A year ago my neighbors and I were consumed by the process of trying to secede from the town of Cumberland, because our elected mainland representatives to MSAD 51 underestimated the integral role a school plays in the long-term sustainability of an island community. They did not understand that if the school is not strong families move off, leaving no one there to care for the old folks; the store and post office close; the island is taken over by nesting sea birds or summer people. The threat is real. The scenario played out more than 300 times during the twentieth century. Once again we are faced with a challenge that has the potential to decimate not just Chebeague, but all of Maine’s remaining year-round island communities. The proposal on the table is to absorb them into mega school districts that will, in reality, remove all vestiges of local control from the islands.
Gov. John Baldacci proposes combining Maine’s school districts into 26 administrative units as a way to reduce administration and as a result lower property taxes. Chebeague, along with Long Island, which seceded from Portland in the 1990s, would be sucked into the largest school district in Maine. With an estimated 20,000 students in the “Portland” district, a school board of 400 would be necessary for Chebeague to have one school board member. I’m all for lowering property taxes, and I’m all for sharing payroll, purchasing services and even a superintendent. I’m all for reducing the paperwork required by Augusta that creates administrative positions and keeps teachers away from what they do best, which is teaching kids! But I am not in favor of giving up local control over our island school after spending much of the past two years trying to ensure the long-term preservation of the school as a means of keeping Chebeague a viable year round community.
Bigger is not always better. The people on Chebeague found this out the hard way, when MSAD 51 unilaterally decided to send fourth and fifth graders to the mainland. Islanders lobbied Augusta and the legislators listened. Only one representative and four senators voted against Chebeague’s secession from Cumberland. Gov. Baldacci signed the bill the same day.
Islanders understand that the governor and the legislature are between a rock and a hard place, and we know that we must cut costs to cut taxes, but what will happen to us if we are absorbed by Maine’s Southern Mega District?
I plead to those in Augusta who support the governor’s plan: please do not put our delicately balanced communities in jeopardy once again. Don’t make us always be the David to someone’s Goliath. But if in your infinite wisdom you are unwilling to exempt islands from this consolidation plan, at least be creative. Create districts that make sense. Combine all island schools in one district for purchasing, payroll, etc. — any way that we can truly save money. Let us share a superintendent, but let us keep our own school boards and make our own decisions to meet the needs of our children, because we know that island schools rarely fit the mainland model and no two islands are the same.
Last year Chebeague Islanders educated the folks in Augusta about island education and island needs. Nothing has changed. Local control of our schools is imperative to sustain an endangered species, the Maine islander. The future of an important part of Maine’s heritage is at stake if Maine’s islands are homogenized with mainland mega districts. We look to our legislators to work with us and take the necessary steps to sustain Maine’s year-round island communities.
Donna Miller Damon, a resident of Chebeague, was a key player in that island’s successful effort last year to become Maine’s newest independent town.