[Local-Maine-Schools] More on LD285 by 4PM today: Fayette town mgr offering to send others' comments to legislature

[Dick Atlee]

(This is a response to Dick Gould's note, also held up by the server --

Subject: RE: LD285 PHONE SUPPORT AND LETTER
From: "Mark Robinson" <fayetttm at localnet.com>
Date: Tue, 2 Jun 2009 11:06:57 -0400

Thank you Dick: For those towns and districts that have yet to formalize 
in writing their support please see Superintendent, Jim Underwood's 
letter below.  Get your version to me by 4 p.m. today fax or e-mail as 
these will be multi copied and on the desk of every member of the House 
tomorrow morning.

Many thanks. Mark

Mark Robinson, Town Manager
Town of Fayette
2589 Main Street
Fayette, Maine 04349
phone (207) 685-4373
facsimile (207) 685-9391
cell (207) 512-0949
e-mail: markrobinson at fayettemaine.com
web site: www.fayettemaine.com

-----Original Message-----
From: James Underwood [mailto:underwoodju1951 at yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 26, 2009 12:25 PM
To: mark robinson
Subject: Penalties for Non-Conforming Units

To Mark Robinson, Town Manager for the town of Fayette,

As Superintendent of School Union 106, I represent the towns of Calais, 
Alexander, Robbinston, Crawford, and Baring Plantation and I am writing 
on their behalf.  Each of these towns and school districts are unfairly 
penalized by the law which imposes financial penalty upon the citizens 
of each town, and which falls more squarely on the children of our 
schools. The towns and school districts in my jurisdiction area have not 
acted with intentional defiance of the school reorganization law. Their 
mission is not to defy the law.  The voters, however, did vote to turn 
down a law that effectively would have crippled their school districts 
and definitively exercised heavier taxes on the citizens, taxes which 
likely would have forced closure of some of our schools.

On the behalf of the citizens of these towns and on behalf of trying to 
maintain quality education for the children and youth within these five 
municipalities, I am writing in representation of each of my school 
boards to express once again the unfairness of imposing the penalties 
upon these citizens who are trying to find a way to meet the 
requirements of the reorganization law.  They ask for time and prudence, 
however, and acknowledgement from the state legislature that the 
extremely limited current reorganizations available to them under the 
current law does not enable these towns to meet the intent of the law. 
They need more time and more options to find alternatives that might 
truly enable them to meet the intent of the law.  Until such time the 
legislature begins to enable those who do want to meet the intent of the 
law and also maintain decent and appropriate education for their 
children, we are resolved to work to push back the unfair penalties that 
hurt our children's education.  Until then, I believe the momentum to 
back repeal is growing.  My towns need help and assistance, not refusal 
to recognize the impending harm and injury imposed upon our communities 
in the poorest county in the state.