MECHANIC FALLS – State education officials want Union 29 to merge with SAD 15, but Superintendent Dennis Duquette told the Mechanic Falls School Committee Tuesday night that he intends to keep talking with other potential partners.

“I think that (a merger with Gray-New Gloucester) is a long shot. State figures show it would cost them $1.5 million to merge with us,” he said.

Duquette said he was none the less scheduling a meeting with SAD 15 Superintendent Vicki Burns and Bob Connors, former Lewiston superintendent and now the consolidation facilitator provided by the state.

Connors, Duquette noted, has made it very clear that state officials are adamant that, unless a district is an island, all mergers will result in districts with at least 2,500 students.

That’s why state officials rejected Union 29’s proposal to continue by itself with about 1,730 students from Mechanic Falls, Minot and Poland.

SAD 15 has about 1,930.

“Our only option is to be proactive, ask questions, dig out what the costs will really be and show these to the state,” Duquette said.

“What happens if SAD 15 says the $1.5 million cost is too much and refuses to join with us?” asked School Committee member Terri Arsenault.

Duquette said SAD 15 had already looked into it and determined that it appears the penalty they would pay for violating the school consolidation law would be less than the cost for merging with Union 29.

The two consolidation possibilities that Duquette wants to keep open in the event that a merger with SAD 15 proves unfeasible are mergers with SAD 39 in Buckfield, Sumner and Hartford, or with the town of Raymond.

The state is asking SAD 39 to talk with SAD 17 in Oxford and SAD 52 in Turner, but SAD 39 still wants to talk with us,” Duquette said.

He said a preliminary look at the state’s figures on the financial impact of a Union 29/SAD 39 consolidation show costs spread fairly evenly, and he noted that the educational philosophies are similar.

Raymond, Duquette explained, is an independent school system without a high school. It send about half its high school students to Windham and less than 20 percent to Poland.

“One of the consolidation plans Raymond submitted was to merge with us, but the state wants Raymond to go with Windham and Westbrook. I believe a merger with Raymond could be a good one for both of us. I am keeping the lines open with Raymond,” Duquette said.