POLAND —Notices went home with Mechanic Falls, Minot and Poland students Thursday announcing dates or meetings to discuss options for educating middle school students in the three towns.

Facing a $2.1 million budget shortfall for next year, the School Committee set up a Middle School Exploration Committee to develop a middle school structure that provides the best possible education, given the fiscal crisis, and is sustainable over the long term, Regional School Unit 16 Superintendent Dennis Duquette said Thursday. The committee is composed of parents of sixth- and seventh-graders from the three towns, principals and School Committee members.

The district now has three middle schools: seventh- and eighth-graders attend Minot Consolidated School, Elm Street School in Mechanic Falls and Whittier Middle School in Poland.

After four meetings, the Middle School Exploration Committee is looking at two options: a model in which Minot students would go to Elm Street school and Poland’s would remain at Whittier; and a model in which students from Mechanic Falls and Minot would join Poland students at Whittier Middle School. 

Meetings to discuss the options and answer questions will be held in each town. On Tuesday, March 2, at Whittier Middle School; Thursday, March 4, at Elm Street School; and Monday, March 8, at Minot Consolidated School. All meetings will begin at 7 p.m.

“Even in a time of dramatic cuts and changes, we believe that good things will happen for students in our three towns,” committee Chairman Colleen Quint said. “In the coming weeks, we will deepen our understanding of the bi-town and tri-town middle school optio0ns, and ultimately make a recommendation by mid-March to the School Committee.”

That committee will decide whether to accept the recommendation. If accepted, the budget that goes to citizens in all three towns for a vote, likely in May, would include those changes. If approved by voters, a new middle school model would go into effect in September 2010.