York Town News
Consolidation explorations continue
By Jennifer L. Saunders
YORK - School Department officials will be following the state's directive in the new school consolidation law to begin discussions with Kittery and will meet with that town's school officials this week, but will also be looking to other options during talks with the Wells-Ogunquit school district.
Tonight, Wednesday, July 11, the York School Committee will hold a meeting at the School Department Central Office on Route 1 to discuss, among other issues, moving forward with the state's consolidation requirements.
The Maine Legislature approved the new law back in June, which suggests a match between York and Kittery into a combined district.
In an effort to explore all options in bringing forward a plan of whether or not to consolidate, and how to best consolidate York's schools with another district if the town does support such a plan, the School Committee will also be meeting next week with officials from Wells and Ogunquit.
On Monday, July 9, York Superintendent of Schools Dr. Henry Scipione was among those in attendance at a state informational forum in Sanford on the approved law.
"There were a lot of people there that were advocating for their own situations," Scipione said Tuesday, explaining that the meeting served simply as a review of the law that is in place and did not include any new developments.
This Thursday, July 12, Scipione and members of the School Committee will be meeting at Shapleigh Middle School in Kittery at 6:30 p.m. with the Kittery School Committee and Superintendent of Schools Larry Littlefield to have a preliminary discussion.
"The focus of the meeting will be the dialogue between the two boards," Scipione said, adding that a tentative meeting date of July 17 has been scheduled with Wells-Ogunquit. "We're just seeing what's viable and whether any of these are going to work for us."
