The district informed Lee Sullivan that she would have to pay a fee for the service.
GRAY – The owner of Gray Country Day Care on Route 100 has filed a formal complaint against SAD 15, its board, transportation and finance directors after school buses stopped transporting her students.
Lee Sullivan of Gray moved her business last summer from her home to larger quarters to double the licensed enrollment from 20 to 40. She said she hoped students would be picked up at the property because the district for the past three years dropped off students attending a dance studio on the grounds.
She said she was notified in July that her business must pay a fee of $1.90 per day for the district to transport students to and from her day care.
A hearing by the district’s transportation subcommittee upheld the fee.
Sullivan later sought advice from Maine’s Department of Education on whether the fee was legal because all 20 students are district residents. Department of Education officials, she said, referred her to the Division of Motor Vehicles and officials there told her the district needed two permits because the fee may interfere with private carriers in other areas.
She said she was then notified by school officials that the fee was dropped and students would no longer be picked up and dropped off because the site is unsafe and on an unpaved private road.
Now the students walk roughly 250 feet to a bus stop on Route 100 near Gobeil’s Furniture Galleries as part of a cluster bus transportation policy adopted by the school board several years ago.
“I feel I’m singled out,” Sullivan said.
The board did not respond to Sullivan’s complaint, and the matter is being referred to the superintendent.
In other business, the board suspended a new activity fee charge to all middle and high school students until the board clarifies ways to legally collect funds for transportation costs associated with athletics and co-curricular activities.
Last spring, the board adopted a policy to charge all students a fee that could be waived based on economic need and reduced lunch program eligibility.
Parents whose children did not participate in any after-school activities such as athletics and co-curricular activities balked at paying the fee.
The policy states that students in grades six through 12 are expected to pay the fee by Sept. 30 of each year. Students in grades six through eight pay $35 per year and students in grades nine through 12 pay $50 per year.
Families will not be charged more than $100 in any given school year.
Athletic Director Geoff Robbins said he and his secretary spent a major block of time setting up the collection system.
After learning from the school attorney about legal issues regarding the charges, the board agreed the Policy Committee should work on the issue to comply with state law.
A final decision will be made Nov. 5. Meanwhile, parents may request a refund.
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