ANDOVER — Nearly three dozen residents attended a public hearing on raising an additional $72,000 to keep the Andover Elementary School open another year.
A special town meeting is set for 10 a.m. Saturday, April 20, at the town hall to vote on the proposal.
At last’s month’s town meeting, residents agreed to raise another $68,000 on top of their SAD 44 assessment to keep the school open in 2013-14. However, the SAD 44 board asked for $140,000.
The town’s regular school assessment is between $400,000 and $450,000 per year.
Selectman and Andover Withdrawal Committee member Susan Merrow said the SAD 44 board is expected to possibly vote April 22 on the future of the school, which educates about 30 children in grades kindergarten to five.
Another 70 or so Andover children attend others schools in SAD 44.
At Thursday’s public hearing, Andover Parent Teacher Association President Amber Cooper said comments were positive about maintaining the school. She said her daughter, Rylee, attends kindergarten at the school, and her husband, Esau, is on the SAD 44 board.
Cooper said she is pleased that her daughter is able to attend a small, caring school. She added that some children, as well as some parents, are stressed because of the uncertainty of the school’s future.
At the hearing, former Andover elementary student Sara Anderson presented a film on the school, which showed the importance of maintaining a school in the community through interviews with parents and other community members.
Merrow said the Withdrawal Committee is expected to meet with SAD 44 Superintendent David Murphy and the district’s lawyer, Bill Stockmeyer, on Wednesday to continue negotiations for withdrawal.
She said the two parties are down to three issues on which they disagree, a vast reduction from the approximate 24 issues they began with. She said she hopes an agreement will be reached in June or early July.
The SAD 44 board voted in 2011 to close the school that June, because of its age and condition and declining enrollment. Andover residents raised $214,000 to keep it open in 2011-12 and another $68,000 for 2012-13.
Last year, the Andover Withdrawal Committee was formed to leave SAD 44 and operate its own school system. The committee meets at 6 p.m. Sunday at the Andover Public Library.
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