School contract information sought

 Arundel Town Manager Todd Shea provided the Arundel Board of Selectmen with the existing Thornton Academy Middle School contract and arbitration order from an August 2010 hearing.

Selectmen requested copies of the contract and arbitration after residents at a July 11 meeting addressed the board in hopes that their children attend Middle School of the Kennebunks. 

The contract states that all middle school students from Arundel must go to Thornton Academy Middle School. Last year’s arbitration between Thornton Academy and RSU 21 solidified the contract’s language and also allowed 19 Arundel middle school students to enroll at Middle School of the Kennebunks who had indicated a desire to attend the school prior to the hearing. Twelve Arundel students enrolled at the middle school at the district’s expense. The ruling prohibited the district from enrolling additional Arundel middle school students unless the contract was terminated.

Arundel, Kennebunk and Kennebunkport residents in May voted to leave the contract in place.

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Arundel to move dispatch to Biddeford

 Arundel Board of Selectmen voted unanimously to terminate the town’s Public Safety Answering Point contract with Sanford and signed a Public Safety Answering Point and dispatch services contract with the Biddeford Police Department.

Sanford Regional Communications Center has fielded Arundel’s emergency calls since 2009. As Arundel’s Public Safety Answering Point, Sanford transfers the town’s 911 calls to Ken

nnebunk where the calls are dispatched.

Arundel Town Manager Todd Shea at a meeting Monday said because Kennebunk chose to regionalize its dispatch services to Sanford, Arundel had to decide where to go with its dispatch services.

Arundel Fire Department recommended the town terminate the existing contract with Sanford and consolidate both services to Biddeford.

Biddeford costs just over $78,000 for three years and Sanford costs nearly $86,000. Biddeford requires additional start up costs of around $13,000 and Sanford has a 3 percent increase per year.

Shea said the town in four years will recoup the start-up costs.

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Town manager seeks chamber connection

Arundel Town Manager Todd Shea last week e-mailed the Biddeford-Saco Chamber of Commerce to forge a connection between town and chamber. 

Shea said an Arundel resident brought up the idea at the July 11 Arundel Selectmen’s meeting when Shea accepted a seat on the Kennebunk-Kennebunkport Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.

Shea last week e-mailed Biddeford-Saco Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Craig Pendleton. 

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RSU 21 School Board elects chairman

http://blog.kennebunkpost.com/2011/07/21/news-briefs.aspx

Regional School Unit 21 School Board member Norm Archer was re-elected chairman on Monday. Maureen King was elected vice chairman.

The school board opened the meeting by voting to waive protocol for the elections and give board members the opportunity to nominate members for the chairman and vice chairman positions.Archer and King, both of Kennebunkport, were nominated as chairman candidates. Archer won the seat.Archer said this year he’d like the 12 board members to “engage and connect with more constituents.”

  

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WOCSD/RSU 21 too divided to create a joint high school

Published:

Friday, July 15, 2011 12:06 PM EDT

Discussions have begun concerning a combined Wells-Ogunquit Community School District and Regional School Unit 21 high school, and though many unknowns remain, the prevailing attitudes in these towns make one take pause, and even doubt whether such a project could really be successful.

We would caution both school boards to tread lightly with this issue.

On the surface it’s easy to say, yes, both school districts are considering major renovations and a combined high school would allow them to share costs and have a better facility. We also don’t doubt that combining the resources of five towns would most likely provide for a state-of-the -art facility that would serve students well.

However, in the current circumstances of vehement disagreement, it’s hard to believe that a high school combining all five of these communities will lead to anything but discord.

read the complete story @ http://www.journaltribune.com/articles/2011/07/15/editorial/doc4e204d4258d3e821858119.txt

New bill pushes science, math education

by David Connerty-Marin

 

AUGUSTA – Gov. Paul LePage signed into law this week legislation that will bolster Maine’s efforts to strengthen science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education from pre-kindergarten to the post-secondary level.

The new law creates a STEM council that includes teachers, state government, higher education and the private sector. The goal is to give Maine students and Maine’s economy a leg up by encouraging more students to enter STEM fields.

“We need to focus on STEM education,” said Gov. LePage. “Our economy, global and local, depends on the understanding of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Innovation leads to new products and processes that sustain our industrial base, and that innovation requires a solid foundation in these areas of knowledge.”

The Maine Department of Education has made STEM education a top priority for some time and the new law builds on that work. The Department established an internal STEM team that includes science, math, Career and Technical Education and Maine Learning Technology Initiative staff, to integrate STEM education across all content areas. The team has worked extensively with other organizations and businesses in Maine to advance STEM education.

“Ensuring that all Maine students have access to a comprehensive education in the STEM fields, though, requires that we look beyond the K-12 system, and more broadly and formally involve the higher education and business communities and other sectors of state government,” said Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen.

The 16-member council, which will include five ex officio members and 11 appointed by the governor, will meet several times per year to discuss ways to promote STEM education, including integration into all content areas, and submit an annual report to the Legislature.

Resources and more information

• Anita Bernhardt, science and technology specialist
  Maine Department of Education
  207-624-6835
  anita.bernhardt@maine.gov
• STEM education in Maine

David Connerty-Marin | Maine Department of Education | 207-624-6880

A revised funding formula for 2012-13 will shift money to rural districts

Urban schools lose out on aid

A revised funding formula for 2012-13 will shift money to rural districts, with Portland taking the biggest hit of all.

By Tom Bell tbell@mainetoday.com
MaineToday Media State House Writer

and Leslie Bridgers lbridgers@pressherald.com
Staff Writer 

The school funding bill that Gov. Paul LePage signed into law this week will deliver more state money to many of Maine's rural school districts, at the expense of urban and suburban districts in southern and midcoast Maine.

Related Documents

 General purpose aid for local schools

In total, $6.3 million in state funds will be shifted. Although much of the shift will benefit districts in northern and eastern Maine, one of the biggest winners is in Cumberland County, as is one of the biggest losers.

Maine's largest school district, Portland, will lose out on the most aid under the funding changes, while School Administrative District 61 -- Casco, Sebago, Bridgton and Naples -- will gain the most.

Supporters of the changes say they are a small step toward restoring fairness to a funding model that benefited larger districts. The model, called Essential Programs and Services, uses complex calculations to allocate state aid on "rational" benchmarks rather than simply giving districts money based on how much they spent the previous year. The model was instituted in 2004.

Under the new law, the formula for allocating state education money is changed by:

• Removing a provision that subjects state reimbursement for school personnel benefits to the labor market index.

• Adding a provision allowing a 10 percent increase in the staffing ratio for school districts with fewer than 1,200 students.

• Giving more money to districts that have many students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches yet have high property values.

SAD 61, whose rural towns have extensive lakefront property, is an example of a district that will benefit from the changes.

read the complete story @  http://www.pressherald.com/news/urban-schools-lose-out-on-aid_2011-07-08.html

Wells, Kennebunk to consider regional high school

By MATT KIERNAN

Staff Writer

Published:

Friday, July 8, 2011 12:45 PM EDT

KENNEBUNK — Regional School Unit 21 and Wells-Ogunquit Community School District school board members brainstormed Thursday on the possibility of building a high school that would combine the two districts’ approximately 1,200-person student body.

The two boards considered the positives, negatives and unknowns.

“We don’t have data to make any decisions,” said Maureen King, RSU 21 school board member, at the meeting of the two boards.

Andrew Dolloff, superintendent of schools, said the cost of building a new school and purchasing land would be in the $60-65 million range, without any definite plans, while referring to an estimate by the Portland-based architectural company, Harriman Architects and Engineers.

Almost all of the factors that are necessary to begin such a consolidation are unknown, including construction costs, site location, student transportation costs and staffing.

Although the two districts would need a new school with a 1,200-student capacity, Dolloff said it would be best to have room for at least 1,400 students to accommodate the predicted growth in student numbers.

The boards are expected to have basic plans and rough costs to present to the public for discussion in the fall, according to Dolloff.

The idea comes as Kennebunk High School faces nearly $590,000 in renovations to its roof and asbestos abatement and considers a $35-40 million renovation of the school that would remodel KHS’ playing fields, relocate parking and improve the building itself. The RSU 21 building committee is receiving prices from Harriman Associates for the designs.

read the complete story @ http://www.journaltribune.com/articles/2011/07/08/news/doc4e1732be85818573629495.txt

Bill Gates: How state budgets are breaking US schools

What are you thoughts on social media in the classroom?

Enjoy the 4th, with Family & Friends. Be Safe.

Searchable Database of Maine Fireworks Shows

http://www.maine.info/July4.php 

Thank the Maine Fire Marshal for this searchable database of July Fourth fireworks displays in Maine.  Click on any of the listed events to find more info about Time, Rain Date, Location and Sponsor of the various fireworks displays.

Failed TAMS vote consequences still being felt: Letter to the Editor as posted in the www.seacoastonline.com

July 01, 2011 1:24 PM

http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20110701-OPINION-110709982

To the Editor:

Kennebunkport, Kennebunk and Arundel parents may be surprised to learn that fifth grade students from all three RSU21 schools (Consolidated, Sea Road and Mildred L. Day) will be going off to Thornton Academy Middle School (TAMS) this fall. Is that really true? Yes, it is.

What do these kids all have in common? They happen to live in Arundel. So off they must now go to an out of district school (TAMS) along with your tax dollars.

That is what you, as taxpayers, voted to do by declining to buy out the TAMS contract last month. Instead, the decision was not to provide every Arundel parent with a choice between TAMS and Middle School of the Kennebunks for their middle school education — and thus satisfying the individual needs of every Arundel parent.

Let’s look at the impact. Put yourself in an Arundel parent’s shoes for a moment. As a parent in Kennebunkport or Kennebunk with a fifth grader leaving Consolidated or Sea Road would you have preferred TAMS as your only choice or would having both MSK and TAMS as choices be your preference? After a careful investigation of both alternatives, wouldn’t you then decide based on what was in the best interest of your child?

However, the voters have spoken. Yet it is certainly not clear to me why middle school choice for Arundel parents was denied to them by the taxpayers in RSU 21. Never mind that significant RSU 21 cost savings were projected over the next several years by a decision for choice. Or was it simply that a VOTE NO ON TAXES sign was more appealing than the potential of those greater long term savings — with middle school choice ending up the loser?

In my view many voters either didn’t fully understand the consequences of their vote or were misled by those delivering fearful and misleading information. Otherwise, why would Kennebunk and Arundel voters deliberately choose to raise their own taxes via cost sharing?

Education of our kids is vitally important to this nation’s future! RSU 21 is one of the very best School districts in maine (per the Maine DOE). Each Arundel parent having choice will bring all three RSU21 towns much closer over time.

If given another opportunity in the future, I would hope that voters would reconsider their decision and give Arundel parents real choice.

Jack Reetz

RSU21 Board Member

Arundel

Happy 4th of July! Enjoy & Be Safe.