FARMINGTON — RSU 9 directors voted Tuesday not to support a consolidated kindergarten through sixth-grade day-treatment program at Academy Hill School in Wilton.

The weighted vote was 458-291. In the district’s case, state law requires each director’s vote to be weighted, based on his or her town’s population divided by the number of directors.

For the second meeting in a row, concerns were voiced over the number of transitions the 16 children in the program would have and the more than two hours the children would spend riding buses round-trip. Another concern was making sure students are in the least restrictive environment.

The concern of losing education time of an hour a day could be addressed by having the children ride on the middle and high school buses, Superintendent Tom Ward said.

Those schools start the day about an hour earlier. The hour-early release would be to allow supervision of staff and debriefing that is required for the district to get reimbursed from MaineCare.

By consolidating the program in one place, all professional resources would be on hand to work with students, said Paula Leavitt, director of special services. She said she has looked at every building in the district and the only place there is room for the program is at Academy Hill.

Several people voiced support for a consolidated program to provide a better education and treatment to students in need.

Director Iris Silverstein of Farmington said she was hung up on the cost of transportation of students to the program rather than spending it on a social worker. The cost for the additional busing is about $68,000 and about $88,000 if the district used vans. The first year, it would be $188,000 if the district needed to buy vans, since they don’t have any, said David Leavitt, director of support services.

Silverstein said the other issue she had is adding 20 to 25 minutes more each way to a student’s bus trip.

The average time students spent on the bus to get to their home school is 45 to 50 minutes, with one child riding 70 minutes, then an additional 20 to 25 minutes to get to the Academy Hill School, Leavitt said.

Several directors voiced the same concerns as Silverstein.

Director Claire Andrews of Farmington said the consolidated program is best for students, and there will be bumps along the way. She, too, had concerns about transitions and transportation. The district needs to provide a quality program for the students, otherwise they would have to be sent out of district to get the services needed. She said other districts pay between $50,000 to $100,000 per student for those services.

What he is hearing, Ward said, is strong support for a consolidated K-6 program and he is also hearing that there are concerns for transportation.

“We all have those concerns,” he said.

He said they would look at ways to address limiting the time on buses and monitor it, and to limit transitions prior to school beginning on Sept. 2.

Director Yvette Robinson of Farmington said monitoring was not good enough for her. She wanted to know what the solution would be prior to voting on it.

When it came time to vote, Silverstein didn’t vote. She tried to abstain. Director Ross Clair of Chesterville said he was previously told by Chairman Mark Prentiss of Industry that a board member could not abstain on major issues without stating a reason and the board accepting that reason.

Clair called for a show of hands.

Silverstein said if she was forced to vote, she would have to vote yes.

After a check of Robert’s Rules of Order, Prentiss and Ward could not immediately find what they were looking for in regard to abstaining.

Prentiss said he did not want to force anyone to vote.

Silverstein abstained.

Ward said Wednesday that Robert’s Rules state’s that, “A member who does not have an opinion on an issue may abstain from voting on the issue. However, in the community association context a director may only abstain if he or she has a legitimate conflict of interest.”

Ward said he would put the issue on the next business meeting of the board.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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