HARRISON — After being down one director for almost a year, Harrison will now be fully represented on the Maine School Administrative District 17 school board.

During a special selectmen’s meeting last Thursday, the board unanimously approved the appointment of Mark Curran to fill the seat left vacant since former Director Rose Lacasse stopped attending meetings last winter and no one ran for the position when her term expired last June.

Curran steps into the seat during a time when some Harrison residents, weary from shouldering what they see as an inequitable amount of SAD 17’s local tax share and concerned its elementary school may eventually close, are interested in seceding from the district.

School districts have no control over local share paid by member towns. The allocation is set by a state-mandated formula based, in part, on property valuations. Harrison has a higher valuation than other communities due to its large number of lakefront properties and homes.

Harrison and Waterford students between pre-K and sixth grade are consolidated. Students attend Waterford Memorial School through second grade and attend Harrison Elementary School for third, fourth, fifth and sixth grade. Both school enrollments are well below capacity.

But with two proposed school construction projects, one that would transition sixth graders into a new middle school, and the other further consolidating Harrison, Waterford and Norway into a larger, centrally located school, Harrison has started to question if joining another district or becoming independent may be better options.

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Curran advised selectmen that he was not aware Harrison had formed a working group, now a committee, to research alternatives to SAD 17 when he first spoke with officials last fall about an appointment but said he is willing to proceed and keep an open mind. His wife was employed by the district for 27 years and their daughter attended school there.

“I have zero agenda in this,” he said. “I’m not coming … kicking and screaming they can’t do this to us and we should secede and they can’t shut the school down. My approach to the seat is listen, learn and decide. I’m not an advocate for either side.”

When one board member asked Curran if he may work with Harrison’s Education Options Committee he responded to do so could be a conflict of interest, as directors swear an oath to represent the interests of the district, not individual communities. He also said it is important that Harrison has two residents seated on the board.

Curran was unanimously confirmed. He will be available to attend SAD 17’s next school board meeting, which is scheduled for Feb. 6.

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