Central Aroostook RPC Meeting
August 20, 2008
6:00 pm
Easton Elementary School Cafeteria
SAU’s Participating: Bridgewater, Easton, MSAD #42, MSAD #45
Members Present:
Bridgewater: Terri Allen; Wayne Bradbury; Ellen Schneider, Asst. Superintendent (Liaison)
Easton: Mike Corey; Dave Hopkins; Tom Osgood; Norman Trask; Frank Keenan, Superintendent (Liaison)
MSAD #42: Greg Day; Todd Grass; Carolee Hallett; Jamie McClay, Nate Smith; Roger Shaw, Superintendent (Liaison)
MSAD #45: Daren Churchill; Jerry Dow; Tim Humphrey; Mike McIntosh; Ed Buckley, Superintendent (Liaison)
Non-Members Present: Gerald Clockedile (RPC Facilitator)
Members Absent: Nina Bradstreet (Bridgewater); Theresa Cochran (MSAD #45); Jan Greico (MSAD #45); Gehrig Johnson (Bridgewater-Supt. Liaison); Duska Kingsbury (Bridgewater); Andrea Powers (MSAD #45); Butch Richardson (Bridgewater); Cary Schumaker (MSAD #45)
1. The meeting was called to order at 6:10 pm in the Easton Elementary School cafeteria by Chairperson, Tom Osgood (Easton).
2. New business – none.
3. Adjustments to the agenda:
a. Financial report presented by Superintendent Frank Keenan. Report was reviewed prior to the meeting by Chairperson Tom Osgood and Co Vice-Chairs, Greg Day and Mike McIntosh. Beginning balance of $5000. Cost of refreshments for RPC meetings held on 6/11, 6/18, 7/9 & 7/16 came to a total of $350.12. The cost of secretarial preparation and taking of the RPC minutes for the meetings held on 6/18, 7/9, 7/16 & 8/6 came to a total of $254.20. Total expenditures to date of $604.32. Remaining balance in account is $4395.68.
b. Mr. Clockedile prepared a possible cost-sharing proposal for the group. The proposal was distributed as a handout and Mr. Clockedile presented the information to the whole group as a PowerPoint. In his proposal, Mr. Clockedile had a section that determined what percent each community had in the new RSU in a number of categories. Those categories used were valuation, number of pupils, amount raised in additional local, total budget in the RSU and the average of all categories listed.
Mr. Clockedile chose to base his proposal on the current budgets in the SAU’s. His rationale being that this information was known and valid, and to base a proposal totally on future years would be basing on assumptions that would prove inaccurate in most cases.
Mr. Clockedile pointed out that the cost sharing arrangements that RPC’s could develop could only impact the money raised above EPS (additional local) in each SAU. He proposed, as a starting point for the groups discussion, to have each SAU keep all costs directly produced by them for the first three years of the new RSU (FY10-FY12), so there would be no cost shifting for those three years. He proposed for the next three years (FY13-FY15) that the costs of dollars above EPS be shared by the following: each district (community) will be totally responsible for 75% of their costs created above EPS; the remaining 25% of costs will be shared by taking the average of the percent of valuation the district has in the RSU and the percent of the total additional local raised above EPS by the SAU and multiplying that average percentage by the amount of additional local that constitutes 25% of the above EPS. That amount would be added to the 75% of additional local dollars. That would result in $40,154 dollars of cost to Easton being shifted in a shared manner to the other communities of the RSU during the FY13-FY16 fiscal years. This will be a starting point for the RPC’s discussion at future meetings as they work to resolve and create an acceptable cost sharing relationship for the new RSU. Mr. Clockedile pointed out that he chose this format because it caused the smallest cost shift after 6 years of $160,000 compared to the following shifts if other percentages and methods were used:
1. % of pupils alone - $825,008 cost shift
2. % of valuation alone - $321,554 cost shift
3. % of overall budget alone - $653,542 cost shift
4. % of community population alone - $839,694 cost shift
5. % of carry over alone - $1,020,468 cost shift
All significantly more that the $160,000 using Mr. Clockedile’s proposal.
4. Public comment – none
5. Facilitator Update/Comments – Jake Clockedile reported on several pieces of new information.
a. Mr. Clockedile briefed the committee on the latest penalty to impact any communities that vote not to consolidate. Along with the financial penalties that will be imposed, the State Board of Education has enacted a penalty against communities who fail to consolidate if/when they apply for new school construction funds. The penalty will be 20 points deducted from the scoring of their application that will essentially eliminate them from consideration.
b. Mr. Clockedile pointed out that the Houlton Area RSU, which has 27 towns with 81 RPC members, has completed their plan and submitted the plan to Commissioner Gendron for her approval.
c. All plans must be voted on by January 30, 2009 necessitating that ours be complete and approved by our boards by the end of October in order to submit to the Commissioner and have it approved 45 days before the 30th of January.
d. Mr. Clockedile pointed out the necessity of a transition team. This team will need to be chosen following the vote on January 30th if the RSU has been approved by the voters. The transition team will do things such as propose a new name for the RSU, develop a new social security 218 plan for the RSU, deal with transfer of E-rate accounts, obtain a new tax identification number. This work cannot wait for the vote to choose a new RSU board and Superintendent
6. Updates by SAU Superintendents--No updates were given.
7. Governance Committee Presentation:
a. Norm Trask, Chair of the Governance Committee, presented their proposal for a new board. It would be a 14 member board with the following representation:
Blaine – 2; Bridgewater – 1; Easton – 3; Mars Hill – 3; Perham – 1; Wade – 1; Washburn – 3
There was also a proposal for the staggering of elections in those communities with more than one board member.
b. The committee proposes using weighted vote as the method of voting on the board. As a result each member will have the following weights to their votes:
Blaine (398), Bridgewater (607), Easton (417), Mars Hill (493), Perham (434), Wade (250), Washburn (542).
c. The Governance Committee recommends that there be no local boards. There was unanimous support from the total committee to support NO local boards in the plan.
d. The Governance Committee presented a plan as to how the RPC would proceed if the plan is voted down in any community.
1. If the only community to vote no was Bridgewater then the remaining districts would move forward with consolidation. The RPC would reconvene to make necessary adjustments in the plan to deal with the loss of Bridgewater.
2. If any other SAU votes no on the plan, then the plan will not be able to be used. The RPC will reconvene to determine what, if anything, could and should be done.
e. The Governance Committee presented a timetable for reorganization (consolidation) to be reviewed and discussed. Mr. Clockedile pointed out things in the timetable that needed to be changed to comply with the law. The committee will revise and present at the next RPC meeting.
8. Discussion/Questions since last meeting—
a. There was an extensive discussion concerning the powers/duties that could be given to a local board and the implications of our plan either allowing or not allowing for local boards. Full committee voted not to include local boards in the plan.
b. Wayne Bradbury (Bridgewater) asked where the penalty could be found in a community voted against consolidation—that information is on the Department of Education website.
9. Motion by Carolee Hallett (MSAD #42), 2nd by Todd Grass (MSAD #42) to approve the minutes of the August 6, 2008 meeting. Approved unanimously.
10. Members broke out into subcommittee groups for a brief work session at 8:35 pm to work on their areas of the plans.
Return to full committee at 8:55 pm.
11. Final comments from Chairman Osgood – indicated that his subcommittee planned to meet before the next RPC meeting to prepare some proposals. He encouraged other subcommittees to do the same.
12. Next meeting date: September 3, 2008 at 6:00 pm at the Easton Elementary School cafeteria.
13. Meeting adjourned at 9:00 pm.
Respectfully Submitted,
Frank Keenan
Interim Recording Secretary
Central Aroostook RPC Membership
Name Community Phone E-mail
Terri Allen Bridgewater 425-2161 polyop61@hotmail.com
Wayne Bradbury Bridgewater 227-2828 janet@pioneercable.net
Nina Bradstreet Bridgewater 429-8130 ninab@stepstones4youth.org
Duska Kingsbury Bridgewater 425-7149 duska@pwless.net
Butch Richardson Bridgewater 429-8811 rrichardson2ainop.com
Ellen Schneider* Bridgewater 764-4101 ellen.schneider@sad1.org
Gehrig Johnson* Bridgewater 764-4101 gehrig@sad1.org
Norman Trask Easton 764-4193 ntrask@curriertrask.com
Michael Corey Easton 488-6917 mcorey@hydroblendinc.com
Tom Osgood Easton 488-6932 tosgood@mamusg.com
Dave Hopkins Easton 227-3446 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
James McClay MSAD #42 227-8606 jmcclay@amhc.org
Greg Day MSAD #42 425-5301 gskkday@verizon.net
Carolee Hallett MSAD #42 425-2242 carolee@07me.com
Todd Grass MSAD #42 429-9497 toddgrass@hotmail.com
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
Jan Grieco MSAD #45 455-4907 jangrieco@ainop.com
Theresa Cochran MSAD #45 455-5865 tcochran@ainop.com
Edward Buckley* MSAD #45 455-8301 edpbuckley@yahoo.com
Cary Schumacker MSAD #45
Tim Humphrey MSAD #45 455-4988 jandthumphrey@aol.com
Jake Clockedile Old Orchard 205-5334 ggclock@gwi.net