In a survey of Durham parents with school-age children, nearly 70 percent indicated they hope Freeport votes not to withdraw. On the other hand, if Freeport does withdraw and Durham reverts back to school choice, only 37 percent indicated they would choose Freeport High School for their kids. Similar sentiments have been voiced by Pownal parents. How do we explain this apparent contradiction?

For the first time in Durham’s history, membership in RSU 5 presented the opportunity to be a voting member of a K-12 school district. We no longer had to worry about which high schools might have room for our kids, or which schools might close their doors to us in the future. Our eighth-graders would move forward together, maintaining and strengthening childhood friendships, instead of being scattered among various high schools. Membership in a school district provided a sense of community and stability we never had previously. We gained a voice in how to provide better educational, extracurricular and athletic opportunities for our kids. Parents place a very high value on this. There might be area high schools that have better facilities or higher test scores, but FHS has become our home and we have a vested interest in its success.

If Freeport withdraws, everything changes and the benefits listed above will be gone. Proponents of withdrawal like to say that the “kids can stay together” or that we’ll have “new opportunities for cooperation.” Unfortunately, not all of the kids can stay together because the withdrawal agreement limits the number of Durham and Pownal kids that could go to FHS. Additionally, citizens of Durham and Pownal will not look upon the desire to keep our kids and the money they bring to the system, while eliminating our school board representation and voting privileges, as a form of “cooperation.” They would like you to think, “We’ll all be better off,” but most Durham and Pownal parents don’t see it that way.

If Durham parents value the RSU so highly, why don’t voters more strongly support school budgets? That’s a very fair question. There are two primary reasons. First, many voters without school-age children have never experienced the benefits of full membership in a school district, so they don’t yet value it as highly. This will improve over time.

Second, too many voters mistakenly blame the RSU for issues it has nothing to do with. Since 2008, the same year RSU5 was formed, we have witnessed many changes. Among them: the deepest recession since the Great Depression; dramatic reductions in state funding for education; implementation of Common Core Standards; proficiency-based diploma requirements; new standardized testing requirements and significant changes in the state property valuations used to determine what each town is required to pay towards the cost of education. The result has been classroom changes some object to, as well as double-digit tax increases in Pownal and Durham. Many have demonized RSU 5 as the culprit, but these are all state and federal issues that have nothing to do with being in an RSU. They will still affect towns across the state, whether they are part of an RSU or not. As realization of this grows, so will support for school budgets.

Despite the limited support of school budgets from Durham and Pownal so far, the fact is there has only been one issue in the six-year history of the RSU where the RSU as a whole rejected something voters in Freeport favored – the artificial turf athletic field. Even Freeport voters only favored this by 22 votes, a margin of less than 1 percent. To imply, as many have, that the presence of Durham and Pownal is somehow preventing Freeport from doing what it wants to do in the schools is simply ridiculous. Some vocal groups may not get everything on their wish list funded every year, but that will always be the case, regardless of who controls the budget.

I hope that Freeport voters will determine that the benefits to the students and taxpayers of Freeport in continuing the partnership with Durham and Pownal far outweigh any perceived negatives and will conclude that withdrawal is an overreaction – like swatting a fly with a sledgehammer. There are certainly issues to be dealt with, but withdrawal is not the solution. We are Better Together.

Kevin Nadeau

Durham