Public Will Have Say On District Buildings.....In SAD 48!!

In a recent article in the Bangor Daily News (linked here) it was reported that SAD #48 has held a series of public hearings this summer to look at the condition, maintainence, and future of each of its buildings, as part of an assessment conducted by former SAD #46 Board member and Facilities Committee Chair, Mike McCormick. Mike is an engineer who consults on matters relating to facilities.

As a result of these hearings and McCormick's recommendations, decisions will be made. According to the article, Kelly Carter, SAD #48 business manager, said that none of the recommendations has been discussed by the school board or the district's building committee, and that the biggest deciding factor will be public input.

Apparently the public is being given the opportunity to see the data on the McCormick proposals on the District's website (here --big file!). I think it is notable however that they are given the respect to be able to leave comments on a blog at msad48.blogspot.com. Before choices are made they will also be able to attend scheduled meetings.

At the recent SAD #46 Board meeting, the Chairman of the Programming and Space Needs Sub-Committee stated at one point that the committee membership was on the same page when reviewing the various considerations. To what extent was there any public input here?

"If you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got."

In SAD #46, is input by select invitation only?

Update: Sub-Committee memberships were announced yesterday afternoon; list here. Readers will judge for themselves the extent of citizen participation. Funny that the "Coffee Talk" lady was just talking about this (here)!