SUMNER — Imagine working on a jigsaw puzzle with 1,000 pieces. That’s tough enough. Now add time limits for each step: an hour to finish the border, two hours to piece together the sky and so on.
That is a lot like the process facing the RSU 10 Withdrawal Committee as it works through the 22 steps residents set in motion when they voted last month for Buckfield, Hartford and Sumner to pursue withdrawal from Regional School Unit 10.
The committee met Thursday night for the second time. It plans to meet twice a month, rotating among the three towns. A member from the host town will chair each session, so as the meetings move, the responsibility will also shift.
Thursday’s meeting was at the Sumner Town Office.
“A lot more digging needs to be done,” Erin Hinkley told other committee members as they discussed a proposed budget for a new school district made up of the three towns.
Hinkley represents Buckfield and serves on the RSU 10 board of directors, based in Rumford.
Much of Thursday’s discussion focused on drafting a budget and hiring an attorney to represent the towns and the committee.
The committee agreed to prepare a budget as a group rather than appoint a separate budget committee.
“All members should be working on the budget,” Hinkley said.
The committee then voted unanimously to hold a budget workshop (study session) after the business portion of its Jan. 8 meeting.
“We should not build our budget based on the RSU 10 budget, but base it on what we need and what we don’t need,” Hinkley said.
Preparing a first-year budget is part of Step 8 in the Maine Department of Education’s 22-step process. Step 8 requires the committee to “negotiate a withdrawal agreement … with the regional school unit board and … submit the proposed agreement to the commissioner of education within 90 days after the committee is formed.” The committee was formed Dec. 3.
Several committee members noted the difficulties four towns faced in 2017 when withdrawing from RSU 10. Canton, Carthage, Dixfield and Peru withdrew and formed Regional School Unit 56.
Those towns had comprised Maine School Administrative District 21 before merging in 2008 into RSU 10, the Western Foothills School District. Buckfield, Hartford and Sumner had comprised Maine School Administrative District 39 before that merger.
Neal Austin of Buckfield, who was active in the petition drive to pursue withdrawal, agreed to prepare guidelines for his fellow committee members for their Jan. 8 budget workshop.
The committee also set a timeline for hiring an attorney and approved the wording of a letter to be sent to three lawyers requesting proposals to represent the committee through the process. Responses are due back by Jan. 20.
Hiring a lawyer is part of Step 8 in the process to “negotiate a withdrawal agreement.”
Nicholas Tifft, a Hartford selectman and committee member, agreed to send the letter requesting proposals as soon as possible. The committee is working from a list of lawyers, including some who have represented towns that withdrew from school districts.
Deb Frino of Sumner, who chaired the meeting, expressed concern that rumors about the process will grow in number and intensity in the towns and at the two schools — Hartford-Sumner Elementary School and Buckfield Junior-Senior High School.
Frino suggested the committee establish a connection with teachers and other staff members at the two schools.
“It’s not us and them,” she said of the staff members. “I want it to be (all of) us.”
One suggestion was for staff members to write questions about the process and status to the committee, which would then hold a meeting with staff to answer them.
Austin noted that if teachers contacted committee members by email, their questions, comments and replies would become part of the public record, archived with other committee documents and correspondence.
Tifft suggested holding a meeting with staff members in March, “after we’ve got our feet wet.”
In related matters, Frino agreed to serve as the committee’s contact with the Maine Department of Education, and Frino, Tifft and Liz Coombe of Sumner plan to serve as an asset committee to inventory all physical properties belonging to the two schools.
Committee members said the issue of whether RSU 10 or the withdrawing towns own some assets may be part of the withdrawal agreement, which must be finalized within 90 days.
