[Local-Maine-Schools] Combine island schools? (Working Waterfront op-ed)

[Dick Atlee]

Working Waterfront for February has an interesting opinion piece by 
Donna Damon, raising many of the common questions about the LSRS 
education reorganization plan, but looked at from an island perspective. 
  For the same school-related reasons that prompted the Chebeague 
secession effort she helped lead, she concludes that if massive 
consolidation is going to occur, it would make sense to put all the 
island schools into a separate district.

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OPINION
Why not combine islands into one school district?
by DONNA MILLER DAMON
Working Waterfront
February, 2007
http://www.workingwaterfront.com/article.asp?storyID=20070214

A year ago my neighbors and I were consumed by the process of trying to 
secede from the town of Cumberland, because our elected mainland 
representatives to MSAD 51 underestimated the integral role a school 
plays in the long-term sustainability of an island community. They did 
not understand that if the school is not strong families move off, 
leaving no one there to care for the old folks; the store and post 
office close; the island is taken over by nesting sea birds or summer 
people. The threat is real. The scenario played out more than 300 times 
during the twentieth century. Once again we are faced with a challenge 
that has the potential to decimate not just Chebeague, but all of 
Maine’s remaining year-round island communities. The proposal on the 
table is to absorb them into mega school districts that will, in 
reality, remove all vestiges of local control from the islands.

Gov. John Baldacci proposes combining Maine’s school districts into 26 
administrative units as a way to reduce administration and as a result 
lower property taxes. Chebeague, along with Long Island, which seceded 
from Portland in the 1990s, would be sucked into the largest school 
district in Maine. With an estimated 20,000 students in the “Portland” 
district, a school board of 400 would be necessary for Chebeague to have 
one school board member. I’m all for lowering property taxes, and I’m 
all for sharing payroll, purchasing services and even a superintendent. 
I’m all for reducing the paperwork required by Augusta that creates 
administrative positions and keeps teachers away from what they do best, 
which is teaching kids! But I am not in favor of giving up local control 
over our island school after spending much of the past two years trying 
to ensure the long-term preservation of the school as a means of keeping 
Chebeague a viable year round community.

Bigger is not always better. The people on Chebeague found this out the 
hard way, when MSAD 51 unilaterally decided to send fourth and fifth 
graders to the mainland. Islanders lobbied Augusta and the legislators 
listened. Only one representative and four senators voted against 
Chebeague’s secession from Cumberland. Gov. Baldacci signed the bill the 
same day.

Islanders understand that the governor and the legislature are between a 
rock and a hard place, and we know that we must cut costs to cut taxes, 
but what will happen to us if we are absorbed by Maine’s Southern Mega 
District?

I plead to those in Augusta who support the governor’s plan: please do 
not put our delicately balanced communities in jeopardy once again. 
Don’t make us always be the David to someone’s Goliath. But if in your 
infinite wisdom you are unwilling to exempt islands from this 
consolidation plan, at least be creative. Create districts that make 
sense. Combine all island schools in one district for purchasing, 
payroll, etc. — any way that we can truly save money. Let us share a 
superintendent, but let us keep our own school boards and make our own 
decisions to meet the needs of our children, because we know that island 
schools rarely fit the mainland model and no two islands are the same.

Last year Chebeague Islanders educated the folks in Augusta about island 
education and island needs. Nothing has changed. Local control of our 
schools is imperative to sustain an endangered species, the Maine 
islander. The future of an important part of Maine’s heritage is at 
stake if Maine’s islands are homogenized with mainland mega districts. 
We look to our legislators to work with us and take the necessary steps 
to sustain Maine’s year-round island communities.

Donna Miller Damon, a resident of Chebeague, was a key player in that 
island’s successful effort last year to become Maine’s newest 
independent town.

Copyright 2001-2007 Island Institute