Wiscasset Police Chief Jeff Lange asked Tuesday night about the school department’s plan to establish a special regional unit for special education, which could serve students as old as 20 and may serve students with behavioral needs. Lange told the school committee he is worried the school resource officer (SRO) might find himself in an untenable position. “I don’t want to put him at risk, or his mission at risk,” Lange said.  He asked if students 18 and older would be subject to a background check.

“We do not background check students,” Superintendent of Schools Heather Wilmot said.

Committee members were angry that information about the regional program was being second-guessed by the town, which they felt was an unwarranted intrusion into the school mission. Committee member Glen Craig said Article 20 gives the committee the authorization to pursue the idea, and that the town had no business getting involved in school business. Chair Michael Dunn said the SRO was put into the schools by the town, not requested by the schools, and suggested that the school could do, and in fact has done, without the SRO for months at a time.

Wilmot said the difference between this program and other special education was the training for escalated behavior. “Our goals are to restore pro-social behavior,” she said. Wilmot said some “soft restraints” might be necessary and that staff members are trained for that.

While the program is being reviewed by the Maine Department of Education, the boards for Alternative Organizational Structure (AOS) 93 and Regional School Units 1 and 12 have already approved participation and AOS 98 is still pending. Wilmot said a special education professional, a licensed clinical social worker and some educational technician IIIs will have to be hired for the program.

Lange said even without the program, six students have received summonses for criminal court this year, and he is concerned that with the elevated requirements of the population being considered for the program, that number might rise. Because the police are not fully staffed, Lange said calls for service might have to be handled by the patrol officer on duty.  “My first responsibility is to the town,” he said.

Also Tuesday, the committee’s auditor said while the schools have enough funds for the school year, the committee has to have a conversation with the town to get funding the town has been holding in its coffers.

Ron H.R. Smith of RHR Smith and Associates said the town has not been operating according to state statute, which states that funding held by the town has to be released in 12 equal installments or should be released to the schools immediately upon receipt after taxes are collected. Smith said that instead, the town is releasing funds on an “as-needed” basis.

“Right now they look good on paper, because they have been careful and got some additional revenues, but those won’t last beyond early July,” he said. “It’s time for a conversation with the town about what the state requires.”

The school committee approved a resolution affirming it has the authority to enter into the energy project voters rejected in June. The resolution stated the town did not have the authority to prohibit the committee from entering into any agreement the committee believed to be in the best interests of the educational mandate for students. However, the committee put off until the next meeting a decision to complete any agreement with Siemens, the company working with the department to put together the system.

Wilmot outlined the damage to the school in the wind storm, and cautioned that currently, MDOE has not approved waivers to let students go to school fewer than the mandated 180 days. There are no snow days built into the system, so currently, the five days lost at the end of October and beginning of November would be made up at the end of the school year.