Tuitioning out Wiscasset’s high schoolers may not save money, and will not attract families, Superintendent of Schools Terry Wood said Jan. 26 as selectmen and the school committee talked in a Zoom workshop with multiple topics and a prevailing theme: The two panels should keep talking.

On the tuitioning out issue, Wood said, “I do not agree that that’s what’s best for Wiscasset ... Whenever you start closing schools, you start ruining the community ... It’s not necessarily going to be cheaper.” Special education and other costs also factor in, she said. “It’s not just tuition.” And Wood predicted if the high school grades were tuitioned out, some families would pull their elementary school students. 

Wood said she finds her taxes are high, but worth it. “(I) see the beautiful things I get by living in Wiscasset – the downtown and just the small community feel.” She urged the selectboard to use caution with a proposal it received for a committee to study tuitioning out the high school grades, or a warrant article to form the committee.

Of the four school committee members in the workshop, all spoke for keeping the high school grades in town. Member Desiree Bailey called the matter extremely serious, one that could change “our entire vision as a town. And that frightens me. That frightens me a lot.”

It would not be in the town’s best interest, School Committee Chair Michael Dunn said. Without grades nine through 12, the building would still be needed because Wiscasset Elementary School does not have room for the middle school grades, he said. He and Vice Chair Jason Putnam said a cost study would take more than a committee of volunteers. It will take professionals and money, Putnam said.

Fellow member Michelle Blagdon, Wood and Selectman and former Wiscasset teacher Kim Andersson said Wiscasset Middle High School’s class offerings compare well with other schools’. WMHS’ size lets it customize students’ learning and not have students feel lost in the crowd, Andersson said. “(It is) almost a private school experience. So it’s really quite remarkable.”

Selectman Jeff Slack wondered if Wiscasset is marketing its schools. Blagdon recalled WMHS Principal Charles Lomonte taking a video to Damariscotta last year to seek high school students. Wood said Alternative Organizational Structure 93 has asked for that video, and her strategic plan includes recruiting in Alna and other towns. 

Selectman Sarah Whitfield said the selectmen are not looking to close a school. It is important to keep talking and collaborating, because situations can change, she said. Katharine Martin-Savage and Chair Pam Dunning agreed selectmen are only trying to get answers to questions they hear all over town.

The officials noted, they had already planned to talk, before two citizens sought the warrant article for a committee to look at costs of tuitioning out the high school grades. Selectmen could instead choose to start one, Dunning noted.

Town Manager Dennis Simmons said the request Bill Maloney and Judith Colby submitted is being circulated as a petition now. Reached later, Maloney confirmed he, Colby and other residents are circulating it, but due to the pandemic he was not sure they would get enough signatures. Like the officials in the workshop, Maloney and Colby have said they are not trying to stop holding high school classes in town; they are seeking answers to townspeople’s questions.

On other topics in the workshop, Wood said the pandemic has been a “very trying” time. “I don’t think I’ve really taken any time off because there was just so much to do to make sure that we could still educate our kids.” She said teachers have been phenomenal and the staff have worked well together. “Some (WES) parents were not happy because they wanted their kids back in school four days a week.” The students now are, after the department dug in every closet for the furniture to seat students three feet apart, she said. WMHS has a newly bought, used portable classroom in the back parking lot, for two classrooms, and a locker room is serving as a classroom, Wood said.

Wood, who has also been serving as WES principal, said the department will hire someone for that job this spring. She said as of Jan. 25 the department had 444 students: 173 at WES; 101 in grades six through eight at WMHS; and 170 in nine though 12.

Wood said she was willing to have the school budget partly fund the school resource officer. “I don’t know how much ... but even if we paid a little bit of it, we would be willing ... I feel that is a shared service.” The SRO, Wiscasset Police Sgt. Perry Hatch, is amazing, Nutrition Director Lorie Johnson said.

The selectboard and school committee talking will help everyone, Simmons said. He already meets monthly with Wood. Workshop participants said together they can talk issues over and maybe save the town and school department money or make them more efficient. Martin-Savage suggested meeting quarterly or as needed.

Wood will send Simmons possible joint meeting dates for the panels.

“I’m so pleased how this went,” Dunning said.