The Wiscasset School Committee’s passage Monday night of a plan to partner with other districts to serve some of their and Wiscasset’s students with special needs sparked questions from Wiscasset parents.

In response, committee leaders and Superintendent of Schools Heather Wilmot further explained the plan that stems from a grant sought from the Maine Department of Education earlier this year. When the three-year program won funding, Wiscasset anticipated hosting it at Wiscasset Middle High School. The site later changed to Bath for the program’s start because Wiscasset needed time to prepare, Wilmot has said. Bath is part of Regional School Unit 1.

The program is expected to serve students from Alternative Organizational Structure (AOS) 98, Sheepscot Valley Regional School Unit 12, AOS 98 and AOS 93, Wilmot said. It looks now like the program will start out serving about eight students possibly including a Wiscasset student now getting services outside the district, she said.  The program will have a clinical social worker, one or more special educators and support personnel and will serve seventh through 12th graders with social and emotional needs, she said.

Wilmot and School Committee Chairman Michael Dunn said the committee approved the program last spring and the next step was to pass the final document and authorize Wilmot to carry out the plan. The vote ran 4–0-1, with Michelle Blagdon abstaining. She told fellow members, “I didn’t raise my hand because I haven’t been part of all this, and I’m still trying to figure it all out.” Blagdon joined the committee following her election in June.

Parents’ questions and comments touched on helping the program’s students if WMHS students outside the program bully them at school; where they will eat lunch; keeping attention on the school’s other programs and whether or not would the program have its own school resource officer.

There are no plans for a second SRO, the program’s students will eat lunch with the rest of the school unless their needs require a separate space, and the department’s process for responding to reports of bullying will apply to any reports of a student in the program being bullied, Wilmot said.

Among the mothers addressing the panel during the public comment period, Marita Fairfield said Wiscasset does a really great job with special education and she could see why it would be the new program’s host. That could make it “almost a magnet school,” Fairfield said. She asked if that might open the possibility of offering school choice to Wiscasset’s students who don’t need those services.

The new program will take nothing away from the school’s regular or special education programs, Dunn and Wilmot responded. “That’s not what’s going to happen, so that’s not an issue,” Dunn said.

Wilmot told Fairfield, “I agree with you we do a great job with kids with disabilities. And the area that we’re not losing sight of is making sure we’re doing a better job for all our kids, and in particular making sure we still have a really robust, really rigorous program for kids who are achieving.” The department is looking at building its science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) program, she added.

Kim Andersson, mother and WMHS teacher, brought up a request she made years ago, for the department to work with residents on a long-term strategic plan for education. The community is more than the schools and students’ families, it’s everyone, she said. She described the new program as a day treatment program in a former shop classroom. “When did we decide as a community that this is what we want to do ... Who’s the we? How did this happen?”

The committee listens to public input and sometimes changes course based on it, Vice Chairman Glen Craig said. But as an elected committee, the members have a responsibility to make decisions, he said.

Dunn said the committee’s discussions on the program have been public and every committee meeting has a public comment period. “People don’t take advantage of it. They don’t show up to participate. We can’t go out there and drag them in here.”

Also Monday, on a recommendation from athletic director-assistant principal Mandy Lewis, the panel approved an interlocal deal Lewis said will let the school’s lone wrestler, senior Sam Strozier, compete as a member of the team he has trained with, Morse High School in Bath.

Membership will give him the experience of helping the team earn points and advance to the playoffs, Lewis said. She thanked the committee. RSU 1’s athletic director Nate Priest, reached Tuesday, said the Maine Principals Association has approved the agreement. RSU 1’s board will vote Oct. 23, Wilmot said Tuesday.

Wilmot announced a job fair at the central office to recruit substitutes for teachers, educational technicians, drivers and other department workers at 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 19. The substitute shortage is a big problem, said Wilmot, Transportation and Maintenance Director John Merry and Food Services Director Lorie Johnson.