York Town News
Principal search, state education plan top School Committee talks
By Jennifer L. Saunders
YORK - The search for the next Coastal Ridge Elementary School principal is moving ahead right on target, with community meetings scheduled for this week.Superintendent of Schools Dr. Henry Scipione updated the School Committee last week on the search for a new person to take over Principal Jane Stephenson's post at Coastal Ridge when she retires at the end of the current academic year in June.
From the six interviews conducted with semi-finalists, he said, the selection committee has identified three finalists and the goal remains to have a recommendation for a candidate to the School Committee at its first meeting in May.
"We will be doing site visits the end of this week and next week," Scipione said when the School Committee met on April 4.
And this Thursday, April 12, the School Department will have three candidates at Coastal Ridge Elementary School to meet with parents, staff and community volunteers who will then provide feedback as the selection process continues.
In addition to the interviews and community meetings, school officials will be reviewing background records and conducting site visits at each candidate's current school in anticipation of a recommendation to the School Committee.
Also at last week's meeting, Scipione and School Committee member John D'Aquila updated the board on the latest developments in the state's proposed school regionalization plan.
"It's changing every day, every hour and every minute," D'Aquila said, citing departures from the recommendations of the Education Committee now that the plan is being reviewed by the Appropriations Committee. The Education Committee's "initial proposal was viewed as not being aggressive enough. … You have the Appropriations Committee trying to set school policy for the state of Maine."
Both the School Committee and the Board of Selectmen have presented a united front against Gov. John Baldacci's proposed school consolidation plan, but the current draft that will be recommended to the Legislature remains to be seen.
D'Aquila said the challenge for the Legislature is an attempt to meet the governor's budget targets, which were based on a plan he created "out of prisms and mirrors."
Vice Chairwoman Marilyn Zotos said that when it comes to the impending state mandate, "the water seems to get murkier and murkier all the time and you can't get through it."
Currently, Scipione said, the draft being considered does not include an opt-out provision for districts that wish to go it on their own.
"The consolidation would be mandatory, and into no more than 80 school districts," Scipione said of the current plan, with some exceptions due to geographic isolation and island schools to be considered as part of the total of 80 districts statewide.
Whether the target number of students will be a minimum of 2,500 per district or an average of 2,500 is of importance to York, he said, as the town has nearly 2,000 students in the district.
"It is almost un-American not to leave the opt-out clause in there," D'Aquila said of York and other communities being forced into a school system without the benefit of a local vote.
Chairwoman Patty Hymanson agreed.
"There will be a sea change in education in Maine … but we won't be able to vote on the final way that Maine education will look," she said, adding, "I think it's critical that there be at least one public hearing before the Legislature votes."
Scipione and the School Committee agreed to look at a time for York, Kittery and School Administrative District 35, which includes Eliot and South Berwick, to meet to discuss what the state's final plan might mean for southern York County.
"I think that would be a healthy and appropriate next step,' Scipione said.
