MEA scores up from last year in area schools

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DOE commissioner: “Results are very encouraging.”

 by Mary Grow

The Maine Department of Education (DOE) recently released results of Maine Education Assessment (MEA) tests for the 2016-17 school year. The state tests students in three areas, English language arts/literacy, math and science, with science tests beginning with fifth-graders.

According to DOE information, scores went up in all three areas in 2016-17 compared to the previous year, the first time the 2016/17 tests were used. The department’s press release said last year, 52.58 percent of students tested scored above state expectations in ELA/literacy; 38.54 percent exceeded expectations in math; and 61.07 percent exceeded expectations in science. The comparable figures for 2015-16 were 50.58 percent in ELA/literacy, 38.31 percent in math and 60.97 percent in science.

Below are selected figures from the state report that might interest The Town Line readers. The full report is available on line from the state education department.

Science tests were not given in two schools listed below, China Primary School and the George J. Mitchell School, in Waterville, which have only younger students. In two cases, an asterisk replaced numbers; the education department website appears to indicate that data was withheld to protect student privacy. All figures are percentages compared to state expectations.

  • China Middle School: ELA/literacy 50.81; math 32.97; science 61.54;
  • China Primary School: ELA/literacy 41.00; math 39.00; science not tested;
  • Erskine Academy: ELA/literacy 62.68; math 37.32; science 50.34;
  • Messalonskee High School: ELA/literacy 49.43; math 31.61; science 43.64;
  • Vassalboro Community School: ELA/literacy 57.63; math 50.19; science 62.77;
  • George J. Mitchell School, Waterville: ELA/literacy 30.47; math 36.72; science not tested
  • Albert S. Hall School, Waterville: ELA/literacy 54.36; math 37.34; science 65.12
  • Waterville Junior High School: ELA/literacy 46.70; math 32.24; science 54.46
  • Waterville Senior High School: ELA/literacy 59.66; math 32.77; science 53.78
  • Winslow Elementary School: ELA/literacy 48.46; math 27.31; science 57.53;
  • Winslow Junior High School: ELA/literacy 48.64; math 29.30; science 62.50;
  • Winslow High School: ELA/literacy 57.55; math 28.80; science 47.62;
  • Palermo Consolidated School: ELA/literacy 51.85; math 37.04; an asterisk for science;
  • Windsor Elementary School: ELA/literacy 47.74; math 31.16; science 70.13;
  • Lawrence Junior High School: ELA/literacy 42.72; math 33.64; science 65.41
  • Lawrence High School: ELA/literacy 53.74; math 43.54; science 52.03
  • Snow Pond Arts Academy, Sidney: an asterisk for ELA/literacy; math 37.50; science 62.50.

Related Stories: Maine students improve on state assessments

CHINA: Eight vie for three seats on board of selectmen

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by Mary Grow

China voters have three contests and four vacancies on the Nov. 7 local election ballot.

There are a total of eight candidates for three seats on the Board of Selectmen. For the two-year terms currently held by Irene Belanger and Ronald Breton, Belanger and Breton are running for re-election and Frederick Glidden and former Selectman Robert MacFarland are also on the ballot.

For a one-year position to finish Joann Austin’s term there are four candidates, Wayne Chadwick, Randall Downer, Ralph Howe and Donna Mills-Stevens.

For the planning board, Steven Hadsell and Kevin Michaud seek the District 1 seat for which Board Chairman James Wilkens did not file nomination papers.

There are no candidates on the ballot for the Planning Board District 3 seat (currently held by Milton Dudley; Town Clerk Rebecca Hapgood said his nomination papers did not have enough valid signatures for his name to be on the ballot) or the alternate at-large position (currently held by Ralph Howe).

For the Budget Committee, Robert Batteese and Kevin Maroon are unopposed for re-election as chairman and District 1 representative, respectively. There is no candidate for the District 3 seat currently held by Sheryl Peavey.

China voters also have three local referendum questions asking if they want to pay up to $8,500 for a new fire pond on Neck Road; require nonprofit organizations seeking town funds to provide current financial statements; and authorize town officials to rent space on the communications tower by the town office.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Nov. 7 in the former portable classroom beside the town office.

Possible school reorganization topic at meeting in Vassalboro

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by Mary Grow

The possibility of another school reorganization that will affect Vassalboro was again a major topic of discussion at the Sept. 19 school board meeting.

Years ago Vassalboro was a separate school entity. Then it became part of School Union #52 with China and Winslow. School Union #52 dissolved after a state-wide reorganization under 2007 legislation; Vassalboro, Winslow and Waterville became AOS (Alternative Organizational Structure) #92, with headquarters in Waterville, while China joined the Oakland-based Messalonskee group in RSU (Regional School Unit) #18.

At the Vassalboro board’s August and September meetings, Superintendent Eric Haley explained that Governor Paul LePage wants to create School Management and Leadership Centers (SMLCs) that would take over business management for significant numbers of schools. The new centers would assume responsibility for such services as payroll, accounts receivable, transportation coordination and professional development.

To encourage schools to create the consolidated centers, Haley said, the governor’s budget cuts state reimbursement to central offices like AOS #92’s, planning to reduce it annually until in 2021 members of RSUs and AOSs pay the entire administrative cost with local funds.

Between the August and September Vassalboro meetings, Haley and other AOS #92 officials went to a conference on SMLCs sponsored by the Maine School Management Association and the Portland-based law firm Drummond Woodsum.

Haley told the Vassalboro board that most attendees went to the conference eager to compete to set up as SMLCs. They left saying “no way,” primarily because the conference sponsors advised caution and waiting to see what happens.

“It was just amazing how everyone flipped on this,” Haley commented.

He pointed out that so far there is no detailed plan for SMLCs. He doubts any school group will be able to create an SMLC by the current July 1, 2018, deadline. Any organizational change would require a plan that gained approval from the state Department of Education and from local voters, Haley said.

As in August, board members tried with limited success to foresee what effect potential changes could have on the quality of education in Vassalboro and the cost to taxpayers.

For example, Haley said state officials see the SMLC heads more as business executives than as educators. Schools like Vassalboro would need their own superintendent, either one person doubling as principal and superintendent or a part-time superintendent in addition to the principal.

Vassalboro Community School Principal Dianna Gram doubts one person could be both principal and superintendent. There’s too much for the principal to do daily in the school for him or her to have other responsibilities, in her opinion.

Another issue is what, if anything, SMLCs would do to correct what Haley and Finance Director Paula Pooler see as too many burdens on central office staff. Haley said that they often cannot meet all the requests from three municipalities as fast as local officials would like; an SMLC office would presumably serve 10 or more municipalities.

The reorganization issue will continue to appear on Vassalboro School Board agendas.

In other business Sept. 19, board members unanimously approved a list of appointments that included Jasmine Estes as a first-grade teacher, Katie Esancy and Melissa LeHay as educational technicians and James Pinkham as a bus driver.

The next Vassalboro School Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening, Oct. 17.

Vassalboro Selectmen deal with variety of topics

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro selectmen dealt with a miscellany of business at their Sept. 21 meeting, most of it presented by Town Manager Mary Sabins.

Sabins reported on various upcoming events, including tentative plans for FAVOR (Friends Advocating for Vassalboro Older Residents) to provide help with drafty windows through a nonprofit organization called Window Dressers.

Sabins said the Rockland-based program helps local residents learn how to measure windows and make inserts to stop drafts and save heat. The inserts are sold to homeowners able to pay for them; Window Dressers’ website lists prices varying with window size and materials. Subsidies are likely to be available for low-income residents, Sabins said.

FAVOR committee members plan to discuss the idea at their next meeting, scheduled for 2 p.m. Monday, Oct. 2, in the town office. Interested residents and potential volunteers are welcome to attend.

Vassalboro’s website says town residents are invited to participate in a household hazardous waste drop-off Saturday, Oct. 21, in Winslow. Interested people should call Transfer Station Manager George Hamar at 923-3051 for information and to register. (ep)

Two events are scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 28, one for cat and dog owners and one for people needing safe disposal for private documents.

Windsor Veterinary Clinic will hold a low-cost rabies clinic from noon to 1 p.m. at the North Vassalboro fire station on Route 32. Cats and dogs can get rabies shots for $15. Dog licenses will be available for people whose dogs are not yet licensed for 2017; the cost is $6 for dogs who have been spayed or neutered and $11 for those who have not.

On Oct. 28 from 8 a.m. to noon, China will host a shredding on site program at the China Public Works garage, on Alder Park Road. Vassalboro selectmen agreed by consensus to pay the requested $100 to let Vassalboro residents participate.

In other business Sept. 21, selectmen held a very short unattended public hearing on amendments to the General Assistance Ordinance appendices and afterward approved the changes.

After Sabins explained new software and training needed to do the bookkeeping required by the town’s auditors, selectmen voted unanimously to authorize the expenditures. Sabins estimated the software will cost $1,500, plus $600 annual maintenance and about $800 for training.

She said two auditors had spent the week reviewing town records. The final report will not be available until school figures, audited by a different company, are available. Selectmen authorized Codes Officer Richard Dolby to institute legal action against the owner of a medical marijuana operation close to Vassalboro Community School. Sabins said Dolby reported the owner has not cooperated with his attempts to determine whether the facility conforms to state requirements.

Selectmen approved an application from a catering service to serve liquor at an Oct. 14 event in North Vassalboro.

Sabins reported the Vassalboro Historical Society declined the town’s offer to sell the former East Vassalboro School to the society for $1. Society officials prefer to continue to lease the building. Sabins will draft a revised lease to clarify maintenance responsibilities.

The next regular Vassalboro selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for Thursday evening, Oct. 5.

Board unanimously approves library move

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by Mary Grow

China Planning Board members have unanimously approved the first steps in the South China Library’s plan to open a new building in a new location.

Jean Dempster, president of the library Board of Trustees, explained the project at the board’s Sept. 12 meeting.

The library, currently located on a very small lot on Village Street opposite the South China church, will be moved to a 4.75-acre lot on Jones Road, sharing it with the 1815 Rufus Jones birth-place, one of several China buildings on the National Register of Historic Places.

Downhill from the Jones house, Dempster said, library trustees plan to create a new driveway and parking lot; put the former portable classroom acquired from the Town of China on a cement slab; build an addition on the portable building; and move part of the existing library building to the new site. Planning board members voted unanimously to waive a public hearing. Reviewing the town’s criteria for such a project, they found the application met them all and approved it after half an hour’s review.

Dempster said water will come from the existing drilled well and an appropriate septic system will be installed so the library will finally have plumbing. The new parking lot will accommodate 16 vehicles, including two handicapped spaces. The building will have a permit from the state fire marshal and will meet Americans with Disabilities Act standards.

She told board members the trustees hope to do the driveway and site preparation this fall; the slab might be postponed to spring, depending on workers’ availability and weather.

In the future, she said, trustees hope to revive the Jones house as a historic site.

A second applicant on the Sept. 12 planning board agenda did not attend the meeting, so the application was not reviewed. In the absence of Chairman Jim Wilkens, board members postponed decisions on the ordinance amendments and procedural issues they have been discussing.

Codes Officer Paul Mitnik said he received an exploratory phone call about possible construction of a Dollar General store at the intersection of Route 3 and Windsor Road, near the South China Hannaford. He emphasized there is no definite proposal.

The next China Planning Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening, Sept. 26.

Selectmen reduce ballot questions to three

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by Mary Grow

China selectmen cut the Nov. 7 local ballot from four questions to three at their Sept. 18 meeting, postponing the proposed Local Food Safety Ordinance to the March 2018 town business meet-ing.

Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux expects the state legislature will amend the state law on which the local ordinance is to be based. He therefore recommended waiting until the state law is final so the local ordinance will conform.

In addition to local elections, China voters will decide at the polls whether to:

  • approve a statement requiring nonprofit organizations seeking town funds to provide financial statements;
  • expend up to $8,500 from sur-plus for a fire pond on Neck Road;
  • authorize selectmen to lease space on the town-owned com-munications tower behind the town office building; and
  • approve a Regional School Unit (RSU) #18 bond issue for building improvements and repairs.

Candidates for positions on the Board of Selectmen, Planning Board and Budget Committee have until 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 23, to return signed nomination papers to the town office to get their names on the Nov. 7 ballot.

The selectmen’s Oct. 2 meeting will be preceded by two public hearings. The first, beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the town office meeting room, will be on the three local ballot questions. The second, tentatively scheduled for 6:55 p.m. and expected to be brief, will be the annual public hearing on amendments to the General Assistance Ordinance.

RSU #18 officials will hold public hearings on the bond issue in four of the five member towns. China’s hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m., Monday, Oct. 23, at China Middle School.

Also likely to be on the China selectmen’s Oct. 2 agenda are a presentation from Transfer Station Committee Chairman Frank Soares on the committee’s five-year capital plan and two code enforcement issues.

In other business Sept. 18, selectmen unanimous approved the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Committee’s recommenda-tion to hire Wright-Pierce Engineering for preliminary work on a new causeway bridge at the head of China Lake’s east basin and authorized L’Heureux to sign an agreement with the firm.

Selectman and TIF Committee member Irene Belanger said the committee authorized re-estab-lishing a temporary committee to look for a site for a China Lake public beach. Volunteers for that committee and for the China Bicentennial Committee should contact the town office.

Selectmen made two committee appointments, approving Jean Conway as secretary of the budget committee until November 2018 elections and Tom Rumpf as a member of the Revolving Loan Fund Committee. The latter group reviews applications for the revolving loan fund for town businesses set up by the TIF Committee.

Belanger announced two upcoming special waste disposal options for China residents. On Saturday, Oct. 21, Winslow holds its annual household hazardous waste disposal day at the Public Works Department on Halifax Street. Pre-registration is required through the China trans-fer station; information on acceptable waste will be avail-able there and at the town office.

On Saturday, Oct. 28, China will host Shredding on Site, from 8 a.m. to noon, at the public works garage just west of the transfer station and a drug take-back program from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the transfer station.

L’Heureux reported representa-tives of The Town Line newspa-per inspected the old town house basement and found it potentially suitable for a relocated office. Selectmen and contractor Robert MacFarland discussed work still to be done to prepare the base-ment for renting.

Selectman Ronald Breton expressed his disappointment that no one from RSU #18 reported to the town on the recent water back-up that closed China Middle School for a few days, or on other school issues.

“We never hear from them,” he said of China’s RSU board representatives, Dawn Castner and Charles Clark.

After the selectmen’s meeting, board members reconvened in their capacity as assessors to act on recommendations from town assessor William Van Tuinen. The Oct. 2 meeting will probably be followed by another assessors’ meeting, as board members found they lacked information on one request for a change in valu-ation and want to hear from Van Tuinen and the property owner.

Webber Pond residents gear up for Sept. 18 drawdown

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Roland D. Halleeby Roland Hallee

In what was the least controversial vote in recent memory, members of the Webber Pond Association voted overwhelmingly for a Monday, September 18, drawdown.

Nearly three dozen lake association members were present at the August 19 meeting, held at the Vassalboro Community School.

Among the highlights of the meeting were:

  • Bob Nadeau, the association’s representative with the China Region Lakes Alliance, proposed the establishment of a LakeSmart committee, similar to the one now operating on China Lake. He asked for volunteers.
  • Members voted to donate $1,500 to the China Region Lakes Alliance to aid with complimentary boat inspections, meant to identify invasive plants on boats and trailers entering the pond.
  • Discussion about the effects, good and bad, of the alewives entering the lake through the fish ladder.

Jim Hart presented how alewife presence in the lake may have exceeded the tipping point in the lake. The alewife count in 2010 was 83,905, and 2016 was estimated at 353,470. Charles Backenstose, association vice president, questioned how many alewives were too many. “Over population could affect water quality,” he suggested. It is believed that with the number of alewives entering the pond, they may be bringing in more nutrients to contribute to algae blooms than they are taking out in the fall. It was the consensus of many present that the answer may probably be to increase the alewife harvest in the spring.

Backenstose also reported that water quality has improved over the years, and the Secchi disk readings as of early August was at 7.3 feet of water clarity.

Regarding the drawdown, it was reported by Frank Richards, association president, that four boards will be removed at the same time. More boards cannot be removed because of hydraulic pressures. The ideal water level is two inches below the spillway. As of mid-August, the lake level was five inches below the spillway, due mostly to evaporation and seepage at the fish ladder. Also, a certain level of water must be maintained in the stream to allow for the egress of alewives.

The current slate of officers and board of directors was re-elected by the body.

Richards, president; Backenstose, vice president; Phil Haines, treasurer; Rebecca Lamey, recording secretary.

Those wishing to be added to the email list should contact Frank Richards at Frank04989@gmail.com.

China Voters will be asked to act on four business related items in November

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by Mary Grow

China selectmen are moving toward asking voters to act on at least four business items at the polls Nov. 7, in addition to local elections and state questions.

The potential questions ask if voters will approve:

  • A tentatively-titled “Local Food and Community Self-Government Ordinance,” as authorized under the 2017 state food sovereignty law allowing municipalities to regulate local food production;
  • A request to spend up to $8,500 from Unassigned Fund Balance (surplus) to build a fire pond on Neck Road;
  • A statement that all non-profit organizations asking for town funds are required to submit a financial statement, a question aimed at making permanent a policy often followed already; and
  • Authorization for selectmen to rent out space on the town’s communications tower. The proposed ordinance is borrowed from another small Maine town. Selectmen asked Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux to draft wording for the other questions. They plan to give them final approval at their Sept. 18 meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m. in the town office meeting room.

The budget committee met Sept. 11 and unanimously recommended voters approve the second, third and fourth questions, with a minor change in wording in the third one to require organizations’ “most recent” financial statements. The proposed ordinance did not require budget committee review. Officials to be elected are three members of the board of selectmen, two for two-year terms and one for one year to finish Joann Austin’s term after she resigns effective Nov. 1; Planning board members from Districts 1 and 3 plus the alternate at large; and budget committee members from Districts 1 and 3 plus the chairman.

Signed nomination papers must be returned to the town office by 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 23, for candidates’ names to appear on the Nov. 7 ballot.

In other business Sept. 6, board Chairman Neil Farrington reported on the most recent bicentennial committee meeting. Board members unanimously appointed the following people to the committee to plan the 2018 two-hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of the Town of China: Eric Austin, Donald Bassett, Irene Belanger, Bob Bennett, Farrington and Betty and Sherwood Glidden. More volunteers are welcome.

Selectmen agreed unanimously to allow The Town Line newspaper to rent space for a nominal fee in the old town house basement, after planned cleaning and renovations are finished.

CHINA: TIF committee approves preliminary engineering work on Causeway bridge

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by Mary Grow

China’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Committee voted unanimously at a Sept. 11 meeting to recommend that selectmen award a contract for preliminary engineering work for a new causeway bridge to Wright-Pierce Engineering, an East coast firm with Maine offices in Topsham and Portland.

Replacing the current bridge at the head of China Lake’s east basin with a new one with space for pedestrian walkways and fishing platforms has been an ongoing TIF project for months.

A TIF subcommittee, after lengthy discussions with representatives of three firms, recommended Wright-Pierce, at a price of $50,700. Wright-Pierce’s plan for preliminary work was comparable to and less expensive than its closer competitor’s plan, Tom Michaud said for the subcommittee.

If selectmen accept the recommendation, the company will be expected to conduct tests at the site of the proposed new bridge, advise on a design and get permits for the work. After preliminary work is done, selectmen will choose a contractor to build the new bridge.

A related expenditure committee members proposed is hiring an engineer from A. E. Hodsdon of Waterville as the town’s representative overseeing the work, at a price to be negotiated.

Example of a box culvert type bridge.

The current causeway bridge is old and beginning to deteriorate. It does not provide pedestrian and fishing space that TIF Committee members want as part of their plan to improve lake access. Some committee members want a new bridge to be high enough for canoes and kayaks to go under it.

Over the past few months, committee members have talked about either a box culvert or a slab bridge. Their decision will depend partly on the results of test borings and other studies, committee member Jim Wilkens said.

Committee members also seek improvements to the often-crowded boat landing just east of the causeway bridge. Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux said he and committee member Frank Soares prepared an application to the state Department of Conservation for more than $175,000 for a larger dock. He expects if the project is approved, the town will share the cost.

An example of a slab bridge

Committee member Irene Belanger asked if there is interest in reviving the former Lake Access Committee to look for a site for a public swimming beach on China Lake. She said while some former committee members want nothing to do with the project after voters rejected their proposal to buy the former Candlewood Camps property, others have asked her about trying again.

L’Heureux told the committee the state Department of Economic and Community Development approved adding tax payments from the new Central Maine Power Company substation off Route 3 to TIF funds. As a result, he said, this year’s payment should be more than $350,000, up from just under $279,000 last year.

The state also approved extending the program from the initial 20 years to 30 years, the manager said.

The next TIF Committee meeting is scheduled for Monday evening, Oct. 16.

UPDATED INFO: Kennebec Historical Society’s September presentation

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CORRECTION

Information regarding the Kennebec Historical Society’s September presentation was inadvertently omitted from last week’s issue. (Read the original story here!)

The Kennebec Historical Society September presentation is co-sponsored by the Maine State Library and free to the public (donations accepted). The presentation will take place on Wednesday, September 20, at 6:30 p.m., at the Maine State Library, 230 State St., Augusta. The program will be preceded at 4:30 p.m. by a potluck supper and at 6 p.m by the society’s annual meeting, and election of officers and directors.

This month’s program is John H. Twomey, who will speak about his recent book, Retiring To, Not From, – From Massachusetts Professor to Maine Farmer.