Letters to the Editor

SAD 41 disagrees with state’s interpretation of Cook School changes

Editor’s note: The following letter was addressed to Nancy Perkins, chair of the State Board of Education and officials with SAD 41 also wanted to share the information with our readers.
To the Editor:
    We, the SAD 41 Board of Directors, are writing this letter in regard to an issue that is pertinent to the SAD 41 School District and the state’s school closure statute. We strongly disagree with a decision by Maine’s Department of Education that there has been a closing of the Marion C. Cook Elementary School under Maine law, and we request that the State Board of Education review that decision. Pursuant to 20-A M.R.S. §405(3)(D), the Board of Education has authority to review decisions by the Commissioner of Education relating to closing of schools in school administrative districts.
Background

    Last spring SAD 41 underwent a district realignment in order to help meet challenging budgetary constraints as well as our growing student needs. This realignment had many components to it, including new instructional programming in LaGrange at the Marion C. Cook Elementary School site.
    The district had been committing in excess of $100,000 annually in recent years to send a small number of students with special behavioral needs to Brewer because appropriate programs were not available in SAD 41.
    Additionally, SAD 41, like many districts, loses students each year at the secondary level because, for a variety of reasons, these students don’t find the traditional high school setting a “good fit.” Losing these students often signals the end of their educational careers and also the loss of subsidy dollars for the district. In addition, the Marion C. Cook Elementary School has had a decreasing enrollment each year, and for 2013/14 was projecting less than 30 students.
    Based on all of these factors it seemed that a prudent thing to do would be to realign our district in order to address these areas of need. To do this we would relocate students that had been attending the Cook School to other schools in the district and utilize the Cook School to meet our previously stated unmet instructional needs at the secondary and elementary levels. Thus, the SAD 41 realignment plan was born.
    It was “realignment” and not “school closure” because the state statutes are very clear (so we thought) that the definition of school closure is when the board takes action to not provide instruction to “any students” at that school.  This is surely not the case with SAD 41 because much instruction for students is being provided at the Cook School in LaGrange. The realignment saved our district many dollars in staffing costs for FY14, allowed us to bring an affordable budget to our voters, and created programs which not only meet previously unmet instructional needs, but also had the potential to generate new funds for the district.
    Just before the 2013/2014 school year began, our central office was notified by DOE that we must comply with the school closure statute as we were “closing” the Marion C. Cook School.
    Believing this to surely not be the case, our superintendent, Michael Wright, consulted with the school’s legal counsel, Daniel Stockford of Brann and Isaacson, and together they read the statute once again, concluding that indeed, DOE must be mistaken as the very definition of school closure did not pertain to our situation. Dan Stockford then conferred with DOE to present our position.
    The DOE response was to relay the Department’s “interpretation” as to what the statute meant, claiming that the intent of the law referred to any “regular” instruction, and DOE did not consider our special services programming and our alternative programming to meet their definition of “regular.”
• 20-A M.R.S. 1512(4) from Maine Education and School Statutes (2013-14 edition) at pg. 81: ”For purposes of this section, school closing is  any action by the regional school unit board that has the effect of providing no instruction for any students at that school.”
Position of School Board
    As a Board of Directors we have many issues with the department’s position. 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 their interpretation.” If we cannot use the very laws that are designed for us for guidance and direction we believe this brings into 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 that 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.
    The 2013/14 school year is well under way, and we have new programming taking shape in LaGrange. There is much instruction going on for students at the Marion C. Cook School. The alternative program is giving new opportunities to several high school students, and the behavioral program is helping to transition elementary students to services within our district instead of transporting them miles away to Brewer. Additionally, the Cook School is serving students from a neighboring district as well. Students who previously attended the Cook School are attending school at Milo Elementary School, just down the road and within our own district. No school has been “closed,” and instruction is continuing for students every day at the Cook School. For these kids, the instruction received at the Cook School is their only instruction! We are off to a great start to our year. The future looks bright.
Request for Review
    We have been told that we can fight DOE’s position and that our legal counsel believes the State’s stance to be contrary to the state statute.
    However, we have also been told that it may be less expensive to just “give in” to the State’s position as opposed to fighting.
    But a decision to do this doesn’t sit well with us and it just doesn’t seem right. We did not vote to close a school; that was never our intent.
    We, the MSAD 41 Board of Directors, wanted to apprise you, the members of the State Board of Education, of the circumstances that have led us to feel strongly enough to write this letter.
    We are in hopes of appealing to a sense of reasonableness and fairness and that you may be able to assist us in overturning this decision.
    We thank you greatly for your time, and we request an opportunity to be heard on this matter at a meeting of the Board of Education.

SAD 41 Board of Directors
Donald Crossman, Chair
Sheila Ellis,
James Lord,
Joni Crossman,
Stacie Martin,
Roberta Trefts
Arthur Herbest,
Chad Perkins,
Leon Farrar