SAU’s participating:
Members Present:
MSAD #42: Greg Day; Nate Smith; Roger Shaw, Superintendent (Liaison)
MSAD #45: Daren Churchill; Theresa Cochran; Jerry Dow; Tim Humphrey; Michael McIntosh; Andrea L. Powers; Ed Buckley, Superintendent (Liaison)
Non-Members Present: Echo Kaply-Smith (Public); Gerald Clockedile (RPC Facilitator)
The meeting was called to order
at
Following introductions, Mr. Clockedile, the group’s state facilitator, began the meeting by giving a brief overview of the tasks and responsibilities of the group. Mr. Clockedile then moved to the agenda for the evening’s work.
Item 1: Determine role of the district’s superintendents.
Each SAU determined that their Superintendent would be a liaison to the group but not a member of the group. The superintendents would be available to do research, answer questions, give advice and to prepare documents for the group.
Item 2: State Facilitator Role.
Mr.
Clockedile outlined his role in the process.
His main role is to facilitate the necessary discussions needed in the
RPC to help the RPC understand the tasks and aid their decision making
process. Mr. Clockedile will not make
any decisions. He will give advice only
when asked. He has worked with 4 other
RSU’s in this process already. One of
his RSU’s voted to consolidate on June 10th by a 4 to 1 margin. He also has worked with three SAU’s who don’t
need to consolidate but are developing alternative plans. His role is not to defend the law or the
department of education, but only to facilitate the RPC’s work. Mr. Clockedile’s wages and expenses will all
be covered by the Department of Education.
Mr. Clockedile then discussed the funding available through the
Department of Education for the RPC and its member SAU’s. The Regional Planning Committee has $2500
available from the DOE to cover any needed legal expenses. The RPC also has $2500 available from the DOE
to cover miscellaneous operating expenses.
Each of the SAU’s in the RPC (
Item 3: Selection of RPC Committee Officers.
A.
Motion by Jerry Dow (MSAD #45), 2nd
by Nate Smith (MSAD #42) to nominate Tom Osgood (
B. After much discussion, the committee agreed to have Mr. Osgood ask his wife, Ann, if she would be interested in serving as secretary for the group. Mr. Osgood will have an answer at the next meeting.
C. Motion by Jerry Dow (MSAD #45), 2nd by Nate Smith (MSAD #42) to nominate Greg Day (MSAD #42) and Mike McIntosh (MSAD #45) as co vice-chairs. Approved 11-0-2.
Item 4: Decision making process for RPC decisions.
After a thorough discussion, it was decided that future RPC decisions would be done as much as possible by consensus. However, there will be many very important issues that will require a vote. The RPC decided that votes will be taken by SAU rather then individual voting. Each SAU will have one vote and will decide their vote through caucus. A quorum will be determined by having a majority of the SAU’s present and represented at the meeting. A question was asked of Mr. Clockedile by Mr. McIntosh concerning the possible need/method to replace an RPC member who stops attending. Mr. Clockedile indicated the communities should use the same method to replace that was used to put the current members on the RPC.
Item 5: Planning the Timeframe for Completion of the Plan.
The
deadline for the final vote on the plan by the communities in order to avoid
the penalties will be
Item 6: Use of Sub-Committees to Complete Tasks.
Mr. Clockedile talked briefly about what has worked best in the other RPC’s that he has worked with to complete the tasks. He recommended that the RPC consider forming 4 sub-committees with the superintendents being available to serve as liaison for the committees.
The 4 committees that he recommended were:
a. Governance – committee to produce a recommendation on the size, composition, apportionment, method of voting of the governing body
b. Finance - looks at cost sharing, cost shifting, all areas of finance
c. Contracts/Educational Planning – reviews all collective bargaining agreements, individual contracts, presents the financial impact on the RSU of merging all contracts, reviews the educational offerings in each SAU to see where resources could be shared by the new RSU
d. Disposition of property – presents a description of what exists for property in each of the SAU’s, reviews what will be needed to transfer ownership to the new RSU and other issues, such as busing
By consensus, the RPC decided to follow Mr. Clockedile’s suggestion to work using sub-committees. Membership on the various committees will be as follows:
A. Governance: Norm
Trask (
B. Finance: Mike
Corey (
C. Contracts/Educational Planning: Nina Bradstreet (Bridgewater), Greg Day (MSAD #42), Tom Osgood (Easton), Daren Churchill (MSAD #45) and Tim Humphrey (MSAD #45)
D. Disposition of Property: Andrea
Powers (MSAD #45),
Item 7: Future Division of RPC Meeting Time.
By consensus it was decided that the meetings will consist of the first 2 hours being used for sub-committee work and the last hour will be full committee review of the sub-committee work.
Item 8: Schedule of Future Meetings.
The next
meeting of the RPC is scheduled to be held on
Item 9: Goals/Concerns/Questions of Member SAU's
a. Andrea Powers (MSAD #45) asked Mr. Clockedile to review the difference between an RSU Board structure and the new “Alternative Organizational Structure”.
Mr. Clockedile described the RSU structure of governance as being very close to the current SAD structure. The “AOS” is a much different structure. In an “AOS” the central board has specific authorities attributed to it. Those powers cannot be transferred. The “AOS” central board controls district administration, Special Education, transportation, curriculum, “AOS” budget and state reporting. In an “AOS” structure local boards control their school’s budgets, hire their employees, and maintain stronger local control. The structure is very complicated, requires inter-local agreements and creates multiple boards. In our circumstance, there would be 5 boards counting the “AOS” board that the superintendent would serve. The “AOS” structure would have to be approved by each community in the “AOS”. The inter-local agreements spell out the relationship among all the parties and the division of authority. We would have to all submit another letter of intent to the Commissioner in order to pursue the “AOS” structure.
Item 10: RPC Fiscal Agent
The RPC is
required to have one of the SAU’s serve as the fiscal agent for the RPC. By consensus
Item 11: Sub-Committee Tasks
Each of the
sub-committees was given information to gather for the next meeting on
Governance – census information in each of the communities.
Finance - list of all debts in the SAU’s – both state sponsored & local only – scholarship funds and reserve funds.
Contracts/Educational Planning – copies of all contracts in each of the districts.
Disposition of Property – description of all property, deeds, plot drawings and VFA data.
For the purpose of making voting decisions, quorum will be determined by SAU presence, it takes 3 out of 4 SAU’s to pass a voted decision.
Mr. Shaw
(MSAD #42) pointed out that there were 4 sub-committees and
Meeting was
adjourned at
Respectfully submitted,
Frank Keenan
Acting Secretary
Name Community Phone E-mail
Wayne Bradbury Bridgewater 227-2828 janet@pioneercable.net
Nina Bradstreet Bridgewater 429-8130 ninab@stepstones4youth.org
Butch Richardson Bridgewater 429-8811 rrichardson2ainop.com
Gehrig Johnson Bridgewater 764-4101 gehrig@sad1.org
Norman Trask Easton 764-4193 ntrask@curriertrask.com
Michael Corey
Tom Osgood Easton 488-6932 tosgood@mamusg.com
Dave Hopkins Easton dhopkins@ces-maine.com
Frank Keenan Easton 488-7700 frank.keenan@eastonschooldistrict.org
Roger Shaw MSAD #42 425-3771 rshaw@sad42.k12.me.us
Nathan Smith MSAD #42 429-8095 polisciguy02@hotmail.com
Greg Day MSAD #42 425-5301 gskkday@verizon.net
Daren Churchill MSAD #45 455-4046 dschurchill@verizon.net
Andrea Powers MSAD
#45 455-1002 townmanager@washburnmaine.org
Jerry Dow MSAD #45 455-5913 perhamtown@yahoo.com
Michael McIntosh MSAD #45 455-4812 m_mcintosh@yahoo.com
Theresa Cochran MSAD #45 455-5865 tcochran@ainop.com
Edward Buckley MSAD #45 455-8301 edpbuckley@yahoo.com
Tim Humphrey MSAD #45 455-4988 jandthumphrey@aol.com
Jake Clockedile Old Orchard 205-5334 ggclock@gwi.net