[Schoolconsolidation] Schoolconsolidation Digest, Vol 5, Issue 1-Response to Questions
Ron Couture
rcouture63 at adelphia.net
Mon Oct 8 16:33:51 MDT 2007
Mr. Sanborn.
I am sending this back to you as a response to your questions. I also have
attended numerous meeting when usually only a few people have been present.
I do not believe I have met you? My husband a previous planning board
member for ten years and I have lived in this town for 40 years. Both my
husband and myself have been very involved parents with MLD and our
childrens education. As well as my parents before me who were very involved
with the Arundel community. Both my brother and myself attended MLD
schools.
I have 3 children one in elementary, one child currently in middle
school at TAMS and I had a child that graduated last year from TAMS without
any incident, currently a freshman at TA. Kennebunk for years , like TAMS
had their children on the same campus
and I know other residents who
sent their children to Kennebunk High School I never heard anything bad
happening. Also, I know at TAMS our middle school children are kept
separate from the high school. I
just was at Falmouth which has their high school and middle school near
earch other as well as Cumberland to name a few schools, I am sure there are
plunty more in Maine. Both of my children have told
me there has never been an issue with that at all.or did they ever feel
unsafe. They actually like the atmosphere and buildings.
Also on the bus, there is no problems with middle school and high school
children they have assigned buses that go to the middle school and high
school. Arundel has always put the middle school and high school students
together for transportation reasons long before we went to TAMS. As you
might recall Arundel middle school would get out at 2:30 and the high school
students would wait and go home with the middle school students.
To my knowledge there has not been any issues with middle school or high
school.
Plus most teenagers that are at an age to drive to high school usually do
not take the bus. However, I know that there have been incidents in
elementary school with children mis behaving on the bus and that is why they
are in
assigned seats. I also remember seeing bus monitors for children with
special needs.
I am not sure where the hour comes into play, unless you are refering
to pick up from home to the MLD school? My chldren are only a mile from
MLD
school. Anyway, the school buses leave MLD school at 7 am in the morning
and the children are at TAMS in about 15 minutes. They go to the commons
for breakfast and school starts at 7:45 I believe. Where they go see
their advisor 30 minutes every day. Parents can have their
child take the bus from home to
MLD school, many parents drop their children at the school at 7 am on their
way to work or at TAMS on their way to work. I am not sure if you have
children in middle or
high school? But all the schools in this surrounding area start their
middle
schools and high schools at about the same time. There are many mornings on
my way to work I have seen children from Biddeford waiting for a bus at 6:40
in the morning. The Arundel school bus transporting children to Kennebunk
HS goes by my house about 7:05 in the morning? Almost all middle schools and
high school sports games start right after school is over with. Pretty much
all middle schools and high schools are on similar schedules. Besides
that, I am
the parent and I set the time when my children go to bed. to ensure that
they
get plenty of sleep and It is also nice to be able to touch basis with my
children before they head off to school and I go to work.
Transportation costs will always be an issue that all RSU's will have to
deal with. I am sure bus consolidation will be used to cut down between
RSU's. A RSU will be able to share space and all resources to cut on costs
if needed in any RSU. Remember the RSU will own all school property and
that includes buses and buildings and sharing resources is the primary
objective of a RSU. It
is possible we could end up with someone else's children in our school if we
have the space available and we do.. There are many towns up Northern Maine
that send their children up to 1/2 hrs. each way to school with this
consolidation it could be worse. I understand Presque Isle area is a mess
with this consolidation because of all the small towns involved. Can you
imagine the costs involved? Not to mention the time involved for these
children. I am sure that RSU's will be looking at ways to consolidate
transportation costs. Especially since the state has already deducted it
from
the school budget. But Arundel for a very long time has
transported their children to area high schools. The
costs of consolidation will be very expensive to all of us. Hopefully these
issues will be addressed with the legislators in January. Revisions need to
be done. Transportation is one of them and consolidation costs to the small
towns will hopefully be dealt with. In my opinion Arundel and most small
towns will not benefit from this. Who knows maybe with all the unhappy
people in this state, they will repeal this whole thing. I think Arundel
needs to get on board for that petition and sign it. I heard that Kennebunk
has filed a law suit concerning the consolidation.- not sure of the details.
From reading this question I am not sure that you are not originally
from
Arundel? I went to MLD school and lived in this community for 40 years. I
was here when only we had the old part of the school and we had to find our
own transportation to high school because the town did not provide it.
Arundel has come along way. When people moved here, they knew Arundel had a
small community school. Didn't You? They also knew we had choice for high
schools. We are a very close community and no matter what our opinion is on
high school (because we have choice) the majority of people agree that our
school is a very important to our community. Once a school is closed it is
gone forever. I cannot imagine Arundel with out MLD. As for repair and
upkeep of the school you
have to ask the selectman,they appropriate funds for that. Maybe instead of
complaining about the condition of our school have you done anything about
improving it? Have any ideas to share with the school board or the
selectman? No we do not have a new school , but it is our school -in our
town and is important to the community in this town. Everyday I drive by
MLD school and there is
always something going on. It is big part of what Arundel is. There is
nothing
worse than closing a school in a community. That is simply wrong and an
unacceptable, no matter what you think of MLD.
As for the second part of your question about Arundel students competing
globally "if we do not renew the contract with TAMS ". You obviously have no
idea about the middle school. I would suggest that you call Mr. Marquis and
ask for a tour or sit in a class and see what is going on there. Our
children are attending one of the most advanced technological middle
schools in
the State of Maine. That school is the envy of surrounding schools.
There are no other schools that have all the technology that our children
have and use every day as a part of their learning and education. These
students are more familiar with a laptop than most adults and they use it
with the majority of their subjects on a daily basis. They are able to
access their school books on line. The
students and parents have access to their teachers on line any time they or
you need to speak with them. You
also have access to their school assignments on line if they miss school and
what
they are learning in each of their classes. There are about a 187
students at this school 98% ARUNDEL STUDENTS. All of our students 6-7-8
have laptops that they take home, most schools do not permit this (most
public
schools 7 and 8 grade get laptops) Our students have smart boards in each
classroom, which they can download the teachers notes and what is done in
class on their computer to do their homework and keep stored on their
computer for future assignments and tests. They do their home work on their
laptop the next day each one can print out their homework. Digital
microscopes, high
tech calculators, access to high tech computers and digital cameras. Also,
they have foreign
language introductory sixth grade and 7th and 8th grade has it 3 days a
week. Arundel's eight grade class that graduated last year with exposure
only to
one year of French.and Spanish ( our first year at TAMS) A number
of them are in Honors French in High School- because of the amount of
foreign
language they were taught in just one year. No surrounding middle school
offers that amount of foreign language. That is amazing.! Not only that,
our children are doing great. They are in a structured environment where
teachers meet 3 days a week to discuss how to teach our children better and
constant discussion on improving education. These teachers are very
involved with our children- you can see a close relationship and bond with
these teachers. It is visible when you walk into the school. Our children
have more math and opportunities for advanced math placement, I know that
tutoring is also
available for students.. The 8th graders have an opportunity to advance to
Freshman honors math.and language. Not one school we are even talking with
can compete with what Arundel middle school students have . Our children
will be far greater advanced in technology which is the future of the "
global world". I work at the Social Security Admin. if is all electronic,
right down to hearings before Judges. Go to your doctor's office it is all
electronic. I have spoken to many parents from other communities that wish
they could afford to send their child to our middle school. We have what
everyone wants! Also our children have opportunities with sports, drama,
theater, civil wrights, year book, and music, chorus, art. I am not
even naming them all. Plus surveys are done with the parents and the child
so you have input on what is working for your child and what is not. Mr.
Marquis told Arundel at this past meeting that changes were made because of
recommendations from the Arundel PARENTS and CHILDREN. I would like to see
how many
public schools would do that for parents- not many. Not only that, they
stress community service. Last Spring the ENTIRE MIDDLE SCHOOL went on a
field trip to OOB to clean up the beach the entire day
to give back to the community. The children are involved in all sorts of
community services. Special art projects, like writing and designing their
own books which were sent to Africa to give to children who don't have
books.
I spoke with a co workers who has children in
Yarmouth Schools, they are one of the six schools that did not have to
consolidate because they met the state's educational excellence standards.
Their children are not exposed to half of what are children have now. At
the
start of this school year Arundel residents sent 40 or more students to
TAMS that used to go to other private schools in the area. However,
because of the type of
educational opportunities these children are being given at TAMS these
Arundel residents took them out of those other private schools and placed
them in our middle school because their private schools could not compete
with what our
students have. They recognized the educational opportunities for their
children at TAMS. The children are in a new renovated building, most
importantly is our SCHOOL COMMUNITY OF ARUNDEL STUDENTS LEARNING TOGETHER.
not the minority in another school's community where they would be a part
of a someone else's school. The
children in our town think of TAMS as their own middle school. This school
was built by TA for Arundel students. Our town officials had great input
into that building and how our children would be educated. I guess what you
need to understand is this, our children love this school. No matter where
these children will go to high school. Our children have been given
opportunities which other communities only wish they had. If
you ask a parent in Arundel who sends or sent their child to this middle
school they will tell you my child loves to go to school there. The
teachers and the children are very close. It is small middle school with
great Arundel character. Every child
coming through MLD deserve an opportunity in this school and should have
the same as the ones that are there now. I was a very big skeptic
when this vote came from our town to send our children to TA. But I am so
glad that we have. I hope my 3rd grader will have the same opportunity.
It would not even seem logical not to continue that contract when the 9
years end. I honestly believe that as many more children go through this
middle school, in 4 years there will be an overwhelming vote to continue
this contract by the town. If education is truly the priority here than
this is too
overwhelming to ignore or dismiss. or argue away. Arundel finally has which
most other communities only wish their school had- and it is for our
children. No matter where Arundel Residents are sending their children to
high school they are NOT going to give this middle school up -that would be
foolish on our part.
As for MLD school it may not be the six or eight million dollar school
(which they are still paying for). But our school is the "heart of
Arundel".
If a school is judged by its exterior or interior than we as Arundel
residents have failed our children.and our school. Our town elected
officials have failed our children and our school. Maybe this has opened
all of our eyes and we need to do something about it. Communities can do a
lot to improve education and beatify their school. But more
importantly than that , our school has devoted teachers that have spent
their entire careers teaching Arundel children. They have been very loyal
to our town and given so much to our community. We are very lucky to have
them.
Teachers are a precious resource to any community. We are lucky to have
great teachers in Arundel. Our teachers, principal, superintendent ,
school board are constantly looking
at ways to better educate our children and improve our school.
They have implemented a new testing
procedure to detect learning issues earlier than the state tests do. With
the limited resources they have been given, they have done a great job.
Instead of criticizing the school,
lets make it better for our children. No child has ever been dragged through
MLD. That statement is a terrible thing to say about our school and our
children. I am very grateful for the education my children have received
at Arundel. It is our school and very much apart of what our town and
community. Education is continuous learning process that always benefits
from improvements. Lets work together to do that. There are highly
educated people in this community- lets work to improve our school not
get rid of it. I am not sure if you are aware of this but this past
Spring at TAMS 5 Arundel students received the " Junior Nation Youth
Leadership Awards" from Washington DC because of their academic
achievements. My
daughter was one of the five students.
One of these students from Arundel worked very hard and was able to be
sponsored and attended this conference. She was the only Maine student there
that week.
"Do not judge a book by its cover."
Many of our children have left Arundel and went onto great things. A state
test score had nothing to do with it. I went to MLD and attended BHS and
graduated
with high honors and received scholarships to college I had no issues! Roll
up your sleeves- make a
difference we all live in Arundel not Kennebunk or Saco lets make Arundel
MLD a better school for the community in which we live. Who knows maybe one
of our children from Arundel
could get a full scholarship to a college maybe Yale! A student from Saco
did.
We have great children in this community that deserve our support. Any
teacher will tell you no matter
where they teach it is an involved parent in their child's education that
contributes significantly to that child's success in school, not a test
score or a building.
I believe the end result of a child's education is the parent who was there
to love them, lead them as an example and help them and support them along
the way. The other important factor is the teacher who made a difference in
that child's life by teaching them proper fundamentals in reading, writing
and math and the connection with that child in the classroom. Teachers
make the difference -not a building.
As for a school rating not sure if you are right on that information or how
up to date it is. I am not going to argue that. I don't believe that
matters. But to use that as a factor, public verses private?
First and Second place how lucky are we to have such great choices. As
for MLD, I have to say I did know what MLD school was like, as I said
before, I attended this
school years ago. I have many great memories of teachers and friends that
truly touched my life and so many positive ways.
I chose to live here because it was a small community, affordable, close to
family and friends, and location. Also, a small school for my children to
attend and school choice. Also I had an enjoyable life growing up here and
have friends that still live in
Arundel that I went to school with years ago. This is a very close
community. no matter where we are sending our children to high school. They
come from Arundel. They never forget where they are from.
Dayton is before Arundel in growth and Arundel is right behind. Arundel is
a growing community. MLD has never stopped the real estate market in our
town. Look in the paper and you can see what homes and land are going for
in Arundel! Believe me, some people could not even afford to buy land and
homes in this town. Most people enjoy the fact of knowing their child is in
a small community school and school choice, not sure if we have no school in
this community what will happen to resale values? I am not in real-estate I
cannot tell you. I guess we will have to wait and see.
Our children in this community no matter what their social or economic
background is are close. My children have many friends from all different
economical backgrounds. That has no significance with my family.
The last question about choice is that WE ALWAYS WILL HAVE CHOICE. But
that choice could be completely manipulated if you send k kindergarten
through 8th grade into one school system. Arundel has NEVER SENT all of
their students
to KHS. Arundel has sent the MAJORITY of their students usually to other
surrounding high schools. Most of the children coming out of the middle
school will be going to OTHER HIGH SCHOOLS not Kennebunk. That is fact.
That is why we
need to keep our choice an INDEPENDENT ONE. I do not care where anyone
wants to send their son or daughter to high school. That is a personal
choice. There are many families that have two or three children and some
of them go to different high schools in the same family. It is nice that
we have that choice. However, it could be definitely manipulated by sending
children to an outside community school from K to 8th grade and that is
unfair to Arundel parents who do not choose Kennebunk. Which is a LARGE
AMOUNT OF PARENTS in this town! That is just how it is. Trying to force a
large majority of town is not going to happen. Most people have already
made up their minds and will vote that way.
The best end result for the town I believe is to keep our school open, our
middle school contract and our free choice
of high school an independent choice. More importantly keep our children
together in that is the key here. I am not going to argue which is the
best school system, we all have made a great effort in point ing out
education, test scores, distance and so forth in both school
districts. Unfortunately I do believe that this community will be
torn apart or deeply divided for years to come and that is a sad thing to
happen to our town. Because I do not think Gov. Baldacci thought about
that. Our town will struggle with this for years to come. I suspect that
this will undoubtedly trickle down through the
school system and even when it comes to voting for officials in this town.
I don't know
yet where my youngest child will attend high school in about five years, but
I want her to have a independent choice not
manipulated by where she goes to elementary school. How can we send our
children to Kennebunk k through 5- and than to TAMS ( the contract is in
place for 9 years and will more than likely be renewed). Can you imagine
our children be dispersed in every direction? No matter what we agree on or
disagree on this is every parents worse nightmare! How confusing and
unstable for these children, how unfair for them and they have to live with
our decision for a very long time. We cannot do that to them. Lets put
our differences aside and stand up for our school and community. I hope the
school board makes the best decision for our children. We will find out
this Wed. night.
That is why I am fighting so hard for MLD school, TAMS and an independent
choice for
Arundel and keeping our school community together. We need to keep
fighting for our school, our teachers, our children's education , our
middle school and our town's independent choice of high school no matter
what we agree or disagree is the best RSU to go with.
I expect in January a whole lot of changes are on the way. I would like to
sign the petition to have this law
repealed, or greatly modified. Arundel deserves better than this.
Judie Couture, Arundel Resident
----- Original Message -----
From: <schoolconsolidation-request at cammad.net>
To: <schoolconsolidation at cammad.net>
Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2007 2:00 PM
Subject: School Digest, Vol 5, Issue 1
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> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Questions Surrounding School Consolidation (Douglas Sanborn)
> 2. Update on Meetings Around Consolidation (Michael Richards)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2007 05:44:08 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Douglas Sanborn <sanbornd at yahoo.com>
> Subject: [Schoolconsolidation] Questions Surrounding School
> Consolidation
> To: schoolconsolidation at cammad.net
> Message-ID: <155561.54930.qm at web50110.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
>
> All,
>
> I have attended several meetings with the school board
> and with each RSU group. While both RSU's have
> strengths, I have come up with a list of key questions
> each voter should ask themselves prior to voting.
> There are a couple important things to remember when
> casting your vote. A: This decision will last a
> lifetime. It will affect more than your family,
> friends and relatives currently living here. B: The
> choice of high school will still remain after the
> consolidation has passed.
>
> 1. Do you really want your impressionable child going
> to middle school on an open campus with the high
> school students?
>
> 2. Sleep is one of the most important aspects of a
> child?s learning and development. Should he/she be
> subject to riding on a bus for nearly an hour EACH
> WAY?
>
> 3. Won?t the cost of those commutes undoubtedly rise
> quicker than our budgets will allow?
>
> 4. Should our children be dragged through a facility
> that is old, outdated and in need of repair (MLD) when
> we have brand new facilities available in very close
> proximity (Kennebunk Elementary and Middle School of
> the Kennebunks)? If MLD is closed and if the contract
> is not renewed, then work to help raise the proper
> funding to keep it open and provide our greatest
> assets, our children, the proper learning environment
> to compete globally.
>
> 5. When you have the option of sending your child to
> the #2 rated school system in the state (according to
> MEA results), and the only to achieve the
> International Baccalaureate designation, versus
> another system that is consistently average or BELOW
> state average, which do you instinctively choose? Only
> the Kennebunk school system has accreditation from New
> England Association of Schools and Colleges at
> elementary, middle and high school levels.
> http://www.neasc.org/roster/rosterpe.htm#ME
> http://www.neasc.org/roster/rosterpm.htm#ME
> http://www.neasc.org/roster/psme.htm
>
> 6. When you decided to live in Arundel, did you make
> the school departments an integral part of that
> decision?
>
> 7. Won?t a better school system contribute to the
> resale value and the ability to sell your home in the
> future?
>
> 8. Does the socio-economic make up of a school system
> contribute to the success of its attendees?
>
> 9. If you want your child to go to another high school
> other than the appointed, they will still have that
> option. What won?t be a viable option for most
> families is to pay for their child to go to another
> elementary and middle school. Education is more
> important the earlier it is incurred?i.e. elementary
> school is actually more important than high school
> because it is there that students learn to be a
> student.
>
> Thank you for your time.
>
> Doug Sanborn
>
>
>
>
> ____________________________________________________________________________________
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2007 12:40:12 -0400
> From: "Michael Richards" <michael at arundelschool.net>
> Subject: [Schoolconsolidation] Update on Meetings Around Consolidation
> To: mldstaff at arundelschool.net, schoolconsolidation at cammad.net
> Message-ID:
> <2eba3a4b0710040940o306959c2s6d5e94b94bde36ba at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> Tuesday, October 9th, 2007 7 PM MLD
>
> School Board Special Meeting
>
> * Teacher Presentation
>
> * Board Discussion
>
>
>
> Wednesday, October 10 7 PM MLD
>
> School Board Special Meeting
>
> *RSU Discussion & Vote
>
>
>
> The minutes to the RSU 57 meetings to date:
> http://www.msad71.net/RPC/RPC_Min.htm
>
> Minutes from the RSU 56 meetings will be forwarded as soon as they are
> available.
>
>
> --
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> from
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> any dissemination, distribution, or duplication of this transmission or
> its
> contents is prohibited. If you should receive this transmission in error,
> please notify the original sender or call (207) 284-4677, delete this
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> copies of this transmission. Thank you.
> Mildred L. Day School
> Arundel, Maine
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