Dear Editor:

Every once in a while;  we have a celestial event, something that occurs perhaps once every 100 years. This year, a full solar eclipse will be visible in northern Maine. 

There is another rare event;  right here in our community. That would be the opportunity to explore the options for the future of our high school students. Right now,  Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor are looking at what to do with our high school. Right now, Wiscasset is wondering what to do with their high school. Meanwhile,  other surrounding towns of Dresden, Edgecomb, Southport, Alna, Whitefield … are watching, wondering where they might send their kids to high school.

So the question begs, “Does it make economic sense for Boothbay Harbor to spend millions on a new high school or millions on a rehab? Can Wiscasset spend millions on a new high school or millions on a rehab or close it altogether? 

Common sense to me and many others in these towns, would like our town officials to get together! Make a concerted effort to explore the economics surrounding the possibilities of a centrally located, shared regional high school, and most importantly seek out community opinion and support.

The time is now, the time is right. These opportunities do not appear often.

Hopefully, the leadership in our respective towns can seize this once in a lifetime opportunity and get together for a discussion, at the very least. 

We taxpayers need to contact our town representatives and talk to our neighbors.

Can any of these towns afford to individually create and build an educational facility meeting today's standards for education? I think not, but I do believe these communities, by pooling their resources,  can create a school to rival the best in the state.  Don’t let this moment in time, when the celestial bodies align, pass us by.

Rob Cronk

Southport