Board’s letter asks for review of school ‘closing’

By Stuart Hedstrom
Staff Writer

    MILO — For the current school year SAD 41 enacted a district-wide realignment plan, which included sending K-5 LaGrange students to Milo Elementary, all sixth-graders to the Penquis Valley School and opening two programs at the Marion C. Cook School in LaGrange. “For the most part, it has been a very positive thing for the district,” Superintendent Michael Wright said during a Nov. 6 school board meeting.

    Wright said during the last few meetings of the board of directors, SAD 41 officials have met in executive session to discuss a potential legal matter. “Just before the start of the school year we had a call from the Department of Education (DOE) after filling out forms for the grade levels in each school,” he said.
    The call said that SAD 41 had closed the Marion C. Cook School, which district officials feel they have not done. Instead of shuttering the building, it now houses an alternate high school and a behavioral program. Wright then provided a Maine education and school statute which states “school closing is any action by the regional school unit board that has the affect of providing no instruction for any students at that school.”
    SAD 41 officials consulted with legal counsel, Daniel Stockford of Brann and Isaacson of Lewiston, and Stockford agreed the district has not closed the Marion C. Cook School, as students there are receiving instruction.
    “We talked with the commissioner’s office and their interpretation is we have to provide ‘regular instruction,’” in order to be in compliance Wrights said. “The DOE did not consider our special services programming and our alternate programming to meet their definition of ‘regular,’” Wright said, reading from a letter sent by the board to the Maine State Board of Education.
    “In the world of school legal matters, the State of Maine education statutes are vital for guidance and direction, a sort of bible if you will for educators. A reading of the statutes and the school closing definition is very clear. School closure is when the board takes action, which leads to no instruction for any students. The statute does not say ‘regular’ instruction as DOE has told us, and it does not say, ‘Call DOE for interpretation.’ If we cannot use the very laws that are designed for us for guidance and direction we believe this brings into the question the very usefulness of the laws themselves. We are especially concerned that the at-risk students and students with special needs who receive instruction at the Marion C. Cook School apparently are not recognized as students by DOE.
    “We believe if DOE does not like the wording of the current statute then it should take initiatives to change the law. We do not believe that, having failed to take these initiatives, DOE can simply interpret the law as they choose, adding in new qualifying words such as ‘regular’ which can be found nowhere in the state statutes nor on the department’s website. Nowhere in any walk of life is this manner of operating acceptable, and it should not be in this case.”
     “One thing we can do is just conform and go through a school closure process after the fact,” Wright said about an option for SAD 41. “The board, to their credit, said we don’t want to roll over for them.”
    Wright said the letter to the Board of Education, which he presented to the SAD 41 directors that evening, is the route they would like to go with to keep the school open. Wright said he has had conversations already with several members of the board of education, and they have so far been sympathetic to SAD 41.
    “That letter has gone out to all the members of the state board,” Wright said, saying they usually meet monthly and SAD 41 officials would like an opportunity to present their case. “We are waiting to hear back from them. We feel you can’t just interpret the law the way you want to and you have that book of statutes for a reason.”
    He said school closure, which was never intended under realignment, is a three-month process, and requires a vote of town citizens on whether to keep the building open. Board Chair Don Crossman said the directors would first have to approve a motion to proceed with closure by a two-thirds majority.
    Continuing to operate the LaGrange school would skewer SAD 41’s student data, Wright said, adding no mention has been made of the state withholding funding for the district. He said they are looking at similar cases in New Hampshire and Vermont, as in situations in Stockon Springs and Sanford the districts opted to comply with the state.
    “We are in the process of trying to figure that out,” Wright said. “We think we have a good agreement, we think we follow the law. We feel we have a realignment, that’s not perfect but that’s working well. Hopefully we will hear something soon.”
    Before Wright spoke on the issue of the Marion C. Cook School, administrators from across SAD 41 provided updates on how the realignment has been going several months after the start of classes. “The purpose of the whole district realignment was to increase opportunities for students and also to meet the financial challenges of the district,” Wright said.
    Milo Elementary School Principal Julie Royal said the school now houses K-5 pupils from LaGrange, as well as a pre-kindergarten program with 28 attendees between a morning and afternoon session. She said the pupils new to the Milo school have said they like getting to know more of their peers as well as taking part in the more numerous extra curricular offerings.
    “On my side it really has been seamless,” Royal said, as teachers have come over from the Marion C. Cook School as well and fit right in with the rest of the faculty.
    Crossman asked Royal about the school’s enrollment of approximately 280. “I think we could use a bigger facility overall,” she answered.
    Kara Taheny spoke next about the Carleton Project, the alternative high school program she teaches at the Marion C. Cook School. Taheny said the Carleton Project had six students the first week, and has since doubled in enrollment, and “the students we have had since Day One are truly the heart of our program.”
    Students have been working both on short- and long-term goals. Taheny said they talked about setting and meeting the students’ own goals, as opposed to goals imposed on them, and setting challenging goals while also creating life-long learning.
    “A huge highlight was hearing from parents and grandparents about the growth of their children and grandchildren,” Taheny said. She said the remarks indicated the students have been coming out of their shells and have been showing their families work they have done that they are proud of.
    “The academy program is considered our behavioral program,” Director of Student Services Samantha Hubbell said about the second initiative located at the Marion C. Cook School. She said currently four students in grades K-3 attend the academy program, with a couple more possibly enrolling soon. The program is open to students through grade 6
    “The students at the academy program are working on both academics and behavior,” she said. “Our goal is to transition them back into a mainstream or less restrictive environment.” Hubbell said one such student has gone through the program and progressed to the point where she can return to her school.
    “Parent involvement so far has been wonderful — very, very supportive,” she said. Hubbell said parents have said they are thankful their students do not have to travel far for the program and they are very appreciative when they see their children succeeding in school.
    “The students are doing very well, they are all happy to be there,” program teacher Alton Robbins said. “I find the key to our success is focusing on the appropriate behavior,” which he said leads to a decline in inappropriate behaviors.
    Penquis Valley Principal Matthew Hackett said middle school schedules are still being adjusted to accommodate the addition of grade 6. “It’s been a learning process, but I think it’s been a good one. The students I have talked with are very happy to be here.”
    Assistant Principal Micah Grant explained the middle and high school students do not interact too often during the school day, and so far there have been no incidents of fighting or bullying between the age groups.