As a longtime member of the faculty at Southern Maine Community College, I was stunned by Gov. LePage’s remarks regarding the tenure of John Fitzsimmons as president of the Maine Community College System.
I did not always agree with President Fitzsimmons, but I have always known him to be thoughtful and frugal – exactly the kind of manager whom I would have expected our governor to appreciate.
Our system has extensive relationships with area high schools, including programs where students earn college credit. I have such a student in class right now. We also have many credit-transfer agreements with area colleges, including the University of Maine System.
The governor is demanding that the community college system spend money that we do not have on the Bridge Year Program, and is blaming us for the fact that it takes time to work out credit transfer with the university system when the university system is still working that out among their own campuses.
I find this discouraging as both an educator and a taxpayer.
Daniel Abbott
Portland
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