"The voters will get their opportunity to participate now"

The following letter appears in today's Eastern Gazette:

To the Editor,

The Notice of Public Hearing and warrants for the new school referendum were signed by the MSAD #46 school board on February 14^th. It appeared originally to have been timed to follow the expected coincidental approval of the proposed $30.5 million consolidated school, earlier that day. Due to a snowstorm, the State Board postponed its meeting until Tuesday, February 20^th, when the State Board finally approved the plan. According to a Bangor Daily News report the next day, the State Board Chairman, Jim Carignan said, “We support it because it’s such a good story and you’ve done everything right, including the consolidation”, after the District’s presentation.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that I disagree with his assessment. For reasons known only to Superintendent Jordan, and perhaps the School Board, information regarding the proposed school has been closely guarded, meetings have been poorly, if at all, publicized, and public forums have been limited to legally required hearings. There hasn’t been any effort to specifically discuss the impact of the closings of the four local schools.

In spite of requests for a June referendum, the Board has insisted on forcing a March 27^th referendum date. There’s skepticism on the street as to the motives behind the March vote, but there’s no doubt in my mind that the Board’s assumption is that the turnout will be more “school friendly” in March, than it would be at the normal June referendum date.

They may not realize that this is an insult to the very public they are asking for support. The suggestion that voters are incapable of making this decision along with the school budget shows how little faith they have in the public, or the value of the proposal itself.

The voters will get their opportunity to participate now.

Sincerely,
Arthur Jette
Cambridge