DIXFIELD — Directors heard updates to the status of three of the five Regional School Unit 10 towns exploring withdrawing from the district at Tuesday’s board meeting.
Superintendent Craig King said he received a request from the lawyer who represents the towns for information needed for the withdrawal committees to continue their work.
Board member Ed Parent of Peru said his town’s withdrawal committee divided the tasks that must be completed, while Canton board member Faith Campbell said her town’s committee is “spinning its wheels.”
Dixfield board member Barbara Chow said that town’s withdrawal committee is meeting twice a month. The town attorney attends one of those meetings, she said. She said the committee has acquired or discussed finances, public relations, education and shared services.
There was no update on Carthage’s withdrawal effort.
King said the best-case scenario for withdrawal by the four towns would not be until 2017.
“Each of the four towns must go through the withdrawal process separately,” he said. “Negotiations could take a lot of time, with the most difficult part being the financial piece. They would have to project the costs to run a district two to five years down the road.”
Board Chairman Bruce Ross of Dixfield said one or more of the four towns could stop the process.
Meanwhile, the town of Byron is continuing its efforts to pull out of RSU 10. The process began two years ago, King said.
“Last spring, we were looking at choices. There’s no way this (pulling out) could be done this year,” he said.
In other matters, directors unanimously approved a policy on a method to dispose of school property.
“Everything in the school belongs to the school district. Anything not used must be well-defined on how it will be disposed of,” King said.
The board also approved hiring Rebecca Adams as a Dirigo Elementary School grade-five teacher for one year, and Scott Underhill as a physical education teacher at Rumford Elementary School.
The board began its meeting with a moment of silence for longtime educational technician Denise Byrd, who resigned in 2012 for medical reasons. Byrd passed away in the early morning of Sept. 23.
The next board meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 26.
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