BDN: East Machias to battle state on school plan
Looks as though East Machias, which is one of the few towns to ever withdraw from an SAD, is pushing back against consolidation as well…
By Diana Graettinger
Thursday, August 30, 2007 – Bangor Daily News
EAST MACHIAS – They’re ready to do battle with a state they say is wrong.
Their weapon: the court system.
Their objection: a statewide school consolidation plan they maintain is going to “injure” their school.
This community of 1,000 residents is “damn mad” about the state’s plan to consolidate school districts, which they say will do more harm than good, and they plan to sue the state to stop it.
“This just burns me up,” school board Chairman Bucket Davis said Tuesday.
He, along with Principal Tony Maker, school board member Pete Rensema, and Union 102 Superintendent Scott Porter met Tuesday at the Elm Street Elementary School on Route 191 to talk about the state plan.
School communities have until Aug. 31 to file a formal notice of intent to merge or consolidate their administrative offices with neighboring schools. The consolidation law, enacted earlier this year as part of the $6.3 billion state budget, seeks to reconfigure the existing 290 school units into a maximum of 80 new regional school units.
“I plan to fight this until my damn death,” Davis said.
Read the rest here.