Letter: Local district consolidation could have eliminated waste (Printed June 23, 2007)
Posted by Sentry Editor at 6/28/2007 1:24 PM 
Categories: Opinion, Letters to the editor, Cape schools, So Po Schools, Consolidation, Budget
Categories: Opinion, Letters to the editor, Cape schools, So Po Schools, Consolidation, Budget
Editor:
Ward Peck’s recent editorial (“NIMBY isn’t always wrong,” June 15, 2007) opposing consolidation of the South Portland/Cape Elizabeth school board can be forgiven because of his youth. Many of us in South Portland have known for at least twenty years that the inequitable property tax formulations at the state level have resulted in unfair transfer of South Portland’s tax revenue to Cape Elizabeth, Falmouth and Yarmouth, etc.
One would hope that consolidation of school boards would end this inequitable transfer. At a more simple level, it would seem reasonable to consolidate Cape Elizabeth, South Portland and Scarborough into one contiguous school district.
Furthermore the current superintendent and the previous superintendent spent an inordinate amount of time and energy trying to close neighborhood schools in direct opposition to several community wide votes to keep neighborhood schools open.
If the superintendents were doing their job correctly they would be spending most of their time developing the educational assets of the parents and integrating these assets into the school system. This simple and most important program has never been implemented in South Portland much to the dismay of the parents who wanted to see the school system develop as a community enterprise.
South Portland, Scarborough and Cape Elizabeth could easily be served by one superintendent.
Douglas Uraneck
South Portland
Ward Peck’s recent editorial (“NIMBY isn’t always wrong,” June 15, 2007) opposing consolidation of the South Portland/Cape Elizabeth school board can be forgiven because of his youth. Many of us in South Portland have known for at least twenty years that the inequitable property tax formulations at the state level have resulted in unfair transfer of South Portland’s tax revenue to Cape Elizabeth, Falmouth and Yarmouth, etc.
One would hope that consolidation of school boards would end this inequitable transfer. At a more simple level, it would seem reasonable to consolidate Cape Elizabeth, South Portland and Scarborough into one contiguous school district.
Furthermore the current superintendent and the previous superintendent spent an inordinate amount of time and energy trying to close neighborhood schools in direct opposition to several community wide votes to keep neighborhood schools open.
If the superintendents were doing their job correctly they would be spending most of their time developing the educational assets of the parents and integrating these assets into the school system. This simple and most important program has never been implemented in South Portland much to the dismay of the parents who wanted to see the school system develop as a community enterprise.
South Portland, Scarborough and Cape Elizabeth could easily be served by one superintendent.
Douglas Uraneck
South Portland
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