This blog is dedicated to posting news and information on key issues and opportunities which may have an effect on our way of life in Arundel, Maine
USA. The goal is to provide insight into key issues and opportunities while providing the community a knowledgebase for self directed education while creating a public forum for constructive comments and open sharing of ideas.
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We should "ALL REMEMBER" A second vote in the future woudl be required to accept any plan developed to withdraw from the RSU21.
ReplyDeleteThis vote will provide us the ability to understand the actual investments required to continue to educate the children of Arundel at the current high standards Dr. C has introduced to our community with the continued support of the existing team of teachers and admin staff.
It will also provide us all the opportunity to understand what it will cost us to support and insure M.L. Day remain opens for years to come.
"VOTE YES" to provide us all the opportunity to understand the real numbers and the non bias facts to make a proper educated decision weather or not to withdraw from the RSU!
The common goal of the community is to educate our children at a high standard at a price we can all afford.
If the common goal is to educate our children at the same high standard it has finally met, what is the purpose of withdrawing from the RSU that helped MLD to get to that high standard?
ReplyDeleteThe idea that $35,000 isn't the stopping point for some selectmen to 'get the right answers' (again, whatever that means) is enough for me to vote NO.
My taxes went up because of the NO people last year. And we were all told our taxes would go up if we voted YES.
Guess what? If you vote YES this time around, taxes will go up AGAIN.
Stop the unnecessary spending. Vote NO.
Question, why is it that No voters don't want the town to find out what the real facts are?
ReplyDeleteAnswer: The numbers are posted on the Arundel town website.
ReplyDeleteQuestion: Why is it that the 'No' voters are under scrutiny for numbers, when the 'Yes' group didn't want to answer questions at the Selectmen's meeting, when the 'Yes' group only gathered signatures from those they knew were guaranteed to agree with them, and when the 'Yes' group held a 'word of mouth' meeting about 'education alternatives' that most of us would be money don't include MLD being paid for on its own?
I think that the 'Yes' group has more questions to answer than the 'No' group. Spending $35,000 on plans to withdraw is foolish. That money could be spent on more *necessary* items, but education, to the 'Yes' group isn't one of them, I take it.
The No Voters seem to be under scrutiny for numbers as they continue to position their and the RSU's numbers as FACT. This is the major issue as there seems to be a lack of TRUST with the RSU, the RSU supporters and the rest od the community from the beginning of the CONSOLIDATION.
ReplyDeleteThe COMMUNITY AS A WHOLE wants to see the NON BIAS NUMBERS and FACTS presented so we all have the ability to make and informed educated decision on the final vote.
I believe this is the only way this community has an opportunity to mend the past and become the community it once was.
As for the 35k this is from an account with 2 million + dollars in it..for the town of Arundel to use as the people see fit..either way this money which is being asked to be invested is not earmarked for education.
"Vote YES to INVEST in The Future of Our Community"
I CAN NOT WAIT until 8:00pm tomorrow APRIL 10th so we can all move on with our LIVES in this small town!
ReplyDeleteThe RSU numbers were confirmed by Todd Shea - what more do you want?!
ReplyDeleteVote NO, and end this once and for all (or at least for the next two years).
I don't think anybody here has scrutinezed the no voters on this page. Not sure what you are talking about.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the poster VOTE YES for REAL NUMBERS and THE REAL FACTSApr 9, 2012 11:51 AM. So true, additionally there is everything to gain and nothing to lose by voting yes.
The REAL NUMBERS are on the Arundel town webpage. Why are you ignoring that?
ReplyDeleteWe have everything to lose by voting yes. We have, to start, $35K, and according to Dana Peck, it could be more. We have $3.7M in repairs that are required for MLD that we'd have to foot the bill for ourselves.
If you think your tax bill hurt this year, wait until you vote 'yes'. I hope you're all willing to take care of the tax bills of those who can barely afford to live in their homes, because there were plenty of those people making comments last year when it came to the school budget.
Again, I say - the budget pieces and the contract were voted down, because people scared them into thinking their taxes would go up. A NO vote last year gave us higher taxes, and a YES vote this year will skyrocket them higher.
I don't trust the 'yes' folks to provide numbers for me, most especially since I received my tax bill after the budget vote.
Vote NO, and save your tax bill!
I would rather foot the bill for $3.7M in repairs to ML Day vs. helping pay for the KHS and Consolidated School repairs. Dana Peck is one board member on a 5 member board, he is one voice.
ReplyDeleteI am going to vote yes, for my town, and to make my town whole again. Regardless of what ever the no voters think. There is more meaning to this, and I care about my town.
I will vote yes, as many of my friends and neighbors are doing.
The Yes group has had no argument all along...because there is none. They simply pick away at all the facts try and make it look like people are lying because there is NO truth or facts in their argument at all...this is ONLY ABOUT TAMS and renewing another 16 year contract with them.
ReplyDeleteIt isn't about MLDay it sin't about COMMUNITY....
They say Vote yes to invest in your community....yup thats about right it will be a HUGE INVESTMENT OF YOUR TAXES...so that they can force everyone to TAMS instead of allowing MLday to flourish and eventually give everyone choice.....THAT is what will provide peace in this town.
VOTE NO Save our school, Save our Taxes, and Save our community.
A "YES VOTE" has nothing to do with "TAMS" yet everything to do with potential future "TAXES" and an affordable education for all!
ReplyDeleteGET THE REAL NUMBERS AND THE REAL FACTS...THEN DECIDE WHAT IS BEST FOR ARUNDEL!
VOTE YES TODAY, to better understand our options for the FUTURE!
"I would rather foot the bill for $3.7M in repairs to ML Day vs. helping pay for the KHS and Consolidated School repairs. Dana Peck is one board member on a 5 member board, he is one voice. "
ReplyDeletePlease share your address, because a whole town worth of taxpayers will be happy to send their bills to you.
To the 'yes' folks, you have yet to establish a credible, logical reason to have voted down past budget measures (historically, you have voted 'no' on everything, thus putting our elementary school at-risk, as well as not funding necessary projects within the town.
Your inability to look at the numbers provided by the town and understand them speaks to your lack of experience, and conveys that you have not thought AT ALL about the financial consequences of the past, or the future, if our town has to go it alone.
Let me be clear - I am not so naive as to think you are not in collusion with a group of folks from TA to figure out how to mesh K-12 education together, but the fact that your group has been both secretive and not forthcoming about both your plans and the ACTUAL numbers (again, posted on the Arundel town website) says to me that this isn't at all about the town, it isn't about the residents, and it isn't about making lives better for your children.
If any of those factors were truly important, you wouldn't have secret meetings, closed facebook pages, and you'd realize that you're selling the ENTIRE TOWN down the river, all because you don't like the Kennebunks.
I can actually see why the Kennebunks aren't really trying to stop Arundel folks from withdrawing - who would want a bunch of people who are consistently unhappy with EVERYTHING, but who have no logical or fiscally sound arguments to present, who offer ZERO solutions, despite their complaints?
If your only solution is to withdraw, it means you haven't actually thought about the other possibilities. That narrow scope of thinking is what has given Arundel its reputation. I think the 'old blood' needs to step aside; new, more progressive-thinking folks need to take charge of leading this town in a direction that will benefit the ENTIRE town, not just a group of 300 unhappy people.
Again, please share your mailing address - you're going to have a lot of 'footing the bill' to do, if you vote 'yet'.
Vote NO - STOP the unnecessary spending.
if you vote *yes, that is.
DeleteDear Anonymous | Apr 10, 2012 05:09 AM,
ReplyDeleteA YES VOTE will provide us "LESS EDUCATED" people in the community a chance to ALL become as EDUCATED as the vote no supporters...and PROVIDE US ALL the ability to make an informed, EDUCATED DECISION on the second required vote to withdraw from RSU21.
The NO Supporters continue to try and scare the public to thinking this is the final vote, WHICH IT IS NOT. This is a vote to create a withdrawal committee, invest up to $35,000 dollars and develop "A NON BIAS detailed plan to determine what is best for our community"
Let the NON BIAS FACTS and NUMBERS help us all make an INFORMED, EDUCATED DECISION which will effect our town for years to come!
Who called 'yes' people uneducated?
DeleteI said that they were inexperienced and not forthcoming; perhaps by 'uneducated' you mean a refusal to acknowledge the financial consequences of withdrawing from the RSU? If so, I'd agree with your statement.
The 'yes' folks have an agenda, and that is, come he** or high water, they want to withdraw from the RSU, and it is based ONLY on a dislike of the Kennebunks. It isn't about education, because they have brought no counter-argument to show that our children would be educated at the same (current) standard or better on our own.
It is *not* about peace in the town, because they have held secret meetings, and refuse to provide information that they shared at those meetings, despite multiple requests.
If 'yes' folks want people to understand their position, why is it they refuse to answer questions? Why did they refuse to put together a presentation for the meeting on the 26th?
Do you really believe that 300 people are going to push this issue over the edge so that we withdraw?
If the 'yes' folks were truly about financial responsibility, they'd have a counter-argument to the numbers provided by the Selectmen as confirmed ACCURATE. They'd be able to present a projected budget for our school on its own, and they'd be able to show a projected tax rate that made sense, and that was true to the current economic climate in our town.
So far, no one has presented a logical counter-argument, just 'I don't like the RSU, so I'm voting YES', or 'We're better off on our own'. How? PROVE IT.
I don't want $35,000 spent on moving forward with withdrawal plans (and again, it could be MUCH MORE than that, according to Dana Peck) - I don't want MLD to revert to its former self, not meeting code, not meeting state standards, and setting kids back education-wise.
If that's what you want for this town, go ahead and vote 'yes'. You'll be making quite the statement about what you want for the future of our town - a decrepit school building, poor test results, and higher taxes than last year, thanks to your 'fuzzy math' the last time we all voted.
A NO vote means stability, much needed code-conforming repairs to MLD with the cost burden being SHARED, and the best education system in the state.
To be fair, and if you would like, HONEST.... The leaders of the yes group have been trying to withdraw for 3 years. The leaders of this group only grabbed onto the 'study" because it will give them half of what they want. The go ahead with the plan.
ReplyDeleteIn the end, a plan will be drawn up and voted, simply, "do you favor the plan to withdraw"
The question will NOT give you plan choices, and WILL NOT give you finiancial figures.
So for those of you who want to see an unbiased study, you should vote NO, then ask for the study. Then if the study looks like it makes sense, come back and vote to with draw.
There are many folks in town who see the forest for the trees. Arundel should have done what Kennebunkport did, and studied this THOROUGHLY before making any decisions.
DeleteWe've got too many folks who've been gunning for this since the day the towns consolidated, and it's the ONLY reason they're moving to withdraw. They like their little run-down town to stay just the way it is, and we 'don't need no foreign language', and our non code-conforming school is fine falling apart, and our kids don't need a chance at a decent future.
If I'd known what a circus side show the folks have made this town out to be before I moved to Maine, I would have avoided this town like the plague. It's amazing to me that the progress that has been made counts for nothing in these peoples' minds, but they're totally okay with being taxed to the hilt to have a sub-par education contracted out of district.
Thanks to these people, our taxes went up last year, when they said a 'no' vote would save our taxes. We're supposed to believe a 'yes' vote is going to improve things?
I call shenanigans. Perhaps those people who don't like this school district should move. They suggested the same thing to those of us who support the school district during all the turmoil last year. Time to practice what you preach!
Wow,
ReplyDeleteI believe the big issues are as following:
1. No matter what side of the argument did a study prior to a vote the opposing side would not believe the results. | FACT
2.The majority of the people in our community do not want to be forced to pay for any-part of a high school renovation which only 6% of our students attend. | FACT
3. People want to insure that ML Day remains open, the current process & community positioning does not provide us that control.
4. We can leverage the learning's from the leadership change @ ML Day and continue down the road to success on our own. | FACT
5. I would recommend that we place a clause in any RFQ for for future work on ML Day that the awards be directed towards local business owners so we truly keep our money in the community and start to build a united community once again.
6. We need to continue to leverage our educational successes and leadership of Dr. C and the professional staff @ ML Day. Leadership and teamwork have created the biggest change @ ML Day! | FACT
1. "No matter what side of the argument did a study prior to a vote the opposing side would not believe the results. | FACT" <-- So, why are there people willing to spend $35,00+ for this?
Delete2."The majority of the people in our community do not want to be forced to pay for any-part of a high school renovation which only 6% of our students attend. | FACT" <-- The majority of RSU21 supporters want a more comprehensive cost-sharing solution which doesn't place much of the burden on Arundel, but the 'majority of the people in our community' have refused to even look at that as an option, and voted the previous proposal down, thus resulting in an increase in our taxes.
3. People want to insure that ML Day remains open, the current process & community positioning does not provide us that control. <-- If the 'yes' vote goes through, kiss MLD goodbye. The 'alternate education options' presented at the 'word of mouth' meeting didn't have anything to do with keeping MLD open, otherwise, that information would be freely shared, and the public representatives and TA reps would have been forthcoming about their presence at that meeting, and would have spoken to those asking questions at the meeting on the 26th.
4." We can leverage the learning's from the leadership change @ ML Day and continue down the road to success on our own. | FACT" <-- We can try, if and only if TA isn't going to take over K-12 education, but no one has guaranteed that isn't going to happen, and you can bet your bottom dollar that MLD staff wouldn't 100% be transferred to teaching positions at TA.
5. "I would recommend that we place a clause in any RFQ for for future work on ML Day that the awards be directed towards local business owners so we truly keep our money in the community and start to build a united community once again." <-- I agree with this.
6. " e need to continue to leverage our educational successes and leadership of Dr. C and the professional staff @ ML Day. Leadership and teamwork have created the biggest change @ ML Day! | FACT" <-- I agree with this as well.
*$35,000
DeleteJust got back from voting! Almost was overstimulated with all the signage, marketing 101 - 7-12 impressions people will remember, more than 12+ impressions in less than a 100 yards, becomes an annoyance to many and turns what could be a positive into a negative!!!
ReplyDeleteRemember to get out and VOTE!
Yes 517- No 291! The people have spoken!
ReplyDeleteWhat did they say.
DeleteThey said that they don't care about our town enough to stay in a superior school district.
DeleteWhat a huge disappointment, 'yes' folks. Glad there's one last vote to shoot this down.