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Directors, who are grappling with declining enrollments and a subsequent loss of state subsidy, have approved a facilities reorganization plan that includes the closing of the Abbie Fowler School in Sangerville, the Wellington Elementary School and the Cambridge Elementary School. "This is an educationally sound plan," Phyllis Watson, chairman of the SAD 4 facilities reorganization plan, said Tuesday. Tuesday's informational meeting was one of five being held in the district to discuss the school closings. These will be followed by three public hearings scheduled for Oct. 16 in Wellington, Oct. 17 in Cambridge, and Oct. 18 in Sangerville. A referendum will be conducted in each of the three towns on Nov. 6, when residents will decide whether or not to keep their small schools open despite the vote by SAD 4 directors to close the schools. If Sangerville residents vote to keep the Abbie Fowler School open for the 2001-2002 school year, residents will not only pay the local assessment but also $112,000, a figure determined by comparing the allowable operating costs with the costs to the district if the school were closed. The additional $112,000 cost, according to Sangerville Town Manager Martin Puckett, would represent a hike in the mill rate of $2.31 per $1,000 valuation. For an owner of property valued at $60,000, that would represent an additional $138.60 for taxes that first year. Directors could then send the matter back to referendum for as many years as they choose until residents approve the closing. If the school were to remain open, only the projected 43 children in kindergarten through grade three who live in Sangerville would attend the school. Parents from other district towns who send their children to the school now would be prohibited from doing so if the school remained open, residents were told. Either way, all fourth-grade pupils will attend Piscataquis Community Middle School, where they will share a wing with fifth-grade pupils. If Sangerville residents vote to close the school, kindergarten and first-grade pupils will be educated with other district children at the McKusick School in Parkman and second- and third-grade pupils will attend the Guilford Primary School. Many of the people who attended the hearing spoke out against the closing of the Abbie Fowler School, and two parents said they would pull their children from the district if the school was closed. The downside of the consolidation effort cited by parents included long bus rides for the small children, the intermingling on the buses of young and old children, and the loss of the small school atmosphere. School officials spoke about the merits and benefits of the change, including the ability to team teach and to better target struggling pupils. Superintendent Matt Oliver said pupils will be provided expanded art, music and physical education opportunities when the consolidation takes place. Matthew Oliver |