AUBURN — Usually mild mannered School Committee member William Horton was upset, even ticked off, Wednesday night to find out he was not informed about a new committee to build a better Edward Little High School.

That committee will meet from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the high school library.

The new committee had “not been discussed with this board,” and it seemed it was created “behind closed doors,” Horton said. “I’m unhappy with it.”

Horton had company. Other committee members, including Bonnie Hayes, Laurie Tannenbaum and Tracy Levesque, complained there had been little communication or information about the committee, who’s on it, who formed it.

The last she knew about the status of trying to build a better Edward Little, it was determined there wasn’t room to build a new high school behind the middle school near Vista Drive, Levesque said.

Hayes said she is a member of the new Edward Little committee, but was surprised by the makeup of the group.

“Whether it’s directions from the City Council that’s coming down to us, the mayor, I don’t know.” But there are people who have worked on getting a new high school for years who should be on the committee and weren’t asked, Hayes said.

They pressed Superintendent Katy Grondin: “When was it formed?”

Grondin said the committee was formed in the summer, that it evolved from the masters facilities committee.

“If it happened this summer, none of us knew about it,” Levesque said, adding they have concerns about lack of communication.

“If there’s something going on behind doors, of the City Council or city side, or the School Department, we need to know,” Hayes said. “We’re elected. We can’t continue to have egg on our face.”

Hayes wanted to know how committee members were selected. “Who picked?” she asked.

“The mayor,” answered School Committee Chairman Tom Kendall, referring to Auburn Mayor Jonathan LaBonte. The intention was to balance the representation of the community, giving it broader membership representing more people, Kendall said.

Grondin read the members of the committee. In addition to Hayes, members include Brian Dubois of the Y, Elliot Epstein, Pam Delong, Jude Cyr, Eric Cousins, Billy Hunter, Jim Miller, Mary Lafontaine, Linda Sherwood, Leighton Cooney, Rick Vail, Churchill Barton and Auburn City Manager Clinton Deschene. 

Central Maine Community College President Scott Knapp can’t attend all meetings but will attend as many as he can, “especially when we need his expertise,” said School Department Business Manager Jude Cyr.

Anyone else who wants to be part of the audience and show up at the meetings are welcome, Grondin said.

Hayes said the committee’s formation “was the most secretive thing I’ve seen in a long time.”

“It wasn’t meant to be secretive,” Grondin said. The goal was to select a committee of 15, Kendall said, adding that a “committee of 500” would not be workable.

Reached after the meeting late Wednesday, LaBonte said it was the School Department that did a poor job communicating.

After joint meetings with the School Committee and Council, Kendall, LaBonte and school staff “met to put together a committee to walk us to a finish line” and get a better high school.

“We had a couple of meetings, the School Department made it clear the School Department should be leading the process. I don’t support that,” LaBonte said. “We brainstormed who should be at the table.” LaBonte said he assumed that the School Department would follow up.

“The follow up was poor on the School Department side,” he said, adding that city councilors also didn’t know about the first meeting. When he returned from vacation last week LaBonte said he suggested the start of the committee be delayed until all School Committee members and city councilors were brought up to speed.

“The School Department made it clear they were moving ahead,” LaBonte said.

LaBonte said he’ll be at tonight’s meeting, and will recommend the new committee be delayed “until both policy boards have set a direction. If we start a process spending tens of millions of dollars, it’s important we don’t start falling out of the gate.”