A CLOSER LOOK

The next meeting of the three-community Reorganization Planning Committee is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 10, from 5 p.m.-6:30 p.m., in the Windham High School library.

It is open to the public.

Representatives from Windham, Westbrook and Raymond met for the first time Monday night in the back of the Windham High School library to begin talks about forming a regional school unit to comply with the new school consolidation measures.

The towns were represented on the Reorganization Planning Committee by superintendents, school board members, politicians and parents.

“I think the opportunities for our kids are going to be enhanced with any relationship between the three of us,” said Jeff Vermette of the Windham School Board.

Raymond and Windham representatives have already met three times to investigate forming a regional school unit together. Monday’s meeting welcomed Westbrook into the fold.

Neither Westbrook nor Windham is required to consolidate with any other district under the state’s redistricting mandate because they meet minimum size requirements of 2,500 students.

Westbrook has an approximate student population of 2,600 students, Windham, 2,800 and Raymond, 600.

As part of the redistricting plan handed down by the state, each school district is required to file a “notice of intent” by Friday to inform Education Commissioner Susan Gendron of the options the districts are exploring. All consolidation plans eventually must be approved by a voter referendum.

Stan Sawyer, Westbrook superintendent of schools, said his school board has agreed to alternative notices of intent that authorize consolidation with Windham and Raymond, with Raymond or to form a school unit by itself.

Windham Superintendent Sandy Prince said his town’s school board passed similar notices of intent that would allow Windham to consolidate with Raymond, with both Raymond and Westbrook or stand alone.

Raymond Superintendent Sandra Caldwell said her board has filed letters of intent to consolidate with Windham, with Windham and Westbrook or to entertain alternative plans, such as consolidating with Poland.

Raymond Selectman Joe Bruno said he wanted the towns to flesh out how a regional school unit of the three would work before going into numerical details.

“You need to look beyond numbers,” said Bruno. “We need to know what this will look like first.”

Westbrook School Board Chairwoman Colleen Hilton disagreed, saying that holding back on calculating the costs of the regional school unit could result in drafting a plan that would spend more money on administration than the three towns currently spend.

Mary Jane McCalmon, an independent education consultant who facilitated the meeting, summarized the issue:

“Some want to go to the details, and some want to go to the big picture first,” she said.

“I feel kind of like we crashed your party,” said Greg Smith, vice chairman of the Westbrook School Board, pointing out that Raymond and Windham representatives had already held three such meetings. Vermette said the Westbrook representatives needed a little time to catch up on the consolidation planning. Those city members on the committee are Dottie Aubey and Suzanne Joyce, city council; Hilton and Smith, school committee; Mayor Bruce Chuluda, city administration; Jim Violette, business community; State Rep. Tim Driscoll; Michael Kucsma, school business manager; Ed Symbol, parent; and Sawyer.

“If we’re going to be serious about bringing Westbrook into this,” he said, “we need to allow them a little bit of time to wrap their heads around it.”