To the citizens and taxpayers of the MSAD 58 school district:
The AOS isn’t the savings you have heard, folks! We have nothing to lose by not joining MSAD 74 this year, but we could have a lot to gain if we can just wait. If we join in a legally-binding agreement, we can’t get out. If we don’t right now, we can wait to see what the new governor’s plans are for education and consolidation rules. No one really knows yet, and I have put together some figures that make a good case for not rushing into something right now.
The only reason we would join MSAD 74 is to save money. So under the new AOS plan, the MSAD 58 district supposedly will save $72,000, and MSAD 74 will save the same. That looks good on paper, but we haven’t figured out what to do if we decide we can’t get by with these cuts. Do we say to taxpayers: Oops, we goofed up, and we need to hire an assistant superintendent? Any extras we need will come out of our own pockets.
We didn’t meet the state’s Jan. 31 deadline to join the AOS, and they have already decided our subsidies for this next school budget year even before we go to the polls in March! We could ask for an exemption from the penalty, according to Superintendent Ken Coville. The way I understand it, based on what our superintendent has told us repeatedly, is that the penalty money withheld from our district is given to districts which have consolidated.
Do you think those districts would just give that money back so we can have it? We have no hint, much less a guarantee, from anyone at the state level that we qualify for any exemption for any reason. The two superintendents submitted an AOS plan five times, because the state sent it back to them four times. That doesn’t reassure me that any of the rest of us know what the heck is in that plan.
If MSAD 58 did just three things, without forming an AOS, I think we would save more than $101,000, or about $29,000 more than if we joined as an AOS.
Here’s how I figured that:
1. If we make our own cuts in staff positions, we could maintain the half-time superintendent’s position we already have, saving ourselves $53,404.
2. If we reduce the business office staff by one position, we would save $41,887.
3. We need to rethink sharing Special Education Director Lureen Olsen with MSAD 74. Her salary between the two districts, under an AOS agreement, is $98,000. Without an AOS agreement, we would pay her $43,000 as a half-time director. We will pay her $49,000 with an AOS agreement.
So here’s what I’m asking our school board. How are we so sure we can honestly tell our district’s taxpayers we will save them more money joining an AOS instead of remaining independent?
Sincerely,
Gerald (Mike) Pond Jr.
MSAD 58 School Board Director from Strong
Editor’s note: A public hearing will be held on the proposed Alternative Organization Structure 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 17 at Mt. Abram High School.
Mr. Pond seems to have a point about the January 31st deadline. That is at least on the surface. If you check with some of the people at the planning meetings you find that Mr. Pond knowing the deadline repeatedly urged the planning group to go slow and not rush things. While taking care is important its a little odd that the person urging a go slow approach is complaining that it wasn’t finished fast enough. At any rate let’s think about the penalties. Mr. Pond is right that with the January 31st deadline past there is no guarantee that the penalty will be waived. There is only a chance that by complying with the law by July 1st as we may be exempted as SAD 74 was this year. On the other hand if Mr. Pond’s advice is followed then there is no opportunity to even seek an exemption.
Regarding the plan submission issue. I called the State and checked on that. The DOE told me that not a single plan statewide has been approved on first submission. It turns out that the revisions that were required with the 58/74 plan were primarily format issues not any problem with the substance of the plan.
Mr. Pond suggests that the plan may not save money because we may not be able to get by without an Assistant Superintendent but then he turns around and proposes a plan that also does not have an Assistant Superintendent. It seems Mr. Pond wants to have it both ways. He claims that in an AOS we will need an Assistant superintendent as well as a full time shared superintendent but standing independent we only need a half time superintendent.
Now let’s look at Mr. Pond’s suggested cuts. I addressed the superintendent issue above so let’s look at his other suggestions. Remember he suggested earlier that the AOS cuts were to deep. But he proposes to cut the business office position by one person. The AOS plan would only cut one half position from the 58 business office and one half from 74 for a total of one position. So again as with the Superintendent he ties to have his cake and eat it to.
Finally he recommends cutting the Special Ed Director position to half time. This is odd since it was only a couple of weeks ago at a board meeting that he was suggesting that the current shared position was stretching the Director to thin. Again he seems to want to have it both ways. When the Director is shared with 74 he complains that she is overloaded but if she is serving just SAD 58 then half time is just fine. Also if you notice he wants to cut the position cost (salary and benefits) to less than half of current . But I’ll bet you he would still want her to be responsive to emergency situations (as she is now as a full time shared director) even on her non scheduled days. Besides being a good way to lose a valuable and effective employee this suggestion shows Mr. Pond’s true colors. Apparently he just doesn’t like to work with others. Whether this is from some distrust of others or just plain cantankerousness the children, parents and taxpayers of SAD58 should not have to pay the price of his difficulties in as they say in the schools “playing well with others”.
In closing let me suggest (as an old boy from the hills) that when I was a lad, the farmer’s who learned to share equipment and trade labor with each other during tough times ended up making it through those times. The ones who didn’t ended up losing the farms. For the sake of the kids and the taxpayers let’s work it out over the fence post and a cup of coffee and start working together.