Some parents speak out

Fri, 11/04/2022 - 08:16 pm

SUSAN JOHNS

In an email Friday night, Nov. 4, Chewonki Foundation in Wiscasset announced the closure of its elementary and middle school at the end of the school year, on June 7, 2023.

The trustees voted Friday morning, staff were told that afternoon and parents, that evening, around when the release went out, Chewonki spokesman Cullen McGough told Wiscasset Newspaper in a same-night phone interview.

McGough called it a sad day, after trustees’ months of consideration about the grades one through eight program he said started as a pilot program in 2015 and makes up about 6% of Chewonki’s annual budget.

“We didn’t end up with a financially viable model for the elementary-middle school. It simply costs more to operate than it brings in. That’s unfortunate, because we’re proud of it, we’re glad we did it, we think it’s a wonderful model for education.”

He said there is no good time to announce a school is closing, but doing it now gives families and staff the rest of the school year to start making plans. McGough did not immediately have a staff count, but said the school has classroom teachers, ones for specials including music and art, and has teacher assistants.

The nonprofit foundation’s release said the program was started “to explore a place-based education model,” and now serves 44 students from area towns. “We will dearly miss each and every one of these young students,” Board of Trustees Chair Roseanne Saalfield said in the release. “And we will be working with their parents to help find good placements at other area schools for the fall of next year.”

Saalfield added, several other programs the foundation offers have been “flourishing, despite the sad news about the elementary and middle school.

“We have experienced very strong interest in our summer camp and environmental education programs the past two years. Coming out of the pandemic, we have seen a resurgence in families and school partners that want their children outside, experiencing hands-on, nature-based education and we will continue to provide for that vital need.”

McGough told Wiscasset Newspaper, Chewonki would meet with families Monday “to talk through any questions or concerns or issues. I’m sure there will be a lot of emotions and thoughts about how we move forward to the rest of the school year.” A student assembly was also planned, “but we’re dealing with elementary and middle school-aged kids. The best possible thing is to keep them on their normal routine,” he said.

“We’re going to be honest with them. But structure and routine is what (helps) kids, so that’s what we’ll do.”

He said one thing that helped him was one of the trustees noting Chewonki has been around for 108 years, and some programs come and go, but the caring remains the same, along with the values of teaching, learning and sharing about the environment.

On Facebook, Disqus and, in one mother’s case, a text interview, some students’ parents voiced upset over the closure decision and its handling. They said they were not included in the decision or any talks on how to possibly avoid it.

“Our kids are thriving at a very successful school that’s important to the local Maine community, and this decision about their lives was communicated very abruptly. Many families have built their lives around this school because it is so special – they moved to the area from other towns and states so their kids could attend. This is really, really hard,” Bath’s Kate Ahalt, who has a second grader at the school, said in a text interview Tuesday. “We would have loved the opportunity to work with the Board to find solutions to keep the school open.”

Responding in a followup phone interview Tuesday, McGough said Chewonki understands, and shares in, parents’ upset over the closure. As for parents’ complaints that they were not included in the months of consideration that led to the decision, McGough said the process was consistent with those of other trustee boards of non-profit foundations Chewonki’s size. He reiterated Chewonki’s sadness to be closing the school.