New school system structure proposed
BAR HARBOR As currently structured, the Mount Desert Island Regional School System is cumbersome, inefficient and an absolute bear to manage, according to a committee of school board members.
Of course, school administrators and board members have known that for years. But now the committee has recommended a specific alternative – the Regional School Unit (RSU) model.
Nearly everything about the way the individual schools currently operate would remain the same. In each town, the school principal would propose and the elected school committee would adopt an annual budget.
But instead of the budget being voted on at the town’s annual Town Meeting, each school’s budget would be folded into a single district budget, which residents of all the member towns would have an opportunity to vote on at a district-wide meeting.
Zero insurance hike saves schools $400K
BAR HARBOR Schools in the Mount Desert Island Regional School System (MDIRSS) will save a combined $399,819 because there will be no increase in the health insurance rate for the coming year.
Typically, in April, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield tells school superintendents across the state how much their rates are going up. But schools must have their budgets set weeks earlier, so they plug in a placeholder amount for health insurance.
For several years now, the MDIRSS schools have initially budgeted for a 10 percent rate increase, with the expectation that the actual increase would not be more than that. However, for next fiscal year, which starts July 1, the schools budgeted for an 8 percent increase.
Vaccine rollout continues on MDI
BAR HARBOR This past week, the staff of Mount Desert Island Hospital, its associated practices and vaccine clinics put 900 shots into arms. This was the hospital’s largest weekly allotment of doses, adding to the 5,753 administered to date.
At this point, demand continues to outpace supply. Reservations for appointments book within hours of being released.
The rush to get residents vaccinated is pushing against a steadily climbing statewide positivity rate, which is a concern for healthcare professionals already worried that pandemic fatigue continues to grow. “We seem to be losing vigilance,” said MDI Hospital CEO Chrissi Maguire. “It impedes progress and makes the tunnel longer,” she said, referring to that proverbial light at the end of the tunnel marking the end of the pandemic.
School system withdrawal vote called meaningless
TRENTON School officials say that if the town’s voters endorse a citizens’ petition asking the Board of Selectmen and School Committee to appoint a committee to draft a plan for Trenton to withdraw from the Mount Desert Island Regional School System (AOS 91), it will have no legal effect.
Seventy-five registered voters signed the petition, enough to have it placed on the warrant for this year’s Town Meeting, which is tentatively set for May 18. Supporters of withdrawal maintain that taxpayers could save money if Trenton Elementary were no longer part of the school system. Withdrawal was recommended by the School Evaluation Options Committee, a group of citizens appointed by the selectmen 18 months ago to look for ways to lower the cost of education for Trenton taxpayers.
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