[Schoolconsolidation] Fwd: school consolidation

[Sally Wakeland]

I am forwarding my comments to the Arundel School committee in the hopes
that they will take this into consideration when making recommendations
for future consolidatioin efforts..

Sent to rcouture63 at adelphia.net/mainehunter60 at yahoo.com
I do not know either of you....
You don't know me (probably) but I am a former School Committee member who
lives in Arundel off Sinnott Road.
My children, now 23, and nearly 21, both attended ML Day in the 90s. At
that same time I served on the board and as a board chair during some
very, very difficult times with regard to education reform,
overcrowdedness, building poisons, budgetary needs/issues, etc. 
During my 5 yrs. of involvement with the school board, there was
a major year-long discussion about the Thornton Middle School
concept.....a meeting was held, lots of angry/heated discussions took
place (or were listened to) and that notion was vetoed by a tightly knit
community....chances are nobody was ready for it then.
My children were purposely moved out of ML Day after finishing the 6th
grade. My son transferred to the Middle School of the Kennebunks. My
daughter, moved after 5th grade, went to Sea Road and then MSK. HIndsight
tells me that it was the best possible educational move for both children
with the
state of the climate in the (then) middle school at ML Day.
I do have to tell you that both children received a top-notch education in
the elementary grades. Several of their teachers are still fondly
remembered by these 20-something young adults. 
And now we have a new scenario with consolidation...we don't really have a
choice as to the actual merger, it's just which one do we choose?
My vote is for Kennebunk, for a plethera of reasons....here are just a
couple....
1/ Property values will increase for Arundel homes (the school situation
has been an issue for years with the exception that one can choose a HS OR
can receive tuition for a private school setting.)

2/ The Middle School of the Kennebunks is one of the foremost educational
institutions in Maine. It is accredited by the NEASC, soon to be an IB
school (within 2 years) and has an unbelievably hard-working, caring, and
creative staff. The allied arts curriculum is one of the finest in the
state. (By the way, 5-6 graders don't receive foreign language instruction
from students at KHS. There is currently a foreign language curriculum
which includes  6th graders; they take Spanish for one semester, French
for another. They then choose which language they want to continue with in
the 7th grade. KHS students, as part of community service and class
credit, teach 5th graders in the spring of the year...
Kennebunk Elem. School will be following suit with a PYP level of the IB
school
philosophy. If you know nothing about the IB philosophy, check out
"IBO.org".



3/ There is  room for the Arundel students to be merged with
Kennebunk/K'port and they will be accepted. I don't agree that there is
still an invisible dividing line between incoming Arundel students to KHS.
My children would
attest to that misnomer...

This is just my two cents' worth. I wish you well in your decision. I will
try to be at the upcoming meeting
to support those parents who wish to merge with Kennebunk.

Sincerely,
Sally W. Wakeland (mother of Hunter and Elise)