover said. “That is not being done.”

Wiscasset resident Constance Schuman asked how the board decided the town should go it alone. Withdrawal Committee Chairman Mary Myers said they had communicated with RSU 1, RSU 2, AOS 98 and AOS 93 before recommending Wiscasset become a stand-alone school system.

Wiscasset resident Sharon Nichols said, “As most of you know, WERP (Wiscasset Educational Research Panel) spent a year and a half researching the educational future of Wiscasset.

“It was our hope that we would be able to support the withdrawal committee recommendations and encourage residents to vote for withdrawal from RSU 12 and regain local control.”

Nichols said the committee should look at other alternatives. She suggested closing one of the schools due to low student populations. “Forty percent of our schools are empty. Why wouldn’t even the RSU consider closing one of the schools?

“Last year 32 graduated from Wiscasset High School (and) only 18 of those graduates were from Wiscasset. I am concerned with the schools’ curriculum and school choice.”

Poulin said it is not easy to close a school; you must consider the students and how it will affect them. If you can’t, you shouldn’t be considering closing a school, he said.

“What do you value, and how much do you want to pay for it. The public needs to be involved in these decisions. What is the future of Wiscasset High School, and how many school buildings are needed?” Poulin said.

Poulin said it's true that Wiscasset has more capacity than is needed and there is no indication there will be an influx of more students coming into the Wiscasset School system soon.

Any decision to close a school would be made by a yet-to-be-formed school board, not the withdrawal committee, Poulin said.

Plus, if Wiscasset voted to withdraw, the current members of the RSU board of directors representing Wiscasset would be the interim school committee until a school board could be elected, Poulin and Higgins said.

“I disagree with that statement,” Stover said. “We were never told that would be part of our responsibility.”

“Why, that was not part of your original job description,” Poulin said, bringing laughter from the people present.

“No I guess it wasn’t,” Stover said, and chuckled.

Nichols questioned the withdrawal agreement proposal to allow tuition special education students to Wiscasset. “The alternative and special education students have the lowest teacher-to-student ratio and take the most time in supervising and disciplining.

“They also are very costly and disruptive because of dropout rates and re-entering programs. This takes away from teaching mainstream children and restricts their opportunity to learn.”

Budget committee member Cliff Hendricks asked if the number of schools would influence the budget. Poulin said yes, but the town may not see a savings from a school closing for the first two or three years.

Budget committee member William Barnes asked if the town would have to pay the remainder of teachers’ contracts should the town decide to close a school.

Poulin said in most contracts there is a minimum time for lay-off notices. If the lay-off notice requirement is not met, then perhaps the town would have to pay something, he said.

Wiscasset resident Chet Grover said, “This meeting has been an eye-opener for me. I commend (the withdrawal committee in) trying to deal with the RSU and how dysfunctional it is.

“We need to fix this for our kids not just in the short term but we need a long term fix. We need to fix it ourselves,” he said.