RSU 71 Pressure Claims Surface as Two More School Closures Loom
Two board members who blocked a Swanville school closure say a principal pressured them to switch votes; the district disputes it.
Two RSU 71 school board members said an administrator pressed them to drop their opposition to shutting Swanville's Kermit Nickerson elementary school, the Bangor Daily News reported.
Laura Baker and Madison Cook cast the only votes against the closure earlier in March. Because votes are weighted by town population, that was enough to defeat it. Both said they were later called in to meet with Ashley Reynolds, principal of the Captain Albert Stevens School, where Nickerson students would have been moved.
At a March 30 board meeting, Baker said she was told student programs would be cut if she kept her vote. Cook said she was also pressured and called it "really inappropriate."
Reynolds did not return requests for comment. Assistant Superintendent Jessica Giorgetti disputed the account, saying Reynolds had invited the two to tour the school. She said administrators back the closure because it would mean fewer cuts to staff and services.
Cook added that she was told administrators intend to shut two more schools, the Gladys Weymouth School in Morrill and the Ames School in Searsmont, before long.
The board then approved Baker's motion to table the closure indefinitely pending community input and more data. Cory Seekins, Swanville's only board member, voted no. Administrators proposed the closure in January, projecting savings of more than $450,000 a year.
This story was first reported by Bangor Daily News.
