By Stowell P. Watters
Staff Writer
    With 15 meetings under their belt, the Maine School Administrative District 71 (MSAD 71) and Arundel Reorganization Planning Committee (RPC) has divided into a series of sub-committees and is hard at work conducting weekly meetings and compiling information in hopes of putting their best foot forward on Dec. 1. In a recent decision by their school board, Arundel joined MSAD 71 (the Kennebunks’ school system) and subsequently the Regional School Unit 57 (RSU57).
    “By Dec. 1 every consolidation unit in Maine must submit a 13 point comprehensive plan to the state’s Department of Education,” said Alton Hadley, Arundel superintendent. “There is no way we are going to be able to produce a completed one in time.”
    The RPC essentially serves as an ad hoc committee tasked with producing the aforementioned plan. State law dictates this group will be disbanded once the RSU 57 board is formed and the voters accept the merger of the school districts in a 2008 referendum. Current school boards will remain in operation until July 1, 2009 when the RSU’s nine-member board will be instated.
    At an Oct. 30 RPC meeting Hadley, who spoke to the facilities sub-committee, expressed concern about the lack of information given by the state.
    “Arundel has virtually no debt, this is a very difficult task for us because we aren’t sure how much debt we will be taking on,” Hadley said. “We aren’t even sure about the particulars of our (school) land and where the boundaries are. It’s all owned by the town.”
    Joel Downs, Kennebunk’s finance director and member of the facilities sub-committee, will be collecting data concerning education buildings in Kennebunk but said he didn’t know how that procedure would go for Arundel.
    “You will have to have that land surveyed, and that may very well be on your dime,” he said.     “There will also be a title search done on the property to determine what is actually going to the RSU.”
    This type of person-to-person information sharing is what drives these meetings, according to RPC Co-Chairman Maureen King. King is also a member of the MSAD 71 school board. She said the biggest hurdle for the RPC is learning to work together as a team.
    “We must learn to trust each other as a single entity and not as separate towns or school committees,” King said. “Not all groups are used to working this way, but we work hard every time we meet to focus on our mission and vision and use that commonality to reach solutions and consensus.”
    King said although she and the RPC are hard at work, they still have complaints about the consolidation, namely the state’s manner of enforcing the law.
    “Barriers include… lack of sufficient time to plan, voting procedures in the budget validation and referendum process and the fact that we are being forced to do this because we will be penalized,” she said.    
    King recently attended a conference in Augusta where delegates from RPCs and RSUs throughout the state heard presentations by administrative leaders, including Maine’s Education Commissioner Susan Gendron. At the conference, a petition circulated — dubbed “The Greenlaw Petition” because it was produced by Skip Greenlaw, head of the Maine Coalition to Save Schools— and asked delegates to sign their names in opposition of a “mandated” consolidation, according to King.
    “The state does not provide incentives, only punishment,” King said. “The petition requires about 55,000 signatures and would put a repeal of the mandatory consolidation on the 2008 ballot.”
    At the conference King spoke with other delegates about their struggles with the ongoing consolidation process.
    “We aren’t alone, a staggering majority of people I spoke with are in the same boat— not being able to get this final plan in on time,” King said.
    Dana Peck, RPC co-chairman and a Arundel selectman, affirmed that although no one seems to be in favor of the consolidation, the RPC must move forward for the better of the communities involved.
    “Bottom line is this is the law, there is a lot of misinformation and misconceptions out there, we just need to continue with these meetings, remain diligent and keep moving forward,” Peck said.
    Peck also asked any residents who have information, resources or opinions to email him at (don’t have his email yet, but awaiting his phone call).
    Right now, King said, the group is focusing on compiling information, but many hurdles stand in their way.
    “We are focusing on problems concerning cost-sharing formulas, essential programs and services, cuts to administration, transportation, special education and maintenance, cost savings or lack thereof and problems with the actual legislature,” she said.
    The RPC meets every week and invites anyone who is interested to attend. Their next meeting is scheduled for Nov. 15 at the Village Fire Station in Kennebunkport.