Kudos to Gail Marshall, Brian Hubbell, Dick Atlee, Hannah Pingree, Dennis Damon and all those working so diligently for small communities across the state. Frenchboro is a teeny part of School Union 98, one that could use the "island exemption" if necessary. However, we are choosing to remain with our Union, not because we want to be part of the "RPU", but because Union 98 has been hugely supportive of our special circumstances and needs as a one room school of 14 children in grades K-8. We cannot provide the administration, special needs, and support services required by law on our own. That said, we are terrified as a community that we will eventually lose our autonomy and then, our school under the provisions of Gov. Baldacci's disastrous plan. <br>
<br>Thank you for being the voice of reason over, and over, and over again. We can only hope that at some point, before it is too late, our legislators, Dept. of Ed., and governor will hear you.<br><br>Rachel Bishop<br>Teacher of grades K, 1, and 2 at Frenchboro School<br>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Feb 28, 2008 at 10:18 PM, Gail Marshall <<a href="mailto:gmarshall@wildmoo.net">gmarshall@wildmoo.net</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div style="">
A letter I sent to Maine Public Radio after hearing the report I link to in the article. The comments I refer to are towards the end of the clip.<div>I hope you find it useful. <br><div><div>Thank you,</div><div>Gail</div>
<div>(BTW, Like many of you, I am a long-time dues-paying member of the station.)<br><div><br><div>Begin forwarded message:</div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div style="margin: 0px;"><font style="font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" color="#000000" face="Helvetica" size="3"><b>From: </b></font><font style="font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none;" face="Helvetica" size="3">Gail Marshall <<a href="mailto:gmarshall@wildmoo.net" target="_blank">gmarshall@wildmoo.net</a>></font></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;"><font style="font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" color="#000000" face="Helvetica" size="3"><b>Date: </b></font><font style="font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none;" face="Helvetica" size="3">February 28, 2008 9:54:24 PM EST</font></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;"><font style="font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" color="#000000" face="Helvetica" size="3"><b>To: </b></font><font style="font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none;" face="Helvetica" size="3"><a href="mailto:cbeck@mpbn.net" target="_blank">cbeck@mpbn.net</a>, <a href="mailto:kshortall@mpbn.net" target="_blank">kshortall@mpbn.net</a></font></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;"><font style="font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" color="#000000" face="Helvetica" size="3"><b>Cc: </b></font><font style="font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none;" face="Helvetica" size="3">Hannah Pingree <<a href="mailto:hannah@pingree.com" target="_blank">hannah@pingree.com</a>>, Dennis Damon <<a href="mailto:dsdamon@panax.com" target="_blank">dsdamon@panax.com</a>>, Ted Koffman <<a href="mailto:koffman@coa.edu" target="_blank">koffman@coa.edu</a>></font></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;"><font style="font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" color="#000000" face="Helvetica" size="3"><b>Subject: </b></font><font style="font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none;" face="Helvetica" size="3"><b>MPBN/School Consolidation Reporting</b></font></div>
<div style="margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br></div> Mr. Beck and Mr. Shortall,<div><br><div>I am disappointed by AJ Higgins' decision to include in his Maine Things Considered February 28th report of the Kids Count study, Governor Baldacci's unsubstantiated assertion that the school union amendment to the school consolidation repair bill furthers the interests of only superintendents and school administrators and stands in the way of providing children "scholarships and technology to compete in a global economy." <a href="http://www.mpbn.net/asx/080228kids.asx" target="_blank">http://www.mpbn.net/asx/080228kids.asx</a></div>
<div>Has anyone in your organization investigated whether or not there is any factual basis to the 'oft-repeated assertion by this administration that school unions cost more than other forms of governance? If you have found any data that goes beyond bald assertions, I would appreciate seeing it. The Department of Education's inveterate statistician, David Silvernail, testified to the Education Committee that there is no ability to establish a causal relationship between governance structure and cost. Gordon Donaldson, professor of Education at UMO, has repeatedly studied this issue and found no correlation. IF there are higher costs in a school union, Dr. Silvernail opined it is more likely because a higher percentage of Unions are in more prosperous regions of the state and they spend more money on instruction. In the elementary school in my town of Mount Desert we are fortunate to be able to appropriate and spend far more than the wholly inadequate EPS system prescribes. We spend it on French for K-8, special education, gifted and talented programs, counseling, art, music, physical education, sports, technology, including laptops down to 4th grade, small class sizes and so much more. Further, it is our municipal taxpayers, not the state, who tax themselves and pay for it all. </div>
<div>Last year this same administration asserted that the consolidation bill would save $32 million dollars in the first year. Their assertions were never adequately vetted. There are no savings on the horizon. </div><div>
They said there would be no "cost-shifting" between towns forced to consolidated. It was demonstrably false at the time of the utterance. Circumstances everywhere have borne that out.</div><div>They said combining disparate teacher contracts would not be very problematic. Having already done that in a collegial, not a forced setting, I know better. But really, anyone without a rocket science degree could have correctly guessed "false". </div>
<div>They said there would be no loss of local control and yet they attempt to supplant local decision-makers with advisory boards and then declare "regional' the new "local."</div><div>They said bigger systems can manage money better, and yet the State is bleeding red ink which will soon precipitate cutbacks in state education aid staff members of DOE call "brutal". That will really leave Maine's kids disadvantaged unless we inefficient little towns can bail them out by picking up the tab (again). And the biggest school system in the state, Portland, shocked its citizens with major overspending last year. </div>
<div>Wouldn't you think that by now a reasonably prudent news organization would take what they say on this subject with a grain of salt? </div><div>I have been very disappointed by the caliber of reporting on this issue by MPBN from the beginning. Rarely have I heard more than drive-by reporting that usually highly correlates to Department of Education press releases or Governor Baldacci's pronouncements. I have an independent perspective because I have been involved in this debate since the beginning. But the broader implications of this for my trust in MPBN's reporting is troubling. How nuanced and vetted is the rest of the reporting I hear on issues about which I have no independent knowledge? How can I maintain confidence that it is any less superficial and slanted? </div>
<div>Before MPBN further prejudices your listeners against school Unions with quick and dirty sound bites, I invite you to do a little investigative journalism. Visit us in Union 98 on Mount Desert Island, the home of the proponents of the amendment. Our school Union already functions the way we are proposing the Legislature permit us and others to coalesce. You might learn that we and our colleagues in other Unions are not the reckless spendthrifts we have been made out to be, that with our superintendents and administrators we have the best interests of our children at the center of or work, and that we do a pretty fair job of it.</div>
<div>Thank you,</div><div>Gail Marshall</div><div>PS: Before you come to visit, you might check out our website that is a reliable clearinghouse of news and information about school consolidation. <a href="http://mdischools.net/" target="_blank">http://mdischools.net/ </a></div>
<div><font color="#ff0000"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br></span></font></div><div><br></div></div></blockquote></div><br></div></div></div></div><br>_______________________________________________<br>
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<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Rachel