POLAND — By consensus, the Regional School Unit 16 Futures Task Force on Monday settled on two options for the fate of its elementary schools. They will forward them to the board of directors representing Mechanic Falls, Minot and Poland.
In a workshop session with directors, task force members chose to eliminate the option of closing Minot Consolidated School and moving its prekindergarten through sixth-grade students to Elm Street School in Mechanic Falls.
Assistant Superintendent Amy Hediger, who heads the 23-member task force, said the panel will recommend two other scenarios to the board.
• Keep the three hometown elementary schools being used and fund them, staff them and fix them.
• Close Minot Consolidated School and fund, staff and fix Elm Street School and Poland Community School and reconfigure the grades.
One school would be for prekindergarten through second grade and the other would be for third through sixth grades. It was not specified which school would be for which grades.
Hediger said the task force was unable to reach a consensus to recommend just one scenario. She noted that the data compiled from all three schools will be forwarded to the board of directors. The final report will be delivered at the Sept. 11 board meeting.
The Futures Task Force has been meeting since May to present a plan to recondition and update building operations, sustain educational requirements, address staff shortages, remedy transportation and food service issues, and present cost assessments.
Members of the task force will meet with RSU 16 staff for a workshop Sept. 6 to discuss the information the task force has collected.
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