“The Boat School will stay in Eastport,” declared Dean Pike, the last remaining faculty member, after a July 15 meeting in Machias that included Maine Gov. John Baldacci and Bill Cassidy, president of Washington County Community College.
Last spring, citing a funding shortfall, Cassidy had announced plans to move the Boat School to the WCCC Calais campus. Pike has been spearheading the drive to keep the school at its present location.
“Keeping the school in Eastport was and is my primary goal,” Pike said. “Those who came before me made personal and financial sacrifices to build the best boatbuilding school in the region and then gave it to the state for a dollar. I was and am willing to do whatever takes to pass this heritage along to the people who come after me.”
Pike said a funding package still needs to be put together and that Gov. Baldacci has pledged his support and help. Pike adds that a group called the Friends of the Boat School has been formed and had already started meeting at press time. For the short term, Moose Island Marine, which Pike heads, and Captain Butch Harris, who operates the cruise schooner SYLVINA BEAL, will be renting space at the Deep Cove facility to help with expenses.
For the long term Pike says, “We have 90 days or so to come up with a plan and the rest of the year to implement it. I am open to all scenarios as long as the boatbuilding program stays in Eastport.”
Pike adds that a major share of the credit for getting the proposed move to Calais reversed should go to State Sen. Kevin Raye and Eastport City Manager George “Bud” Finch. “They both really stepped up to the plate for this,” he said.
For his part Raye shared some history of the effort to keep the school in Eastport.
“Last Tuesday, with the July 15 deadline bearing down on us, a group of concerned folks met at the Boat School to take stock of our progress and strategize.” He said at press time. “The good news was that the effort to attract tenants to the facility had narrowed the funding gap from $123,000 down to $75,000. The bad news was that we still had to fill that gap and time was rapidly running out.”
Raye continued, “On Wednesday, I spoke with Governor Baldacci and walked him through the situation and our efforts to date, and asked him to help us find the remaining $75,000 necessary to allow the Boat School to stay in Eastport this year, while we work to come up with a long-term plan to secure the future of the facility. The governor was receptive to the idea of identifying state funding and agreed that it is important to formulate a plan for the future. We agreed to be in touch again in the coming days. In the meantime, President Cassidy will hold off on moving any Boat School equipment to Calais, pending the outcome of this effort.”
Raye concluded, “I am hopeful that we will be able to secure the funding that will maintain the Boat School at Eastport and give us this year to come with a long-term plan that will address the needs of Maine’s boat-building industry and secure this crucial facility.”
City Manager Finch added, “We certainly appreciate the governor’s intervention in keeping the boat school going and, more importantly, on its Eastport campus. We look forward to working toward a municipality/community college relationship that will benefit the boatbuilding industry.”
Also at the July 16 meeting in Machias were State Representatives Harold Ian Emery and Howard McFadden, and Dianne Tilton, executive director of the Sunrise County Economic Council. Tessa Ftorek, who has also been working on the Boat School effort, was unable to attend.