ANDOVER — A new petition to start the process for Andover to withdraw from SAD 44 was accepted by the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday night.
According to a news release issued by Leon Akers and other supporters of the move, the petition carried 145 signatures. Now, the board must set another election to learn whether townspeople want to continue to pursue secession from SAD 44.
The final vote asking residents whether they wanted to secede a couple of weeks ago showed that 238 of the 369 ballots cast approved leaving the district. However, state law requires a two-thirds majority vote for such an action. Fewer than 10 votes determined the outcome of the vote.
The original Save Our School Committee presented the petition to selectmen.
“It’s clear that the residents who want to withdraw from SAD 44 are in the vast majority,” said Jarrod Dumas, an Andover homeowner, social studies teacher at neighboring RSU 10 and volunteer for the campaign to continue the battle. “If two-thirds of the voters had voted to stay in the district, we would not be launching this campaign.”
Maine law allows supporters of those wishing to withdraw from their district to restart the process immediately if at least 60 percent of the votes showed a desire to leave.
When the original process to pursue leaving SAD 44 two years ago began with a townwide vote, nearly 85 percent of residents agreed to begin the process, according to Dumas via an email.
Soon after the move to leave the district was defeated, SAD 44 Superintendent David Murphy set up a subcommittee of board members, and the Andover Withdrawal Committee established its own subcommittee with the intention of discussing possible options for the school.
Murphy and Dumas said via email that the two subcommittees met earlier this week. No details were released.
Murphy said nothing had been finalized.
However, Murphy said the Andover subcommittee is expected to appear before the SAD 44 board meeting on Monday when it holds its regular meeting. The meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. at Woodstock Elementary School.
If residents vote to begin the withdrawal process again, far less time than during the first effort will be needed to work out a plan for leaving the district because virtually everything has been done, including approval by the state Department of Education for the educational plan developed by the Withdrawal Committee.
“We do not intend to change any terms,” Dumas said in an email. “We plan to get the votes to restart the process, and we hope that SAD 44 will quickly approve the terms of an agreement that they already accepted last fall. This isn’t about changing the plan; this is about having another vote.”
Anyone who would like to help with the new withdrawal campaign can contact Dumas at 381-0036.
Andover Elementary School serves about 35 kindergarten through fifth-grade students. The move to try to withdraw from the district began three years ago, when the SAD 44 board voted to close it. The town then agreed to pay additional funds, over and above the school tax liability, to keep it open in 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
